White Light recently supplied the Royal Albert Hall with a range of Martin MAC Encore fixtures, continuing the phased upgrade of the in-house lighting rig.
Located in South Kensington, the Royal Albert Hall is one of the world’s most iconic concert halls. Founded in 1871, it has played host to some of the biggest artists of all time and seats over 5,000 audience members.
As it hosts concerts on an almost nightly basis, the venue possesses its own in-house kit which is used by incoming shows. The rig has to be extremely flexible in order to adapt to such a varied programme, as well as needing to be energy efficient and sympathetic to the needs and requirements of a wide range of different lighting designers and productions. The existing fixtures, whilst having served their time very well, were due for upgrading in line with the Hall’s ongoing replacement program. As a result, the venue approached WL in order to invest in some LED alternatives.
WL’s Business Development Manager Jonathan Haynes explains: “I met up with the Royal Albert Hall’s Lighting Design Manager Richard Thomas who told me about their existing set up and what he was looking for to replace the ageing fixtures. The main priority was that the new fixtures were LED and provided a tungsten colour match that was at least as bright as the fixtures they were replacing. They also needed to be quiet, as well as have the ability to provide a high output in cool white to cut through the rest of the rig for aerial work.”
WL put forward a range of options and held an on-site demonstration at the Royal Albert Hall for the lighting team to see each one in situ. Jonathan explains: “It is so important to shoot out fixtures in the venue for which they are intended, to see how they react to the conditions, throw distance etc. After discussing suggestions with Richard and his team, it became obvious that the Martin MAC Encore Performance CLD was the best option”.
The Martin Mac Performance CLD integrates cutting-edge LED technology with a proprietary and innovative light engine carefully engineered to generate pristine, full spectrum light with ultra-high colour rendition. The feature-packed moving head offers unparalleled 6000K crisp, neutral daylight. Its advanced colour mixing system delivers the full palette from smooth and subtle pastels to rich and vibrant saturated colours.