Chauvet shines at Albany White NYE party
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Every New Year’s Eve, organisers of this paradisal resort’s Albany White party (named after the white outfits that guests wear) try to outdo their previous year’s celebration. 31 December 2017, was no exception, with 50 different performers, including DJ Ignite, providing entertainment and a gourmet dinner worthy of a world-class restaurant.
The centre of attention for much of the evening was the Las Vegas-style dancefloor that was created right there on a beautiful white sandy beach with help from over 300 Chauvet Professional fixtures, supplied by Spectrum Light & Sound.
“Albany Resort in the Bahamas has set a goal to put on one of the greatest New Year’s Eve parties in the world, and it commits to raising the bar each year,” said Spectrum Light & Sound’s Paul Francis Aranha. “The main objective of our team was to create the best and most realistic dancefloor possible in a beach environment. Our lighting designers Matt Mills and Shawn Sithel, assisted by Max Ferreyra, did an excellent job helping us meet this goal.”
Key to the success of the NYE design were the 12 Maverick MK1 Hybrid and six Rogue RH1 Hybrid fixtures in the Albany White rig. The Maverick units were hung from truss structures over the dancefloor, while the Rogue fixtures were positioned on the second floor of the Albany House building across the beach. Working in tandem, the two Hybrids created intersecting beam and spot effects that conjured up late-night dance club images.
“We fell in love with the RH1 when we first started to use it, because it gave us a dynamic range between the beams and spots,” said Aranha “Then, when the MK1 was released, we recognized that its greater brightness and effects opened even more opportunities for us from a design standpoint. This was very useful to us on New Year’s Eve. Hitting the dancefloor with this level of brightness allowed us to create a genuine club atmosphere, not just something that looked like a temporary dancefloor.”
Also infusing the dancefloor with extra energy were the 12 Maverick MK3 Wash fixtures in the event rig. The RGBW moving fixture, which is powered by 27 40-watt Osram RGBW LEDs, was instrumental in changing the atmosphere at the event as it transitioned from an elegant dining atmosphere to a pulsating nightclub vibe.
“Shawn Sithel and I both felt strongly about incorporating more wash fixtures into our design this year,” said Aranha. “A wash can go from giving us nice soft colours for dinner to saturating the area with bold looks during the party. The MK3 wash was the logical choice for us, because the pixel mapping allowed us to create an interesting array of effects while controlling the level of brightness. The zoom function also gave us some strong effects when combined with the Hybrids and the atmospherics from our three Amhaze Stadium foggers.”
(Jim Evans)
