"For the past few months my turnover has been up 150% for this time of year," commented Simon Garrett, Oceania's general manager lighting. "And of course no one would commit 100% to what they wanted - they just assume we can pull something out of a hat."
Garrett took measures well in advance to prepare for the onslaught, purchasing new Jands HPC12 series dimmers (with contactor bypass) as well as additional Jands power distribution units and HPX dimmers. The HPC12 "continues the Jands tradition of building rugged and reliable dimmers and provides an innovative solution for all dimming and power control needs".
"We're moving over to a system that is more in line with Australian method whereby we build our dimmers and distro racks up for the show," Garrett said. "Remember that in New Zealand we don't do long runs of shows, in fact now it's mainly just Auckland and Wellington, so the number of gigs a show does has not been a driver behind highly customised touring rigs.
"However, we have just purchased another 64 moving lights and the HPC dimmers bridge that gap between a dimmer and a distro. It's a Jekyll and Hyde; a PDS 12R power distribution unit one day and a HPX dimmer another day. So in terms of not having to really customise our racks it gives me a whole lot more distro and / or dimmers at a push of a switch."
(Jim Evans)
