Martin Gear Abounds at Wynn Las Vegas

It’s no surprise that the new $2.7 billion Wynn resort and casino in Las Vegas is the talk of the town. How couldn’t it be? The 217 acre resort features a 50-story bronze tower, its own private lake, waterfall and mountain and seems to outshine any other hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

An abundance of PRG-supplied Martin gear features in four key areas: the central outdoor feature, the Wynn Theatre, convention and meeting space, and a pair of high profile clubs. Production Resource Group served as the lighting system integrator for all of the theatrical and most of the architectural lighting systems on the property.

Outdoor Feature
The centerpiece of Wynn Las Vegas is a 150-foot-tall mountain with a five-story waterfall that cascades into a three-acre, man-made lake. Unlike most front features in Las Vegas however, the Wynn feature is only viewable from within the property.

MAC gear works with Jem Roadies and submersed LEDs as part of a multimedia light-and-water show that runs every 15 minutes. The MAC gear includes 23 MAC 2000 Wash with Fresnel lenses, 90 MAC 2000 Wash with PC lenses, and 24 MAC 2000 Performance (41 MACs total are in Tempest domes). The 50 x 100 ft. white stone waterfall spills 30,000 gallons of water per minute and also serves as a projection screen. According to Jim Holladay, Senior Project Manager for the PRG team, it’s a complicated system with control from a GrandMA covering 4000 LEDs, the Martin lighting fixtures plus dimmers. Some 12 Universes of DMX cover the automated lights and conventionals alone.

Patrick Woodroffe
Lighting design for the outdoor feature was created by Patrick Woodroffe. “The lighting of the mountainside was a challenging task, both creatively and technically,” he commented. “After the enormous investment in time and money, we had to be sure that when the installation was complete and we turned on the lights, that the hillside would really change color. We were lighting dark green objects from distances of up to 200', with quite high existing ambient light levels. We were also dealing with very challenging atmospheric conditions - very hot sun, fine dust and wind and almost constant saturation with water due to the irrigation and watering systems. Some of the lights were set in air-conditioned rooms, some in front of house projection booths and some were even installed in dry rooms underwater in the lake. Others were set in Tempest domes on the hillside itself.

”We tested many different fixtures over a six month period and for this particular application the MACs were our light of choice. To date they have proved reliable and powerful tools. We are now just keeping our fingers crossed for the next ten years!”

The Woodroffe Gobo Collection
Patrick, working with his long time Associate Designer Adam Bassett, has designed a new set of gobos for the industry standard MAC 2000, The Woodroffe Gobo Collection, which makes a whole new set of design opportunities available. “We used the new set of gobos that we had already designed for the MAC Profiles and were delighted to find that they read well, even from throws that were really pushing the limits - some up to 200' away from the projection surface of the waterfall. We also introduced the gobos into the Pixelmad system and used them as patterns and textures projected underwater.”

Jem Roadies
Located at both the top and bottom of the feature waterfall are industrial specification Jem Roadie X-Stream atmospheric fog generators. Eight Jem Roadies – four top and four bottom – add to the lagoon atmosphere and are capable of projecting everything from a controlled haze to a high density fog curtain over a very large area. Supplied and installed by Advanced Entertainment Technology of Monrovia, California, the Roadies are DMX controlled via a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) based control system.

Wynn Theatre
Central to the entertainment offerings at Wynn is a unique aqua theatre in the round, the Wynn Theatre, which features a signature show by Franco Dragone, Le Reve. The visually stunning 2,000-seat avant-garde theatre is an intimate setting with only 14 rows of seats. Dragone Productions, responsible for such successes as Celine Dion’s “A New Day” and several Cirque du Soleil shows, has one million gallons of water to work with in a 30 foot deep pool.

The show features aerial and aquatic performances, comedy and humor. Lighting designer is Koert Vermeulen with lighting direction by Janene Steele. At their disposal is a lighting rig that includes 30 MAC 2000 Wash for general color wash (some running via wireless DMX), 30 Atomic strobes for special effects, Clay Paky spots, 850 dimmers and 420 submersed LED fixtures. Basically a moving light show, the MAC 2000 Wash provide the majority of the colored lighting for several elements including onto water, audience and set pieces. Lighting control is from a Martin Maxxyz and ETC controller with the Maxxyz operating the moving lights and LED fixtures. It is the first Vegas show to use the Maxxyz as an in-house console.

Maxxyz operator and programmer is Matthew Paupst with original programming completed by Michel Suk. Matthew, a Maxxyz version 1.4 beta tester, comments, “We use the Maxxyz because designers and programmers wanted it based on its features. It’s powerful, easy to navigate and had the multi-patch feature that we needed. This was really the best console for the cue list structure. None of the other consoles could handle the amount of cue lists that we had to create.

“The software we are using is incredibly powerful and the delay timing features are spectacular. That is one of the reasons why we bought the console. The fan feature allows me to fan attributes for any channel on different arrays, for example O% red to 100% red, and fan colors back and forth. It saves a lot of time.

“Being a beta tester, it’s a long road, but there was light at the end of the tunnel and we reached it. It’s nice to see ideas become reality. All insecurities have faded away and I feel totally confident in the desk. The product support has been amazing too, also from the Vegas office.”  

Convention Space
Convention and meeting space is certainly not for want at Wynn. With a 50,000 sq. ft. Grand Ballroom, Lafite, a smaller 25,000 sq. ft. ballroom, Latour, an Outdoor Event Patio and 9 additional Meeting Rooms that can be divided in half, Wynn can host nearly any type of event imaginable.

A Maxxyz-controlled MAC rig of 18 MAC 2000 Wash, 18 MAC 2000 Profiles, 12 MAC 550 Profiles, 12 MAC 500 profile spots, 12 MAC 600 wash lights, as well as a conventional package of lekos, pars and cyc fixtures form a versatile lighting package. Vice President of Entertainment Production Services at Wynn is Tim Sage and Director of Production Services is Barbara Brennan. “The lighting can move from room to room depending on the need,” states Barbara. “The room configuration and sets are always different therefore we have diverse lighting needs.” Barbara states that most of the lighting is used in the two ballrooms for a wide variety of corporate events and parties, some of them quite large and lavish, like the Couture Jewelry Collection & Conference, a week long event that featured musical stars like Lionel Ritchie and Jewel. The MAC 550’s, she states, are often used in the meeting rooms, for example an NBA Players Association meeting in which they inserted custom gobos into the 550’s.

The Wynn lighting crew has the flexibility of hanging the lights virtually anywhere they want. With 30 amp 3 phase power and a Unistrut hanging system that allows the lights to hang right out of the ceiling, it’s as simple as plugging them in and running DMX cable. For larger events however, a truss system is used.

Performers usually arrive with their own LD but the Wynn will provide a Maxxyz programmer, often Lead Electrician Carson Henry or Assistant Lead Electrician, Matthew Cochran. The Wynn also uses the Maxxyz Wing, a wing module that expands the Maxxyz’s functionality and adds more direct access. Plans are to split the Wing from the main controller in order to have the flexibility of dual controllers.

La Béte and Lure 
If that wasn’t enough, Martin gear also features in two clubs at the resort. La Béte, just off the outdoor feature with its own lake and waterfall, and Lure ultra lounge, just off the casino, both feature MAC 300 wash lights and MAC 250 profile spots under LightJockey control. Systems integration was by PRG.