Maxxyz Controlled Martin Lighting Package for IPC Athletics World Championships

From September 2 - 10 the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships took place at De Smelt (Ice Stadium) in Assen, the Netherlands. After the Paralympics this is the largest worldwide sporting event for athletes with a disability in the world with approximately 1200 athletes from 78 countries competing for 891 medals. The event was broadcast worldwide.

The Championships’ Opening Ceremony was produced by IdtV Events & Promotions with technical production and design completed by Livetime Productions. Livetime chose AED Rent as its partner for sound and lighting equipment. AED Rent, one of Europe’s fastest growing rental companies with warehouses in Belgium, France, Holland and Germany and a stock of over 1200 Martin fixtures, recently purchased 100 MAC 700 washlights. Livetime was the first to use the new MAC 700 Washes in a technical production.

The Opening began with a parade of nations followed by a dance spectacle in which Fair Play and the importance of the referee in competition was highlighted. The official Opening and flag raising commenced followed by a concert by Belgian Latina artist Belle Perez.

MAC 700 Wash passes the test
Lighting and set design was completed by Jack van Deursen of Livetime Productions. Jack required a luminaire that was able to light the complete 100 meter long catwalk during the parade of nations and chose to use AED’s 100 new MAC 700 Washes. “We didn't use any conventional lights during this part of the event,” commented Jack, “as in the past there were always some problems with the color temperature during the live broadcast. The MAC 700 Wash stood the test perfectly. The other part that was required from the MAC 700 Washes was lots of color wash during the concert segment of the Opening Ceremony.”

In the center of the catwalk was a covered stage used for speeches and afterwards the concert. Overhead were 36 MAC 700 Profiles, 24 MAC 600 NT’s and 12 Atomic 3000 strobes with 24 MAC 250 Washes positioned on the floor. Because of television purposes there were also approximately 36 channels on conventional lights. Concluding the technical rider were a pair of Martin Magnum smoke machines.

Lighting control was from a Martin Maxxyz with programming by Glenn Mollemans. “During programming I was surprised by the light output of the MAC 700,” he states, “even with the zoom open at 50%. I was also impressed by the saturated colors we could use with the CMY system - red was really red and not a dark orange; Congo blue was really dark. Also the speed of color changing was exceptionally fast. I could use color bumps that followed the music at a rate of 130bpm.”

That good Maxxyz feeling
Because shows in the Benelux region are mostly one-off’s with ever growing lighting fixture quantities and seemingly less programming time, programming speed is very important. Budgets to rent these larger amounts of fixtures push setup and preprogramming time even more. So Glenn was looking for a desk that could handle more channels than other desks out there while maintaining fast programming speed.

“The technicians fitted the system on 8 DMX lines and in cooperation with Jack I decided to use the Maxxyz console,” Glenn comments. “With the massive introduction of late of so many new LED fixtures that consume numerous DMX channels I was looking for a replacement for some of the older consoles, which I found did not have enough memory and channels or were time consuming.

“I took my search further and contacted the R&D International team. They invited us for a demonstration of the Maxxyz and from the first moment we saw the desk I had a good feeling! The hardware as well as the software is built on a solid base with lots of expansion possibilities. I saw things in this desk that I had been dreaming of - cloning of fixtures, running a show on 32 DMX universes, the fixture filter, the ability to use the desk together with video software, etc.

“The Maxxyz embodies a lot of good features. I have the impression that R&D writes software on demand by listening very carefully to their users rather than re-inventing hot water or pushing new ideas which users don't like. Why change something that's good! I had some remarks on cue timing and console timing... and a few software updates later it was implemented. I'm sure that every programmer with some experience will find their way around this desk very easily. It is so user-friendly! A special thanks to Marc Colemont of the R&D team who had a lot of patience in answering my sometimes annoying questions.”

Total Concept Manager: Sander van Geelen (IdtV Events & Promotions)
Design and Production Manager: Jack van Deursen (Livetime Productions)
Technical Preproduction: Remco Verhoef (Livetime Productions)
Lighting Operator: Glenn Mollemans (Livetime Productions)