At Their Best

They’ve earned Dove, CMA and ACM awards. Their career spans over several decades and they can stake claim to over 30 number one hits. The Oak Ridge Boys have earned a slew of honors for chart toppers such as Elvira, Bobbie Sue and Dream On.

The group, which was first introduced as The Oak Ridge Quartet made regular appearances at the Grand Ole Opry beginning in 1945.

Today, the Oak Ridge Boys perform out of their own 2200 seat theatre in Branson, Missouri. In March, 2008, the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre was refurbished to perfection and now houses a large number of Martin products, all which add to an atmosphere that’s both country and soul.

This nostalgic production took the work of many dedicated audio, scenery, rigging and lighting professionals to pull this production together. In regards to lighting the set, Greg chose: (12) MAC 2000 Performance, (12) MAC 2000 Wash, (32) MAC 700 Profile, (44) MAC 700 Wash, (12) MAC 250 Wash, (12) MAC 250 Entour, (20) StageBar 54 (L), (1) Maxxyz Console, (1) Maxxyz PC, (1) Maxedia Broadcast and (36) LC 2140 LC Series.

“I wanted the best features with the best factory support in the industry,” said Greg Russell of Steinas Systems, who acted as both Lighting System Designer and Programmer for this project.

When asked about how he made his choice, Greg replied: “I absolutely loved the features and reliability. The versatility of the 700 line was incredible and the LC panels blew me away with their intensity and clarity.”

The Oak Ridge Boys Theatre is not the only venue touting Martin products by way of Greg. “I‘ve used the 250 line extensively but had not worked much with the 2K’s or 700’s. I’ll be using more 700’s every chance I get.”

The MAC 700 is one of Martin’s most popular moving heads to date. Both Profile and Wash versions are compact, powerful fixtures. The MAC 700 Profile has an output and optical precision beyond its peers. The MAC 700 Wash is exceptionally powerful with a clean, even soft-edged beam, motorized zoom, indexable beamsharper and rich CMY color mixing.

“The total package of Martin equipment was by far the best solution for the show and venue,” said Greg. “By sticking to one manufacturer that has such a complete line, we were able to make a seamless transition from the old to the new.”

Martin provides lighting, video and control solutions that make the most of carefully designed audio and scenery like that at the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre.

“The tools that Martin provides allows for limitless creativity during the design process,” concludes Greg.