Nic Vazquez, the lighting designer at the dynamic and active house of worship, Willow Crystal Lake lights the church’s first all acoustic service in its new building with the help of CHAUVET Professional.
“We’ve always done more anthemic style experiences, where I build visual momentum around the intensity of the music,” said Nic. “However, with the acoustic sets, I didn’t have the same musical builds. Instead, I had to center the design around long cue times, gradual color shifts, and more subtle details to allow the lighting to accentuate the music.”
Nic met this challenge in flying colors (quite literally) with help from an extensive collection of CHAUVET Professional fixtures. His rig for the acoustic service featured Maverick MK2 Spot, Rogue R3 Wash, Rogue R2 Spot and Next NXT-1 fixtures as well as COLORado par units and COLORado Batten 72 Tours.
Flying four MK2 Spots on the proscenium beam and four on trusses between the side and center screens, he has them fill a variety or roles including back lighting, layering and soft patterned beam effects. Drawing on the gobo capabilities of the 440W LED fixtures, he also relies on them to add depth to the stage.
To make his rig better able to reflect the nuanced moods of acoustic music, Nic arranged ten Rogue R2 Spots across the stage deck. Positioned at different heights, the 240W LED movers are used to create a variety of different environments, contributing to a greater sense of intimacy one moment by making the stage seem smaller, then pumping up the excitement level the next with aerial effects.
Also adding energy to the stage are the eight Next NXT-1 fixtures spaced on angled truss on the floor. “The Next NXT-1 fixtures are really fun — and the ways we can use them feel endless,” said Vazquez. “From serving as a wash unit, to creating any pattern in a 5×5 grid, these fixtures have added a different level of creativity to our platform. We love the flexibility and the cohesion of the different looks we can get from them, either on their own or paired with another fixture set, such as the Rogue R2s.”
Vazquez also counts on a mix of 15 COLORado Pars and 16 COLORado Batten 72 Tour fixtures to support his lighting design. He uses ten of the batten units as a fill light behind the performers. The remaining fixtures are placed vertically to provide a similar effect to build intensity and color, creating momentum on stage.
