Ireland’s largest events venue outside of Dublin, the INEC Killarney has recently purchased an Avolites Arena console as part of a major upgrade to the venue’s house lighting rig and control system.
The sale of the British manufacturer’s largest and latest lighting console was made by Avolites’ accredited UK reseller A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET). AC-ET worked with the INEC Killarney to supply the new house rig and control network. “The INEC Killarney has just installed over 100 ProLights LED moving heads and static LED fixtures, plus a full conventional rig featuring ETC and ARRI units,” says the venue’s house lighting designer, Kieran Somers. “We required a console that had the power and processing ability to run the new system. Often, I have to design full lighting productions from scratch within very tight deadlines, so the console had to be intuitive to allow me to design and program effectively.”
Avolites is known throughout the lighting sector as a leader in intuitive control interfaces. Its consoles are both powerful and accessible to users and the brand’s own software, Titan, is designed to allow a user to work in a visual way that best suits them. “I really like the Arena’s quick-to-access interface,” says Kieran. “It allows me to design and program quickly and also means I can live-control and design rapid-fire events to a very high standard.”
The Arena has the largest control surface in the Avolites console range. Alongside its main touch screen, a second touch screen provides an additional workspace window that also labels the screen’s adjacent macro buttons and rotary pots. The fully assignable playback encoder pots allow intuitive control of channels and effects. The six LCD screens display electronic legends for 30 faders for speedy access to playbacks, fixtures and palettes. A brand new optical output means the Arena is equipped for fibre connections, an important feature for the venue which with a 3,000 capacity demanding a control infrastructure which maintains signal integrity over long distances.
The Arena also offers Multi-User compatibility, allowing the console to be used as a master, back-up or extra programming surface. This considerably reduces programming time by allowing multiple Titan programmers to work simultaneously before the main console takes charge. “The Arena is so far ticking all the boxes,” says Kieran. “I am really looking forward to exploring the console’s operating capabilities when we finally get some more down time in the venue.”
Aaron Cripps, AC-ET’s Regional Sales Representative for Eire who dealt with the sale, says “We’re pleased to be able to supply everything INEC needed, from our one-stop portfolio of entertainment technologies. We pride ourselves on offering customers a range of popular and leading brand solutions to choose from for their project such as Avolites to suit differing applications, technical needs and budgets.”
The first artist to be supported with the INEC Killarney’s new rig and control set-up was Spotify’s 2016 Artist of the Year and winner of Choice Music’s Song of the Year prize, Gavin James.
The venue has also hosted national and international music stars including Tom Jones, Snow Patrol, Kenny Rogers and The Script whose lighting designer Jamie Thompson is an avid Avolites user.
