Manchester-based dbnAudile has served as event technology providers for The Warehouse Project ever since the series of popular club nights debuted in 2006. This year, seeking a new linear lighting effect that could provide amazing visuals whilst ensuring operation in wet conditions, the company turned to Elation’s versatile Proteus Rayzor Blade.
Pete Robinson, Project Manager for dbnAudile, has served as lighting designer since The Warehouse Project’s inception. He explained that the 10,000-capacity former railway station is a significantly bigger venue than the previous location and therefore required upscaled production. “Each year we try to find an upgrade or change in design to keep the look fresh and interesting, and this year we were looking for something more interesting than the LED bars we’ve been using the past few years,” he commented.
“The Rayzor Blades jumped out at us, not only because they are brighter and punchier than the previous LED bars we were using, but with the strobe effect and sparkle feature we felt they were a more versatile fixture,” Robinson continued.
Available with six or 12 independently controlled 60W LEDs, the Proteus Rayzor Blade is a linear wash and effect light that zooms to 6° for mid-air beams and out to 45° for washes. The fixture incorporates two high-intensity strobe lines, and also includes Elation’s proprietary SparkLED twinkle effect. Additionally, a 210° tilt rotation allows them to position dynamically.
“We get lots of incoming LDs using the rig and lots of floor packages coming in. So the design is based around it being versatile as a receiving house, but it’s also a design that stands on its own. We feel that the Rayzors have pushed this further,” commented Robinson.
Positioned in the room above the dance floor, 56 Rayzor Blades were installed, with 16 additional units above the stage. A Rayzor Blade S (half meter) was placed on the inside top of each pillar, alongside a Rayzor Blade L (one meter) on the outside top of each pillar.
“We wanted to get more out of them by putting them at a 45-degree angle so we get coverage right down the dancefloor, and we’ve mimicked that on stage by hanging them at similar angles underneath our stage trusses,” Robinson revealed.
Because of the 45-degree angle onto the stage, Robinson said that some LDs have used them as a stage wash: “The quality of the light and the fact that they are getting the right skin tone colours out of them has been really nice. We’ve only used this type of fixture as an effect light in the past but using them as a stage wash, also for skin tones with warm white light, has worked out really well.”
The Rayzor Blades produce striking linear moving beam effects throughout the space, with its powerful strobe lines stepping up when the action calls for impactful bursts of light.
However, it is another attribute of the light that Robinson found particularly distinctive. “It does beam effects very well, the same as the strobe, but it is the sparkle effect (SparkLED) that I find most unique,” he said. “It’s a very special look and the entire space looks fantastic.”
dbnAudile’s Rayzor Blades will be adorning The Warehouse Project through to the end of the year. “We do a lot of festivals and I think these products will feature heavily on those,” Robinson concluded. “Especially now that we have something that can go on the front truss or as a footlight on front of stage, which is not something we’ve been able to do with similar fixtures.”
