Working with Danish distributor Bico, ETC recently completed commissioning of a new dimming and control system for the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Located in Copenhagen, the venue’s main Concert Hall now features a Unison Paradigm system with 24 ways of dimming to control the house and rehearsal lights, along with an sACN network system.
These aspects of the specification are connected to both a new Ion control desk and several wall-mounted fader stations. Two 48-way Sensor dimming racks and five gateways have also been installed for show light.
Søren Jørgensen, sales project manager at Bico, commented: “This year, we were tasked with updating all their old dimmers with streaming ACN (sACN) and integrating the house and stage lighting. After doing on-site tests with the Ion and another manufacturer’s desk, the Ion was specified because it operates silently – it will normally be placed in the middle of the auditorium, so it was important that there should not be any audible fan noise to disturb the audience or performers. Bico also supplied 40 ETC Source Four PARs and four Source Four Revolution moving lights – again, specified in order to avoid any unnecessary noise.
“The technical staff were up and running on the new desk almost immediately – so far we’ve only needed to give them two hours tuition, but we promised to return if they feel they’ve reached the limit of what they can teach themselves.”
The flexibility of the Unison Paradigm system was one of the primary factors behind its specification, as Jørgensen explained: “By integrating the Paradigm with the sACN and the preinstalled network, the system can be used to snapshot the rehearsal light, so they can set the performance lighting on their Ion, then the state can be recorded onto a Paradigm fader. So, say they want a pre-set state for the conductor, or some for a symphony orchestra, they easily program that to the system, rather than an operator having to be called to set the lighting each time.”
Bryan Palmer, ETC’s associate product manager for architectural controls and networking, told IE: “Facilities like the Royal Danish Academy benefit greatly from the flexibility that Paradigm provides. Lighting can be operated from either the Paradigm system or the Ion console, adapting fluidly to the facility’s daily needs.”
