One of the most successful off-the-Strip venues in Las Vegas, South
Point Hotel and Casino is captivating guests at its ultra-busy Showroom and is
doing it with an economical dynamic lighting package from Elation Professional
that includes LED pixel mapping effects. Who says you need to invest in
expensive high-end video products to create an amazing atmosphere?
Operating from the southwest Las Vegas valley, South Point is one of Las
Vegas’s more unique resorts with amenities like an equestrian arena, 64-lane
bowling center and the most convention center space off the Strip. South Point also
operates a busy 400-seat Showroom facility that features headliner
entertainment, live bands and other acts on a daily basis. In June, the
Showroom’s lighting was recently upgraded using Elation
EPAR QA and Opti QA color-changing LED PAR lights, along with Elation Flex LED
Tape.
The South Point Showroom
operates 7 days a week the majority of the year with multiple shows on stage
each day for an astounding average of over 400 different shows a year. Main
acts range from one-night events to continuous night runs with other shows staged
prior to or directly after.
“We will routinely turn the
room over in 60 minutes,” comments Jason Lein, who is responsible for managing
the constant changeover in production and also handles lighting design and
lighting gear installation at the South Point Showroom. “From the time one band
or event do their end-of-show bows we have done the next events load-in, sound
check and open doors for the next performance within a 60 minute time window.
The first thing people think of is ‘man, you’ve got to have a crew that knows their
stuff,’ which we do. But we also have to provide them with the right tools that
can work reliably because we don’t have the time to be regularly fiddling with
it.”
As with most production houses, Lein says they were looking
for that perfect PAR 64 replacement. “I needed something bright that has the
same color response that we have grown used to with conventional lighting,” he
states. “Also, we needed a fixture that has the perfect balance of build
quality to budget ratio. The Elation LED PARs have filled this gap for us.” The
EPAR QA and Opti QA LED PAR lights handle a variety of lighting tasks in the
Showroom including FOH wash, audience wash and side wash needs, along
with architectural looks throughout the room.
In a resourceful lighting effect solution, Elation Flex LED
Tape is used to color a series of side-wall architectural louvered panels to
the left and right of the stage. Thin and flexible with a bright yet low heat
output, the LED pixel tape houses RGB LEDs at 40mm centers and is an easy
solution for simple color washing and pixel mapping possibilities.
Responsible for updating the venue’s existing color-changing
architectural panels to the Elation Flex LED Tape was Blue Planet Lighting, Inc. (http://www.blueplanetlighting.com). “We chose to use the Flex Tape because of the cost,
brightness, configurability and effect capabilities,” Kelly Koster, President
of Blue Planet Lighting, comments. “The brightness and ease of install and
setup really stood out.” Blue Planet installed an Elation Zeus Media Server to run a
wide variety of effects to the Flex Tape and also programmed the interface.
Installation
of the entire Elation system was done by South Point with the technical
direction of Blue Planet, who got everything to talk together properly. “The overall installation, setup and programming of the
Elation system was incredibly simple,” Koster concludes. “It has inspired us to come up with inventive new ideas for
this type of pixel-mapped installation.” Vendor for the Elation Flex LED
Tape and Elation LED PAR’s was Elation dealer Solotech of Las Vegas.
Equipment:
34 x Elation EPAR QA
8 x Elation Opti QA PAR
42 x rolls Elation Flex LED Tape
42 x Elation Flex LED driver
42 x Elation Flex LED 5vpsu
1 x Elation Zeus Media Server
7 x Acclaim AL Net 8 Pro image driver
