20 Color Kinetics ICoves
13 CK Runs IFlex (up to 50 node runs)
14 CK ColorBlast 12
6 CK Color Burst 6
2 CK Touch Pads, IPlayers2, and ColorPlay
4 Elation Active Scans
2 Elation Octopod 80 (Sets of 8)
10 Elation Octopod 30 (Sets of 8)
2 Elation Proton Star
2 Elation UV Wash

When I was first approached about designing Ménage Ultra Lounge in Charlotte, North Carolina, I was both thrilled and terrified. It would be the first lighting install that had broken six figures, increasing the prestige and potential client base for my small company. As with all new jobs, Ménage became a breeding ground for knowledge, and hard knocks.

Jackelly Design, now known as Eye Dialogue LLC, has been freelancing indie rock shows for several years, with several installs in the portfolio. For the first meeting with a potentially big client, I put on some stylish rags, and approached the interview with the confidence of a young professional out to make a name for himself. I came to the conclusion that if he wanted a suit he would go with a big company. My best card has always been that I love lighting, and have a keen ability to stall until I have a chance to research the answer. Immediately, the owner had expressed interest in LED designs he had seen in Miami and Vegas. Although he did not mention any names, he showed some Color Kinetics pictures I recognized from the CK website. Recognizing the lights was just the edge I needed to start the process of Charlotte's largest LED installation.

I still don't know how to get an honest budget out of a client. Starting at around $150K, the budget was cut several times before the contract was signed. Signed at $85K, the contract was renegotiated the next week. The final contract allotted me $70K to design an 11,000 sq ft, three-story club. Immediately, I had to reevaluate my product lines in hopes of finding less expensive alternatives.

Color Kinetics has been the standard for LED development since I was first introduced to LED's in 2001. The newest lines are all water resistant and some are completely submersible, not to mention Color Kinetics' reputation for quality. Although these new features are nice, in some areas of my design I was paying for features that were unnecessary. After cutting the budget in half, I turned my attention to the Alkalite series endorsed by Elation Professional.

The space was full of many small areas forcing a localized design turning away from the typical big dance floor club. Three VIP platforms looking down on the main dance floor: Easy, down light the three sections. The VIP platforms look dark when no one is there and explode with color reflecting off the customers clothing when present. I was careful to position the LED pods inside of the platforms perimeter to darken the faces of the VIP's as they look onto the main floor creating the mystique necessary for a VIP area. The main floor has a tiny dance floor with a DJ booth in the corner. I used a quarter truss over the booth with four Elation Active Scans and an eight foot circle truss with four Robe 160 XT moving heads and two Elation Proton Stars. I had just designed several disco events and mirror balls kept coming to mind, so inside the circle I hung seven large disco balls in a tight cluster.

The most popular LED cliché is the frosted shield of plexiglass. Naturally both bars on the main floor use back lit plexiglass. A dance platform divides the main bar in the middle with both an up wash and a down wash on a 4x8 stage with 2 Color Blast 12s. The lip of the 32' bar is lit with two rows (4 x 16' strings) of IFlex by Color Kinetics, creating subtle hints of color on the beautiful wood-carved bar front. 6 ColorBlast 12s climb 10 feet of plexiglass shelving, providing an amazing display of color and bringing attention to the most important items in every bar: liquor. Under the VIP platforms on the main floor the designer created a room with everything red. The bar in this room is lit with 7 Octopod 30s by Alkalite. Two red-gelled pin spots on two separate mirror balls cause the red room to shimmer and travel across the windows to entice onlookers. The outer wall is made of beautifully aged brick perfect for the down light from three ColorBlast 12s between the three pairs of windows. Even though the designer wanted only the color red, I opted to use full color LEDs anyway. I painted the roomscape a strong red light with flickers of dim green light for a fire light effect, occasionally dipping into blue to create a night time ambience.

Due to the large number of fixtures in this room, I used two controllers: Martin Light Jockey for the Club lights and VIP areas, and Color Kinetics Color Play for the bar areas. I split up the fixtures onto two controllers to give power over the bar lights to the managers and the bartenders who need the light to work. I set up a touch screen to control the club lights and VIP areas for the guest DJ's and Lighting Director whose primary concern is the dance floor. The next problem I encountered was integrating the Octopods in the second bar into CK Color Play. First I had to create a pair of three pin to ethernet connectors. Next I had to integrate a six channel LED into CK Color Play which only uses 3 channel fixtures. The solution is simple to understand yet difficult to explain. Octopods use six channels: Channel 1:Rainbow effect, 2:Red, 3:Green, 4:Blue, 5:Strobe, 6:Sound. To use the functionality of CK Color Play, I had to put a dummy fixture before and after every Octopod fixture. I did this to absorb channel 1 so that fixture 2 would contain channels 2, 3, and 4. The first fixture in CK Color Play was a dummy fixture with two dead channels and the third being the rainbow channel 1. The next fixture was the standard RGB (Red, Green, Blue). After that a dummy fixture is placed in CK Color Play with the last two channels of the first fixture (strobe and sound) and the rainbow setting of the second. For example, your ninth fixture in your design is the first of eight Octopods. In CK Color Play, Fixture 9 has DMX channel 25. Address the Octopods starting with DMX channel 27 (not 28). Now fixtures 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, and 25 are dummy channels. Do not use them in a group. Channels 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, and 24 are the Octopod group, making them completely compatible with the CK Color Play System. Finally, For the VIP areas I used back ground cues in Light Jockey to run the Octopods.

Just a side note, using the macro function in the cue list of light jockey is an easy way to put LED delay effects that sweep across a line of lights. Also using the background cues is another great way to control functional lights separate from dance floor lights. To learn more visit Light Jockey Forum on line (www.martin.com/forum/). However for a system containing only LEDs, Color Kinetics makes the best controllers for maximizing the characteristics of LEDs.

The building has two stories above ground painted dingy white. Three pairs of windows are placed in the natural recesses between the structural columns. The perfect invitation for Charlotte's first exterior LED display in downtown was etched in the architectural thumbprint. 6 Color Burst 6's by Color Kinetics are controlled with a CK IPlayer programmed with CK Color Play. The 6 lights sit on the ledge above the first floor scrambling to the top of the building. The beautiful colors dance, sweep, crawl and mesmerize everyone passing by.

The middle floor is a massive island bar lined with metallic mountainous landscape. A single row of CK IFlex lines the lip of the bar highlighting the roughed metal sky. The bar island has another island in the middle with a stepped plexiglass tower of liquor lit with 20 CK IColor Coves. The lights are controlled with Color Play and a keypad controller under the center island. When they told me that they decided not to use projector screens against the only brick wall in the room, I jumped at the chance. I love brick. Stone is by far the best medium for light because of the naturally random shadows a sharp down light or up light will cast. I stretched my budget to include eight more Octopod 80s to down light the aged brick wall. However, the most interesting object in the middle floor is the slide, which spirals thru the room, traveling from the top floor to the basement.

The designer envisioned a slide completely covered with a cement mesh sculpted and painted to look like a massive Stalagmite. I bought 8 opti-pars to light this large sculpted stalagmite coming from the floor in the basement to the ceiling of the second floor. However, designs change especially in the club business. After going through several metamorphoses, the final result seemed to best fit the theme of the club. The slide was painted with metallic paint, giving it a futuristic feel. Seven opti-pars were used to down light the slide. Six opti-pars were gelled with six slightly different colors of Blue and the center of the slide the opti-par was gelled blood red. The slowly chasing pars cast light on the enormous spiraling slide down into the basement area.

The Basement has three rooms. I wanted the basement to be dark primarily to contrast with the other two floors, yet continue the theme. The bar is well lit with 8 Octopod 80s behind plexiglass, and the lip of the bar is lit with 2 rows of IFlex, reflecting the bar on the main floor. All the rooms have exposed rafters, providing plenty of locations to hide the fixtures from view. In the room containing the bar I used one set of Octopod 30s to down light the furniture to give the room a brighter conversational tone, echoing the VIP areas of the main floor. Instead of lighting the floor of the DJ room, I shot the 2 sets of Octopod 30s across the ceiling. This created a dance of color over head but a dark floor welcoming even the most timid dancer to join the party. Finally, the third room is top secret. If you want to see it, you have to rent it. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

I hope this has helped those who are just becoming exposed to the LED revolution. Hopefully this article has given you some ideas of how to design with LEDs and present some potential problems and possible solutions.