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Ready to Refocus – Solus Lighting Shines Spotlight on Services

Ready to Refocus - Solus Lighting Shines Spotlight on Services

Live events are back, but things have changed. There is a big need for professionals with high skills to produce measurable results across the industry.  

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Trust a Pro With Your Wedding Lighting

Trust a Pro With Your Wedding Lighting

Wedding reception lighting creates the perfect atmosphere. Showcase your vision through true lighting specialists!

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Five Things to Look for in a Corporate Event Lighting Company

Whether you’re welcoming the media or honoring your employees, lighting design is an integral part of creating an atmosphere. It’s an opportunity to showcase your brand and build long-lasting engagement with stakeholders. Planning any event takes time and careful coordination. The savvy planners know that something as unique as lighting is best left to the pros.

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Accessorizing Your Gear

A continuation of ‘Know Your Gear’… Now that you have selected the best fixtures to add to inventory, how are you going to use them? It’s time to start thinking about grip, control cable, power cable and distro. There is a decent chance, on a special event, that your distro may be seen to guests – there is an absolute chance that your cable will be visible. The look of your gear is just as important as how you lay it out and run it (stay tuned for that blog post!). Grip. In the special event lighting world you may be hanging these fixtures in a variety of different type of spaces, which requires different type of grip. Consider where, and how, you are hanging the fixtures – in a ballroom on a truss, in a tent, inside a piece of scenery or decor, top mounted to truss. All different

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Know Your Gear

Know the gear that you are going to purchase. Let’s look at LED lighting fixtures as an example. There are many many different choices of LEDs to add to inventory. While trade shows like LDI are an excellent opportunity to see a vast variety of gear from many different manufacturers all in one space, there isn’t too much of a chance to get some real quality time with what they are exhibiting. Vendors also typically bring their brand new, high end pieces of gear. If possible, you are going to want to get your hands on whichever piece of gear you are thinking of buying. Have the sales rep bring a demo fixture to your shop. Write down or have in mind some questions for the rep about the fixture, hook it up to a console and put it through your test. I know that it is possible to fall

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When it’s time to punt, are you ready?

No one likes the punt. Not in football, and certainly not on a gig. Sometimes, when the time crunch is on and it’s do or die time, you will have to punt. As a tech, how you handle the punt and what the end result looks like shows what you are made out of. Although no one wants to be in the position where an element of the design or a piece of gear just isn’t working, it happens. We all use a system wether it be Vectorworks, AutoCAD, old school paper & pencil drafting or making & triple checking gear lists, to ensure layout is solid and that spare fixtures can be built into the job. However, eventually you will find yourself in a situation where it’s just not going to happen on time. Sometimes it’s something small and only noticeable to the designer (which sounds like the better

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A Celebration Of Hope

It’s not very often that I will admit I am feeling nostalgic.  Although I’m more sentimental than I let on.  Earlier this month, we had the pleasure of working a benefit held at 8500 Euclid Avenue – the former home of the Cleveland Play House.  I spent many years in various capacities at the old House of Play, and luckily had some time to aimlessly wander my old stomping grounds.  It seemed every square foot sparked a memory.  Every backstage area, hallway, and stairwell had its own story about my time there.  I’m sure I’m not the only one.  Entering the vacant theatres was sad and almost sacred – like visiting the grave of a long lost friend. Seeing the spaces so lifeless was sobering. However, each space brought back memories of wonderful creative teams and productions from years past. Some of my favorite memories are of the Children’s Series

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Event Techs…What’s In Your Workbox?

Twitter has inspired me today!  More specifically, trade show veteran Melissa P. Michel inspired me with her “Trade Show Toolbox” blog entry.  I was reading over her blog post and I started thinking about what I always have with me at events, as a lighting tech.  As I was going through my list, I realized that the core of my workbox is always the same no matter if it is a “one-off” event or a large corporate conference that lasts for days. If I have the space (and luxury) to put an actual workbox on the truck it is a must!  If the space does not allow, or if the show is small enough, I have a back-up…which gets the job done, it’s just not on casters.  Ok, here we go… Spare Lamps – a decent ratio is one spare for every six fixtures, but the type of fixture will

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Holidays at home and around the world

Holidays at home and around the world

What are your favorite things to see and do around the holidays?  Here are some of our picks of holiday special events from close to home and around the globe. We’ll start off in Cleveland, Ohio – as that’s what we know best!  Here is an awesome guide from cleveland.com of must-sees for holiday vistors and locals alike.  One of our favorite holiday events happens in University Circle, Wade Oval Winter.  Here you will find an outdoor ice rink that features live music on Wednesdays and a couple of movie nights.  Admission to the rink is free, and if you show your rink wristband you get a discount at the museums around Wade Oval.  One of the museums offering the discount is the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  Through out December & the first weekend of January, CMNH presents Ice Age 2013: A Winter Event of Prehistoric Proportions.  Ice Age

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Who Says You Can’t Go Home?

Back in 2003, when the Case Western Reserve University MFA program made Cleveland Play House their home, I designed a production of Twelfth Night in the historic Brooks theatre with a fantastic creative team.  We were all familiar with how one another worked through the creative process and were truly in sync.  Challenges were overcome through collaboration, and the show turned out brilliant. I recently had the pleasure of designing the lighting for the CWRU/CPH MFA production of Twelfth Night now running in the Helen Theatre at Play House Square.  Having been involved with the program for many years, I was thrilled to be asked back and a bit nervous to be part a new team in a new space.  What if we didn’t click?  What if my process drove them crazy?  After all, it has been over seven years since I had designed for CPH.  What if they had

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