ETC lights up Media City

When seeing is believing, getting solutions directly in front of customers is essential. ETC’s new Media City location looks to make that a reality, as Stuart Todd takes a tour

From humble beginnings back in 1975, a then 18-year-old Fred Foster began a journey into entertainment technology that would create an indelible legacy continuing to live on long after Fred’s time had passed. That culmination of continued determination and hard work ethic was realised with the opening of ETC’s new purpose-built studio. Sitting slap-bang in the middle of Dubai Media City, ETC Dubai – The Studio offers an unassuming entrance that gives way to all manner of bespoke product demonstration zones, training facilities, meeting spaces and smart design quirks.

It’s a not so subtle nod to the company’s expertise and standing in the industry, but also offers probably the largest single collection of ETC and High End Systems (HES) products outside of the company’s home US market. Upon arriving at the reception area to the studio, I was given two clear options: left would take me to the inner reception area and meeting space, while the path to my right would take me to a high-ceilinged space dubbed the Black Box – so called due to the blacked-out floors, walls and ceiling so as to optimise the lighting that would be cast onto it. On the left-hand side of the room, two architectural control systems from ETC are on display – a Paradigm and Echo – while over on the right side of the room, an HES Road Hog 4 console was being expertly demonstrated in conjunction with HES TurboRay, SolaWash 1000, SolaFrame 1000 Ultra Bright and SolaFrame 1000 High CRI fixtures.

In the middle of the room on a low-level truss was an array of ETC’s prized lighting solutions being controlled via an Ion XE20. These included ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Profile, ColorSource Spot and Relevé Spot moving heads.

At the far end of the Black Box, there was a great deal of attention being paid to a Gio@5 controller which was controlling the Desire D60 house lights together with three HES SolaFrame 750s by way of ETC’s new Augment3d software. This was especially interesting as the 3D modelling software was able to interact with most other lighting manufacturers’ hardware and would in turn offer an increased amount of control over an assembled lighting installation.

The building is located in Dubai’s Media City

As the name suggests, the program draws on augmented reality in order to accurately reproduce the stage or space that you are working within. It’s intended to be flawlessly used in conjunction with an Eos console but other options are available and more are in the new demonstration facility here in Dubai. It’s the culmination of a year-and-a-half’s work, from finding the right location and the right property, to fitting it out how we wanted.’

Mark Larcombe takes attendees through workflow on the Gio@5 console

Larcombe goes on to explain the goal of the studio. ‘We want to be able to show customers around our studio and what products we have, and ultimately encourage clients to attend our various training courses and product demonstrations. The whole premise of this space is to be as if you are walking into a permanent trade show environment. The first light that hits you is an ETC light, there are no standard light switches here, everything is controlled by ETC.’

With the Middle East market being a new priority, there was a slight gap in the hands-on services that ETC offered its customers. The studio is seen as a direct result of this need, yet training is also of huge importance to ETC. ‘As equipment gets more and more complex, and the more people are familiar with the equipment, the more they will use it and, to demonstrate it effectively, the right environment is key.’

ETC currently enjoys great exposure in the UAE at the likes of Dubai Parks and Resorts, Dubai Opera House, the Burj Khalifa, Warner Brothers in Abu Dhabi, the Royal Opera House in Oman as well as the upcoming Expo 2020.

Dedicated workstations have been created for all of the company’s console models

When you consider the scale and variety of this facility and the depth that each room goes into, the fact that every single lighting element of the ETC studio is made using ETC products is truly impressive. The manufacturer intends to maintain a wide selection of ETC and HES products in house and, when new products are launched, guests will be able to experience those first-hand straight away at The Studio.

A room with a view