32 REP ORT: NIGH T CLUBS
U NIV E R SAL COMPANY: SHOW TECHNOLOGY LOCATION: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
After its closure in 2017, Darlinghurst’s legendary gay venue, Midnight Shift, has been resurrected by Universal Hotels, a Sydney-based hospitality group owned and operated by the Kospetas family. Universal Hotels picked up the 1000 sq metre building last June for a reported AUD12 million and have relaunched it as Universal, a rebranded music venue and LGBTIQA+ safe place. “Universal is an evolution of the Midnight Shift, rather than a revolution,” explained owner Jim Kospetas, who plans to respect the special role that the venue has played for the LGBTIQA+ community and continue its long-held legacy of inclusivity. Jim, who is very tech savvy, contacted Show Technology with a brief that was music to the ear - lots and lots of fixtures. He wanted masses of beams and good sight lines throughout the venue. Tim Macfie of TDM Productions was chosen to design the lighting system due to his long standing reputation within the clubbing world, plus his understanding of the gay community, as well as the straight events held at the venue. “They wanted someone who could meet the needs of all markets,” he explained. “As it’s a really tough time in Sydney for nightlife, we needed to look at ways to multifunction the space. Consequently, it was crucial to bring the lighting up to a world class level from a production point of view.”
Tim was keen to create lines of symmetry in the room, while keeping the three circular trusses that the Midnight Shift was known for. Therefore, the initial refurb saw the entire roof stripped out and a brand new mother grid installed. The truss circles were relocated within the venue and a new stage truss established. Each of the three truss circles is ringed by eight Martin by HARMAN RUSH MH10 Beam FX, a compact and lightweight fixture with an independent, built-in LED ring. The LED ring offers the venue a range of new design opportunities, and the continuous pan and tilt also provides a number of interesting high-speed looks. These unique looking fixtures are certainly a talking point in the venue and Tim loves that they can spin a full 360° without stopping. “With 24 individually-controllable LEDs surrounding a central beam lens, the RUSH MH 10 FX offers us so many visual effect possibilities,” he said. “We added a further 14 RUSH MH 10 FX located on trusses down the side of the venue. They really are an excellent choice for a range of creative applications.” The venue is embellished by a myriad of mirror balls, mirror cubes and a DJ box with a fascia of 1,500 pieces of hand-cut mirror tiles - so lots of beam action was important to get the most out of the mirrors. Consequently, each circular truss also houses four EK K4 LED Beam moving heads
that produce tight, solid beams with 17 gobos and ultra-smooth pan/tilt movement. State-of-the-art LED and optics combine to deliver the coolest brightest beam of its size. “The K4 LED Beams are very bright and have a very fast pan/tilt rotation,” added Tim. “By adding them to the truss circles I got the symmetry required for the mirror ball hits. We placed eight more down the side of the room to create a different perspective from mezzanine level.” For a bit of flash, two Martin by HARMAN RUSH Strobe CWL were added to each truss circle with two more located on the bridges framed by mirror clusters. The versatility of these bright and compact LED linear strobes means they can deliver a single flash to a blinder effect, making them the perfect companion for the rest of Tim’s rig. Tim’s design is targeted towards the centrepieces within the truss circles; each truss circle envelops an Ayrton CosmoPix-R, crystal bead chandeliers and mirror cubes on the centre ring and additional mirror effects on the outer ring. Tim worked closely with Peter Sykes from Psyklonic in all the mirror ball creations and the pair of them decided to go one step further. “As the CosmoPix-R is shaped like a mirrorball, we couldn’t resist turning it into one,” laughed Tim. “Once you start using your imagination you soon realise this light has a 100 different cool effects.
