Venue: Privee
Location: New Delhi, India
Manufacturers: Avolites – UK, Guangzhou Brightsun Stage Lighting – China, JDX – China, MADRIX – Germany, Resolume – The Netherlands, Sinray – China
Distributors: Davelight – Australia, IES – India
Installers: Vvikas Verma – India, Chintan Patel – India, Pooran Rawat – India
Lighting / Visual Designers: Henry Schmidt, Shenzen Schmidt Technology, China / Kabali Ishwar Rao, India
Acousticians: RCF
Privee is among New Delhi's top clubs and famous for its strong nightlife program with international guest DJs as well as national superstars.
After a successful 3-year run, the extraordinary flair was in need of a makeover in order to stay exclusive. The owner asked for more visible lighting effects and innovative show elements. Out were the many screens on the ceiling, which now serve as information displays outside. In was a real breakthrough: custom lighting panels that can be flipped. With P3.91mm LED video tiles on the one side and LED moving heads on the other, this innovation has the power to quickly transform the venue's lighting. The vision of lighting designer Henry Schmidt was to bring the rhythm of the music to the lights.
In fact, the lighting design factors in two stages for the night. In the beginning of the night, when people are starting to pour into the club, 500 m of digital LED RGB pixel tape provide ambient lighting, visuals accents, and a modern design. Later on, fast and energetic lighting heats up the atmosphere as it reaches its climax.
Thanks to the built-in movement and a special steel construction created by the venue's team for mounting, the 12 panels of 3 meters by 0.5 meters can literally be turned from simple LED lounge displays into multi-functional stage-light areas with a total of 144 moving heads (which themselves are 60W RGBW pixel fixtures without any fans or belts). In this way, party-goers face a new kind of audio-visual experience.
On the technical side, 6 MADRIX NEBULA advanced SPI converters and 4 MADRIX LUNA 8 Art-Net nodes manage the lighting control data over Ethernet network. And on the operator's side, this installation is easy to operate from one central software: MADRIX 5 (MADRIX 5 KEY professional). This also allows the 12 sections to be grouped or controlled individually for movement animations or individual setups.
MADRIX effects and visuals were pre-programmed and split into scenes for lounging, dancing, and sound-to-light. Resolume continues to run the screens and an Avolites Titan One at a second operator spot controls the moving heads and special effects, such as CO2 and confetti. 111 meters of LED RGB Spot-Beam-Bars and complement the elaborate lighting system.
The main problem was the short time frame of only 15 days and because the club continued operation the entire time with a lot of events and bookings in advance. While a lot of manpower was available, the technology was not easy to install. In addition, the local operator was trained to get the most out of the refreshed installation.
It is not a big installation. This is not Las Vegas or Ibiza. Still, this project comes from the heart with a most innovative and creative solution that has its world premiere in India. It is a country lively full of emotions, design, and music. It is a country that is ready for the next generation. I have never seen such powerful teamwork, attention to all the details, effective organization, and friendliness like I have seen in this place. And when the night finally starts, the people simply love to dance.