Over 150 ADJ Fixtures Shine Bright Across Three Halls At The Dagcollege Indoor Festival

Techno promoter Nachtcollege (Night college) started out organizing student events: during the day students would study at college, then in the evening they would attend ‘Night college’ to party! The name stuck and was adapted to Dagcollege when the organization began also organizing all-day events. The most recent installment took place in September 2023 and was hosted at the historic Klokgebouw event space in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, which is housed in a former factory building that has been a landmark of the city for over 80 years. The event spread across three of the Klokgebouw’s event halls, with the similarly sized Halls B and C featuring techno artists and the smaller Hall D space focusing on house music.

For Hall B, the teams from Spectrum AV and Nachtcollege worked collaboratively to create a very distinctive lighting rig. The basis for this was a large truss structure, comprised of three nested hexagonal shapes hanging on an angle behind the DJ position, together with a series of six angular arch-shaped trusses hanging above the crowd. Spectrum AV’s General Manager, Lex Willems, selected two key fixtures to bring these to life: ADJ’s 32 HEX Panel IP and Encore LB15 IP.

“Nachtcollege’s Technical Producer, Jeroen de Haan, created a first draft of the truss layout, with the object above the stage and the trusses above the crowd and asked us to suggest how we could fill it with lights,” explains Lex. “Because the object above the stage was so visually ‘in your face’, I liked the idea of using the 32 HEX Panel IPs to overlay a different shape on top of it – a large cross. This looked really impressive; because the truss was on an angle, the output from the LED panels backlit the DJ setup, which did a good job of drawing attention to the DJ. Then, because the trusses above the audience had side sections that angled down, I thought it would be a good idea to add LED bars to highlight that arched shape and create the feel of surrounding the crowd with light. It was only when we got on site that we realized what an amazing effect this would create, each LED on the Encore LB15IPs created a visible beam, which made the rig stand out as very different to anything we’d done before.”

The Encore LB15IP features 15 separate high output 4-in-1 color mixing LEDs that each incorporate individually controllable red, green, blue and lime elements. Each LED is rated at 20-Watts and offers a wide variety of color options achieved through mixing the four primary colors at varying levels of intensity. These include white light with a variable color temperature of 2700K to 7000K, which can be easily selected using either linear control or one of six preset macros. Inclusion of the lime LED element boosts both CRI and perceived brightness as well as filling in gaps in the color spectrum.

“We first ordered the Encore LB15IPs as full color replacements for our aging Sunstrips,” comments Lex. “However, when we received them, we realized that they are extremely versatile fixtures. We often use them as footlights, to light décor or for pixel-mapped ‘eye candy’ effects, but, on this event, we discovered they also create a really nice ACL effect. The output is fantastic and the beam from each LED is really defined. When we positioned them above the crowd, angled directly down, in significant quantities, they really looked amazing. We’re now planning to use these fixtures in this way for other upcoming projects.”

In addition to the wash fixtures, the Spectrum AV team also utilized 36 of ADJ’s extremely popular Vizi Beam RXONE dedicated beam fixtures. These compact yet extremely potent moving heads were deployed in sets of three, stacked vertically and positioned along each side of the room. This allowed piercing aerial effects to sweep over the crowd, shooting through the blocks of colored light created by the Encore LB15IPs. The result was a distinctive lighting rig which completely enveloped the crowd with intense beams and vibrant colors.

In Hall C, more Encore LB15IP fixtures were deployed to illuminate décor panels hanging above the audience. These were combined with ADJ’s compact Focus Flex LED wash-zoom fixtures and Hydro Beam X12 beam moving heads to create a very different, but equally effective lightshow. The Focus Flex fixtures, with their wide zoom range, were utilized both to generate vibrant color washes and chunky beam effects. Meanwhile, the Hydro Beam X12s, each powered by a potent 260W Philips® Platinum 12R LL MSD discharge lamp, were used to create a variety of aerial effects utilizing colors, GOBO patterns and rotating prisms.

“The Hydro Beam X12 is one of our most used fixtures,” states Lex. “Because it is IP65-rated, we can use it for indoor events, like this one, as well as outdoor stages. It is incredibly bright, which means that even on the biggest outdoor festivals it really holds its own, while indoors its beam is truly intense. It also has all the features that we need, is manageable in terms of size and weight, and is priced to allow us to make a good return on our investment.”

Finally, the Spectrum AV team deployed additional Focus Flex fixtures, alongside Encore FR50Z LED-powered Fresnels, in the smaller Hall D. Once again, the Focus Flex units – rigged from a pair of trusses running down either side of the narrow room – were utilized for both beam and wash effects. The Encore FR50Z fixtures interspersed the moving heads and, unusually, were utilized as low power, yet highly effective, warm white blinders.

DagCollege 2023 provided a perfect showcase for both the creativity of Spectrum AV and the versatility of ADJ’s range of professional luminaires. From feature-packed moving heads to simple wash fixtures, and from the large main halls to the intimate smaller space, the ADJ portfolio provided the tools necessary for Spectrum AV’s team to deploy imaginative lighting setups that were appropriate to each space and contributed to an incredible atmosphere throughout the venue.

Event
Dagcollege 2023
www.nachtcollege.com

Production Company
Spectrum AV
www.spectrumav.nl

ADJ Gear List

Hall B
42 x Encore LB15IP
36 x Vizi Beam RXONE
9 x 32 Hex Panel IP

Hall C
24 x Focus Flex
12 x Vizi Beam 12RX
12 x Encore LB15IP

Hall D
28 x Focus Flex
16 x Encore FR50Z