Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre is Australia’s biggest venue and one of the busiest, with more than 1,000 events hosted each year.
In 2019, the year before the pandemic, MCEC contributed more than $1.1 billion to the Victorian economy. In the following COVID-impacted years, MCEC took the opportunity to build new capabilities and capacity for innovation. This included investing in new lighting technology.
Now MCEC is welcoming back national and global events and collaborating with the state and federal governments to lead the industry recovery. They are more than ready to take on the influx of events!
Main Lighting Inventory
MCEC’s ‘floating’ lighting inventory has grown significantly with investment in 28 Ayrton Mistral Spot S and 16 Ayrton Eurus S Profile.
“These fixtures tick all the boxes,” said Matt Dix, MCEC’s Lighting Specialist. “They are excellent in terms of size and weight, performance, output and optics and will be a real workhorse for MCEC.”
MCEC also purchased 48 Prolights Ruby FCX Beam and 16 Prolights ELC Cyclorama 100.
“We have purchased the Ruby FCX Beams in the past,” said Matt. “The new product has an RGB LED chip, which means the saturated colours are very impressive.”
The Prolights ELC Cyclorama 100 were purchased for use in the Plenary Theatre as they work well with the theatre’s 16-metre high roof.
As MCEC regularly hosts large events, including spectacular gala events, wash lights and followspots offer excellent effects and control. MCEC purchased 56 ShowPRO Pluto 2000 LED Wash units and four Robert Juliat Arthur LED Followspots.
“The RJ’s output works great in our Plenary Theatre, which has a fairly big throw,” said Matt. “They are also easy to use and control when needed.”
MCEC also updated its power distribution with the addition of two StageSmarts smartPDU 48, which are ideal for large events that require better power management.
“The socapex on the back makes it easy for our crew to manage power calculations,” commented Matt. “The feature set is great, especially as you have all the readouts on every channel. The web server has been very useful for system techs, allowing them to link them together and view them on a screen. They give you peace of mind.”
MCEC has also invested in MA Lighting International consoles, which is a solid and familiar platform, adding three grandMA3 light consoles and three grandMA3 onPC command wing XT consoles to its inventory.
Fixed Installation Rooms
MCEC has several rooms with fixed lighting installations, including the Melbourne Room, which houses 26 Ayrton Diablo Profile and 26 Ayrton Levante Wash lights. Essentially a banquet space, the room often uses light framing of the walls and washing of individual tables.
“The wash fixture has a small lens on the end so you get minimal lens flare,” said Matt. “This means it can wash the space without annoying people in the room. A great feature in the Levante is the gobos that enable you to do some great breakups through the wash, particularly with lots of haze. Coupled with the Diablos, we can do just about anything in the room.”
MCEC’s meeting rooms were upgraded with 39 Prolights ECL Display Profile and 93 Prolights ECL Display Fresnel.
“The Prolights’ options and their size, colour temperature and price are excellent,” said Matt. “Their lenses are very good, with a proper Fresnel lens in a really small form factor, and they’re interchangeable so we can simply create the fixture we need.”
Matt added that easy-to-access support and servicing are also important when selecting technology and Show Technology has always delivered.
“Whenever we have event-critical problems they’re on the phone or down here straight away,” he said. “They also do the service work close by in Melbourne which is important to us.”
