When the business plan for a cutting-edge bar or nightclub is excitedly assembled and the investor interest has been piqued, one of the first factors of the hopeful concept under consideration –– beyond architecture and furnishings –– is the space’s lighting.
    Visions of colors, hues and patterns dance to mind, and typically a substantial portion of a bar’s budget is allocated accordingly –– after all, everyone wants this club to set the scene. Once the opening night fireworks subside, though, and operations turn to more of a day-to-day routine, has the lighting been neglected? Were all the pre-opening issues thoroughly thought out and prepared for, and are those all taken care of today?
    Ron Gauvreau II, president of Pro Sight & Sound LLC in Tucson, Ariz., addresses these issues and more as he speaks with Nightclub & Bar about what operators can do to solidify their lighting setups.
    “If units are serviced in a regular basis, the investment will last longer and the ‘look’ will last longer,” Gauvreau says. “A monthly budget must be said aside for this. Plus, it’s a write-off for the installation (this should be a ‘no-brainer!’).”
    Still, many owners/operators take this necessity for granted, and often high-dollar lighting systems and accoutrements become liabilities rather than assets. This especially pertains to nightclubs, which naturally have more “wear and tear” than bars that may only showcase their setups 1-2 times a week, Gauvreau says.

Look Ahead With Events and Options
    Beyond routine maintenance, though, operators have solid options to protect their investments –– some of which are the investments themselves. The constant evolution of technology and ways in which modern lighting schemes can be used (corporate events or color-backed theme promotions, for example) now allows operators to implement and utilize the profit power of this technology to take promotions over the top. Gauvreau says some of today’s greatest lighting innovation includes LED fixtures, no heat, no gels, fantastic moving yoke fixtures and moving head video projectors.

Effects and Equality
    Across the Atlantic in Ibiza, Spain, one of the world’s most revered club destinations, lighting is as important as the international DJ talent who frequent there, and perhaps nowhere is this as true than at Space Ibiza.
    Voted “World’s Best Club” at the Miami Winter Music Conference two years running, as well as Dance Music Awards “Best Club,” no clubber’s visit to the White Isle would be complete without at least one Space session –– and the lighting attracts them without a doubt.
    The club does not maintain a main LD, however. Instead, lighting design is a collaborative effort between managers, the owner, Pepe Roselló, and three technicians: Juan Monerris, Juan Gomez and Oscar Colorado, the last two also resident DJs. “We all work together to keep the spirit of this magical place,” says Pedro Comesaña, production manager at Space.
    The club’s main terrace, for an example of the lengths to which owners will go to wow their guests, includes 6 Martin MAC 250 Krypton, 6 MX-10 scanners, 4 RoboScan Pro 918, 8 MAC 600 washlights, 8 MAC 500 profile spots, 4 MAC 550 profiles, and 4 Atomic 3000 strobes with color scrollers, along with 12 Coemar PRO LX, 2 City Colors, 40 par 64s and a massive spider net on the ceiling with 300 lamps and 100 small strobes, all controlled via a Pearl 2004. The club also splashes effects from Martin Mania effect lights.
    "We don’t have a VIP area because here we think we are all equal under the effects of lights and music,” Comesaña says. “Every year we build something new so that when we open the doors in June, it’s always different.” NCB