Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Tom Kenny chooses Ayrton Khamsin-S for the iHeartCountry Festival 2020

21/11/2020

Tom Kenny chooses Ayrton Khamsin-S for the iHeartCountry Festival 2020 posted: 20/11/2020

Ayrton Khamsin-S puts on a performance with Tom Kenny on the iHeartCountry Festival in Nashville.

Lighting designer, Tom Kenny chose Ayrton Khamsin-S profiles as key lights in his design for this year's iHeartCountry Festival, presented by Capital One, which was live streamed globally and broadcast on iHeartMedia's country radio stations on 23 October. Bandit Lites supplied 24 of Ayrton's Khamsin-S fixtures for this 7th annual celebration of country music which was rescheduled from its original slot in May at the Frank Erwin Centre in Austin, Texas, and relocated to The Steel Mill in Nashville, Tennessee.

Kenny is a lighting designer with over 40 years of experience on both sides of the Atlantic who moves easily between lighting live music and television spectaculars. His client list includes rock superstars like Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, David Byrne, Eric Clapton, David Bowie and The Who, and his television credits number a multiplicity of music award shows, documentaries and TV specials.

Ayrton Khamsin-S puts on a performance with Tom Kenny on the iHeartCountry Festival in Nashville.

I'd always wanted to use Ayrton's new fixtures, having used their effects lighting many times before, yet never had the chance until now, Kenny says. So when Bandit Lites approached me with the Khamsin-S, I jumped at the opportunity.

The Khamsin-S fixtures were installed in the overhead grid of The Steel Mill's 200ft x 79ft studio from where Kenny used them for back, front and key lighting of the bands and as scenery' for single artists.

The Khamsins were amazing in all aspects: the colour, power, speed and colour temperature were all perfect for television lighting - the temperatures in particular were just beautiful, says Kenny. Every lamp was perfect on set up and stayed perfect without any adjustment.

Ayrton Khamsin-S puts on a performance with Tom Kenny on the iHeartCountry Festival in Nashville.

I'm very fortunate that many manufacturers ask me to try out their latest fixtures on my TV shows. I like trying new products and can be relied upon to give them an honest opinion. The Khamsins are just fabulous lights and I was really impressed with them.

The iHeartCountry Festival line up included veteran and new country stars from Dierks Bentley and Lady A to Kelsea Ballerini and Dustin Lynch, and Kenny made sure the Khamsin-S fixtures were kept busy throughout the day and night.

On a show like this which involves so many artists from different age groups and styles, I am like a coffee shop barrista when it comes to the lighting! says Kenny. I need to be ready for anything in an instant What do you want? Order it up and off we go!' The Khamsins handled it all with ease. They were extremely versatile and quick, reacting to every situation and demand in super-quick time without any problems.

Ayrton Khamsin-S puts on a performance with Tom Kenny on the iHeartCountry Festival in Nashville.

We were able to create some really dramatic stand-out moments such as the beautiful backlighting for Kelsea Ballerini - any time you can turn everything off and use a single backlight is a real wow moment! And for Dierks Bentley I was able to use them in a way that was reminiscent of old Leko/theatrical lighting. I didn't treat the Khamsins as moving lights and they were perfect for lighting both young and mature artists in a sympathetic way.

Kenny was also impressed with the output of the Khamsin, despite The Steel Mill's throw distance being shorter than he is used to. You could see the Khamsins had lots of power and depth to spare even though the trim height at The Steel Mill is only 25ft. They were up against a grid of very powerful other products and lots of heavy smoke effects, but they cut their way through everything with ease. They kept their colour and shape and performed wonderfully under the stress. They are just gorgeous and I'm going to start spec'ing them on many more shows.

This is something that pleases the Festival's lighting vendors, Bandit Lites, a long-time advocate of Ayrton. Mike Golden and I were really pleased that Tom spec'd Khamsin-S on the recent iHeart event at the Steel Mill, says Dizzy Gosnell, Production Director at Bandit Lites who points out: The missing link for lighting companies has been the availability of a high output LED powered profile head, and the Ayrton Khamsin-S really ticks all the boxes for us at Bandit with its features. Of course, not having a bulb in there to go brown on you' is a major deal for companies and designers alike. And add to that the thumping output coming out of the front end, great beam width capacity, colour mixing, good framing, 540 pan, good CRI for video, to name just a few. We're really happy that we have the Khamsin-S in our arsenal at Bandit.

About Ayrton:

AYRTON is specialized in developing intelligent LED light products for Entertainment and Architectural applications.

Based south of Paris, France, the AYRTON Headquarters and Research & Development centre combine and organize the highest competence in engineering, software, electronics and optics, with the aim to create highly innovative fixtures.

AYRTON fixtures are created to answer any demanding installation and criteria, and are distributed through devoted and exclusive worldwide teams. AYRTON uses reliable, flexible and avant-garde technologies linked to innovative design, to provide AYRTON customers with a wide range of pioneer lighting solutions for installation in Stages, TV Studios, Show-venues and Architectural schemes.
LINK: https://www.live-production.tv/news/shows/tom-kenny-chooses-ayrton-kha...
See more stories from liveproduction

Most recent headlines

09/11/2025

Dalet Unveils Agentic AI Media Workflows at IBC2025

Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

18/09/2025

DirecTV Adds Three Sports Channels to Its FAST Streaming Offering

DirecTV continues to expand its women's sports offerings by adding Sports Fanatics' and Whoopi Goldberg's Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) All Wo...

18/09/2025

Fall Football Kicks Off With Native HDR Production, NextGen TV Telecast

WASHINGTON NextGen TV viewers are beginning to see what high dynamic range (HDR) brings to their football enjoyment with the launch of the sport's fall seas...

18/09/2025

FCC Extends Deadline for EEO Audit Replies

WASHINGTON After issuing audit letters seeking Equal Employment Opportunity data from a randomly selected group of TV and radio stations in August, the Federal ...

18/09/2025

Warner Bros. Discovery Signs New Deal with Nielsen

NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery and Nielsen have signed a new, long-term, multi-year deal that covers measurement for all Warner Bros. Discovery platforms acros...

18/09/2025

CIMM Launches Startup Program and Innovation Showcase

NEW YORK As part of its ongoing efforts to develop better measurement solutions, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) announced the launch of t...

18/09/2025

UPDATED: ABC Takes 'Jimmy Kimmel Live! Off the Air Indefinitely

IRVING, Texas Following threats from the Federal Communications Commission and the announcement that the nations largest station group, Nexstar Media Group, wou...

17/09/2025

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learning

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learni...

17/09/2025

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challenge for Sports Broadcasting

Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challeng...

17/09/2025

Dua Lipa's Service95 Book Club' Goes Live at the New York Public Library

It was the ultimate convergence of pop culture and literary prestige: Last night, Dua Lipa brought her Service95 Book Club podcast to the stage for a special li...

17/09/2025

The Gauge: Mexico August 2025

During August, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico showed an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous month, accounting for 25% of TV viewing. Discl...

17/09/2025

Jo Aun Joins FOR-A America as Senior Manager, Product Engineering

CYPRESS, Calif. FOR-A America has named Jo Aun as senior manager of product engineering, a new role responsible for guiding the planning, development and rollou...

17/09/2025

PlayBox Neo and CIS Group Power CazeTV with a seamless Pl...

PlayBox Neo, in partnership with CIS Group, a leading provider of media and broadcast technology solutions, has successfully deployed PlayBox Neo's Dual Cha...

17/09/2025

Energy Regulatory Agency Underscores Commitment with Ene...

In a relationship that mirrors societal advances in sustainability, Brightline Lighting and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Headquarters have en...

17/09/2025

Clear-Com Powers Star-Studded Communications at Houston A...

Clear-Com is proud to support the world-class productions of Alley Theatre, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit resident theatres in the United States. With...

17/09/2025

Arch Platform Technologies Announces Strategic Collaborat...

Arch Platform Technologies (www.archpt.io), a pioneer in automated, scalable cloud infrastructure for high-performance workflows, today announced a Strategic Co...

17/09/2025

With over 39bn EUR in assets under management and record-...

Over 300 selected decision-makers from start-ups, corporates, and VC funds worldwide will gather for the third edition of the event, united by a single goal: to...

17/09/2025

Telestream Celebrates Award Win at IBC2025

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, is excited to announce that its flagship Vantage platform and its next-generation AI capabilities re...

17/09/2025

Mediagenix Celebrates Triple Best of Show Wins at IBC2025...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions that profitably connect the right content to the right audience, proudly announces its three Best of Show...

17/09/2025

PlayBox Neo Appoints Transtel Universal as Top Reseller P...

In a move to further establish a firm foothold across South East Asia, PlayBox Neo, the well-respected name in broadcast playout and channel branding, has appoi...

17/09/2025

Wisycom Unveils Two New Solutions at IBC 2025

Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless audio solutions, announced two major wireless solutions at IBC 2025 (Stand 8.D30). This includes the Portable RF-o...

17/09/2025

Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards

Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards The recipients were recognized for their contributions to acclaimed programs Severance, The Studio, The Penguin, SNL50: The...

17/09/2025

Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo

Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo The weeklong contemporary music program will run January 5-10, 2026. By Colette Greenstein September 17, 2025 ...

17/09/2025

Ukrainian Students Find Creative Consonance' at Berklee Valencia

Ukrainian Students Find Creative Consonance' at Berklee Valencia Through ELIA's UAx Platform, six students from Kyiv joined Berklee Valencia for a week...

17/09/2025

Meet Kenna Hilburn, Avids New Incoming Chief Product Officer

Earlier this year Avid announced Kenna Hilburn as its new senior vice president of product. Recently Hilburn was promoted to Avids new Chief Product Officer, su...

17/09/2025

SES and K2 Space to Accelerate Development of Next-Generation MEO Network

Transatlantic collaboration combines experience and agility to drive innovation in network design and delivery Luxembourg, September 16, 2025 - SES, a leading ...

17/09/2025

Fox TV Stations Join Madhive's Local Live Sports Marketplace

NEW YORK Madhive has announced that the Fox Television Stations have joined its Live Sports Marketplace....

17/09/2025

Sony Electronics Partners with Newhouse School at Syracuse University

SYRACUSE, N.Y. Sony Electronics has announced that it is partnering with the Newhouse School at Syracuse University to provide state-of-the-art equipment, hands...

17/09/2025

Roku's First TV Smart Projector Now Available in the U.S.

SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced that the first smart projector using its Roku TV operating system, the Aurzen Roku TV Smart Projector D1R Cube, is now avail...

17/09/2025

Meet the Streamlabs Streaming Assistant, Accelerated by NVIDIA RTX

Today's creators are equal parts entertainer, producer and gamer, juggling game commentary, scene changes, replay clips, chat moderation and technical troub...

17/09/2025

Portrait Artist of the Year returns to Sky Arts with a dazzling line-up of celebrity sitters on 1 October

Wednesday 17 September 2025 UK artists capture icons of stage and screen, inclu...

17/09/2025

FOR-A America Appoints Jo Aun to Lead U.S. Product Development

Jo Returns to FOR-A as Senior Manager of Product Management and Engineering...

17/09/2025

AIR's Big Comeback with DPA Microphones

For the Moon Safari anniversary tour, AIR opened the doors to their backstage. Just a few hours before the Paris concert, DPA met with two key figures of the te...

17/09/2025

The Late Late Toy Show hits the road in search of Ireland's brightest young stars

Auditions will be held in Dublin, Cork and Galway The County Parade returns f...

16/09/2025

SVG All-Stars: Leigh Michaud, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPN

SVG All-Stars: Leigh Michaud, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe UConn grad rose from ESPN's mailroom to become one of its most valuable ops leadersBy Bran...

16/09/2025

Live From IBC 2025: Friday's Latest From Halls 1-4, Outdoor Exhibits in Amsterdam

Live From IBC 2025: Friday's Latest From Halls 1-4, Outdoor Exhibits in Amst...

16/09/2025

Live From IBC 2025: Saturday's Latest From Halls 5-7 in Amsterdam

Live From IBC 2025: Saturday's Latest From Halls 5-7 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff Friday, September 12, 2025 - 17:00 Print This Story The SVG Europe and ...

16/09/2025

Live From IBC 2025: Sunday's Latest From Halls 8-10 in Amsterdam

Live From IBC 2025: Sunday's Latest From Halls 8-10 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 17:00 Print This Story The SVG Europe and...

16/09/2025

Live From IBC 2025: Monday's Latest From Halls 11-14 in Amsterdam

Live From IBC 2025: Monday's Latest From Halls 11-14 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff Sunday, September 14, 2025 - 17:00 Print This Story The SVG Europe and ...

16/09/2025

Amazon Prime Video Picks Up Four Hours of Early-Round Masters Coverage in 2026

Amazon Prime Video Picks Up Four Hours of Early-Round Masters Coverage in 2026 By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 10:15...

16/09/2025

VERSANT Inks Deal for League One Volleyball as Women's Sports Rights Slate Grows

VERSANT Inks Deal for League One Volleyball as Women's Sports Rights Slate G...

16/09/2025

ESPN VP, Corporate Communications, Katina Arnold Named SVP, Disney Advertising Communications

ESPN VP, Corporate Communications, Katina Arnold Named SVP, Disney Advertising C...

16/09/2025

IBC 2025 in Review: SVG Europe's Full Collection of Video Interviews From the Show Floor

IBC 2025 in Review: SVG Europe's Full Collection of Video Interviews From th...

16/09/2025

Celebramos 10 aos de Viva Latino en Spotify y el xito global de la msica latina

Hace una d cada, la m sica latina representaba apenas el 8% de las reproducciones globales en Spotify. Hoy, constituye m s de una cuarta parte (27%) de toda la ...

16/09/2025

Celebrating 10 Years of Spotify's Viva Latino Playlist and the Global Rise of Latin Music

A decade ago, Latin music made up just 8% of global Spotify streams. Today, it a...

16/09/2025

Spotify Welcomes Graham Norton and Select VICE Studios Content

Spotify is expanding our video lineup with a new partnership with Zoo 55, part of ITV Studios. For the first time, acclaimed content from ITV Studios is landing...

16/09/2025

One Enterprise, One Mission: Aligning the Supply Chain to the Warfighter

At DSEI 2025, James Dunne of L3Harris Maritime UK chaired a panel on aligning the supply chain to the warfighter, where leaders discussed modernising support fo...

16/09/2025

RTW chooses Calrec as technology partner

Calrec has strengthened its collaboration with audio metering expert RTW by integrating RTW's new TMxCore metering platform across its full range of Argo IP...

16/09/2025

Football and Back-to-School Dynamics Spark First Gains Since April for Traditional TV

College Football Scores Top Telecast in August with 16M+ Viewers on FOX, Followe...