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.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Deepens Partnership with Taiwan's 62nd Golden Hors...
25/11/2025
Tracy Bonareri Onchoke, an investigative journalist from Kenya is the winner of the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2025.
The 26-year-old-sele...
25/11/2025
SVG All-Stars: Blayke Scheer, Senior Director, Creative Content, YES NetworkThe Indiana alum has turned storytelling into an artform for more than two decadesBy...
25/11/2025
Op-Ed: With FCC's C-Band Auction on the Horizon, Broadcasters Need Proven, C...
25/11/2025
Analysis: Is Baller League really the future of sport? By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 10:10
Print This Story
With KSI on...
25/11/2025
Platinum Whitepaper: The Growth of Broadcast in the World of Major Large Scale E...
25/11/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: SVG Women's Sports WorkshopBy Samantha Gabay
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 10:27 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlig...
25/11/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: CacheFly's Matt Levine on the Evolving Role of th...
25/11/2025
Peacock's EA SPORTS Madden NFL Cast Levels Up on Thanksgiving With SkyCam as...
25/11/2025
Mathias Broe attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Sauna at Library Center Theatre. (Photo by Michael Hurcomb/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Fes...
25/11/2025
The best playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks bring a little extra magic to your daily routine. With new features and offerings, Spotify Premium delivers even mo...
25/11/2025
Comprehensive new research confirms what we already knew: Australian music fans love the quality, quantity, and access they have to new and local music on strea...
25/11/2025
Applicable Products
Objectives The purpose of this application note is to give a brief background on 5G (NR) wireless communication an explain the reason a SN...
25/11/2025
Nielsen will now measure both Lionsgate's FAST channel MovieSphere and Movie...
25/11/2025
FREMONT, Calif. Blackmagic Design said the Associated Press has completed the transition of its global video-editing platform to DaVinci Resolve Studio....
25/11/2025
Berklees Inaugural Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole Scholarship Awarded to Paris P...
25/11/2025
NEW YORK NFL and college football coverage, the MLB postseason and the new fall broadcast-TV season contributed to major gains for traditional media companies a...
25/11/2025
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. Tower Products, a manufacturer and distributor of pro video and audio equipment here, said President and CEO Jim Veltrie will retire from the c...
25/11/2025
Following last week's disclosure that it had acquired a 8.2% stake in E.W. Scripps, Sinclair has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission pr...
25/11/2025
25 Nov 2025
VEON's QazCode and MeetKai Sign Agreement to Power National LLM...
25/11/2025
UKTV has acquired a high-profile slate of US dramas from Paramount Global Conten...
Tom Kenny chooses Ayrton Khamsin-S for the iHeartCountry Festival 2020 posted: 20/11/2020 
