Janowitz chooses Ayrton Mistral-S for Trey Anastasio's The Beacon Jams posted: 22/02/2021
Marc Janowitz, of e26 design, chose 30 Mistral-S - Ayrton's highly compact, lightweight and powerful LED spot fixtures - as key features of his lighting design for Trey Anastasio's The Beacon Jams. The 8-week virtual residency' was live-streamed weekly from New York's historic Beacon Theatre throughout October and November 2020.
In an unusual twist, since no audience was present, the filming took place on stage in a reverse set-up, with the musicians facing the back wall and the auditorium acting as a backdrop. The jam sessions were aimed specifically at the home audience, for which we wanted to create an intimate connection that felt like we brought a series of music sessions into the viewers' own home, explains Janowitz. The reverse angle gave us something more like a studio environment into which Mistral fitted beautifully - it was very much in keeping with the look we were trying to create.
Janowitz needed a fixture that was light enough to mount on rolling C-stands and small enough to integrate into the performance area, yet full of features and with a great output: Mistral was small enough - and pretty enough - to tuck into all the nooks and crannies between the artists, and gave all the output - and the looks - that I needed, he says.
Eighteen Mistrals on C-stands were sited on stage to form a total wrap-around' that defined the space and gave a bespoke look to the own room' performances. We could locate them perfectly in the small spaces between the musicians and instruments from where we used them mainly as backlight and sidelight, as eye candy, and to create beautiful flares behind the performers, says Janowitz. They were particularly useful in the reverse set-up to fill the void on camera over the artists' shoulders.
The Mistral gave a natural lens flare which is very camera-friendly, and they appeared in virtually every shot. Mistral's precise movement allowed me to make small, live adjustments to its position to guarantee that flare in-camera from every perspective.
Mistral's small size and versatility also suited the film and television-style lighting of the live performances. The power-draw is so low we could put the Mistrals anywhere and simply loop them together very quickly. Being LED sourced, we were also able to set up the perfect refresh rate for the cameras.
With different looks to generate for 20+ songs each week over the 8-week residency, with no repetition, Janowitz made full use of Mistral's gobo and colour palettes. Mistral has a wide gobo selection which opened up a lot of freedom - I had all the textures I needed, he says. It wasn't so much about tight beam architecture as the aerial textures I achieved by shooting through the stage set and the band. I could get really morphy' with the gobos and the colour, particularly in the stage-level fixtures which I then mimicked in the Mistrals overhead.
Although Janowitz originally purposed Mistral as key in creating the near-stage' picture, he soon incorporated 12 more Mistral fixtures overhead on the Beacon Theatre's two-ton' pipe to act as high backlight. I knew they would be great at 12ft but realised they were also great at 30ft! From here I was able to use one or two on each musician as a consistent place for the camera to return to between songs. It also meant my nearside, reverse and close overhead lighting were all from the same fixture type, which homogenised how I was able to use colour, texture and intensity and gave a beautiful balance.
Janowitz was also delighted with Mistral's 6.7 - 53 zoom ratio: That's a really great feature. It was narrow enough to light the musicians from overhead without any spill, yet wide enough to light them fully at stage level - without any heat issues - even when placed in close proximity to the artists. That's no mean feat in such a tightly packed stage and demonstrates exceptional versatility.
Trey Anastasio's Beacon Jams marks Janowitz's first use of Mistral and he was impressed. Mistral is a great light to keep in my tool box: it's small and nimble, full of features, with wide dispersion, texture and intensity. Paul Hoffman and Mikey Cummings of Pulse Lighting (lighting supplier for The Beacon Jams) recommended I try out Mistral on many occasions - it really fills the gap in the market for a small bodied, full-featured, punchy fixture. It also looks attractive. As both production and lighting designer, the over-all look of the stage is important, and Mistral is definitely something I welcomed on the set and in the stage design. Those sleek curves and that distinctly French design go a long way! Having used Mistral, I'm keen to check out its bigger Ayrton cousins to see how they scale up.
All proceeds from The Beacon Jams went to Phish's The WaterWheel Foundation and its new Divided Sky Fund which was set up by Anastasio to help those affected by addiction and alcoholism, and help further plans to open a treatment centre in Vermont.
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, Sh
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
Janowitz chooses Ayrton Mistral-S for Trey Anastasio's The Beacon Jams posted: 22/02/2021 
