In the world of stage lighting, innovation and versatility are key. The MAC One Creative BeamWash moving head from Martin Professional stands as a testament. This compact yet powerful fixture is a hands-down game-changer for lighting designers, rental houses, and stage lighting professionals looking for more versatility, more flexibility, and a real edge in taking designs to the next level.
“We wanted to bring something new to the market that had not been seen before so the combination of a Fresnel lens, new backlight effect, and snappy zoom and movement speed is something that we definitely wanted to develop for our LDs.” Explore Martin MAC One details and specifications.
In this exclusive interview, we talk to Martin Senior Applications Engineer Bjorn Stolt to explore the motivations, engineering, and unique features that make this fixture a truly versatile tool for both productions and broadcasts. Bjorn supports Martin clients, partners, and lighting designers with design solutions, technical support, and recommending appropriate product solutions. Wouter Verlinden, Martin Creative LED, Lighting and Control Global Product Line Manager, also contributed extensively to this discussion.
Bjorn, thanks for talking to us. What needs for lighting designers was the Martin team most aiming to address when developing the MAC One?
Sure, I’m always excited to talk about the MAC One. Ever since the Martin MAC 101 was launched in 2010, we have seen LDs loving a small format, lightweight wash/beam fixture so it was about time to develop something new that also integrated all the new technologies innovated over the years. This would become a small, lightweight fixture with several tricks up its sleeve. The combination of a Fresnel lens, new backlight effect, and snappy zoom and movement speed is something that we definitely wanted to develop for our LDs.
What feedback have real-world LDs offered who have designed and utilized the MAC One?
So far, the team has received amazing feedback. We are hearing from both smaller local LDs and companies who only have a few fixtures as well as the largest productions in the world, sharing some really intuitive and positive feedback. Here are some of the applications where LDs and lighting professionals have been utilizing the fixture and what some of them have been saying:
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Fredrik Stormby, Light & Screen Content Designer and Ola Melzig, Senior Technical Director, share their insight on utilizing the Martin MAC One fixtures for Eurovision Song Contest Malmø 2024. Check out the discussion.
Eurovision Song Contest 2024 – “I was impressed by the (MAC One) quality of light… I do think it does a very good job being a bright beam for the size that it is but it also does a really nice job creating warm colors… ”
– Fredrik Stormby, Light & Screen Content Designer, Green Wall Designs - Reneé Rapp “Snow Hard Feelings” Tour – 60 MAC Ones were rigged on vertical towers either side of the main square LED wall, with 6 runs of H-frame rigged with 10 fixtures on each.
- “The immediate attraction of the MAC One was the compact size of the fixture. Forget about the eye candy effects for the moment, the MAC One, on paper was very attractive due to the stated output, beam range and the compact size.” – James Scott, Lighting Designer
- “The fact the MAC One can produce a clean parallel beam and also an old school “ACL” style look where the beam converges really gave me some nice aerial effects to play with. Wind out the zoom to around 40% and you are gifted a lovely “fullness” to the beam which can produce a stage wide wash whilst still maintaining some definition to the light produced.” – James Scott, Lighting Designer
- “The fact the MAC One is a single source really lends itself to the fresnel lens, you don’t see any chromatic aberration all you are working with is rich beautiful colours from a large aperture lens considering the small footprint of the fixture itself.” – James Scott, Lighting Designer
- Brothers Osborne US Tour – “LD Trevor Ahlstrand did an amazing job with 216 MAC One fixtures in the back wall on the current Brothers Osborne tour.“
- String Cheese Incident Tour – “The MAC One made its North American debut… A total of 32 MAC Ones, alongside an array of Martin professional lighting solutions… were utilized to create an unparalleled show.“
How was the MAC One design team able to pack 2,500 lumens into such a compact 4 kg form factor?
The engineering and product management teams work very closely throughout the development of the product. With LED fixtures, a lot has to do with the cooling and lenses, it is quite easy to get big output for a short time, but maintaining that output over a longer time without dropping down is harder. The teams managed to get a great cooling system in place without sacrificing noise levels with very low fan noise and great optics to make the fixture very efficient. They also used Martin’s color-boost technology to gain more output in colors so the MAC One is very bright in all colors, including white.
Get a closeup of Martin MAC One key features shot live at Integrated Systems Europe.
Why was this the right time to develop a custom RGBL lighting engine and how does it improve quality of light?
The RGBL engine in the MAC One is a first for Martin. The lime chip brought a new level of quality into the shades of white and pastel colors that is not possible using RGBW LEDs as the chips are quite narrow in wavelengths. You need to “fill the gaps” between the primary colors and lime does a really good job in complimenting the RGB to bring a wider spectrum of quality light out of the fixture. The fixture can go all the way from 2,000-12,850K, all on the black body curve with our calibration, so it is not surprising to see the MAC One being used for key lighting on smaller stages and in TV and broadcast studios.
I’m intrigued by the 4-27 degree zoom range that allows both a tight beam and soft-edged wash. How does the Fresnel lens design enable this versatility?
Being a “single source” fixture with a large LED in the center, instead of multiple LEDs on a board making a “bubble wash” like the Aura family, the team could make use of one of the oldest designs in lighting which is the Fresnel lens. This of course only works if there is a single source of light like in the classic tungsten Fresnel’s where the lens moves closer or further away from the source to create different beam angles. This gives a very nice look both on the front lens and on the illuminated persons or objects with a single shadow instead of the multiple shadows you get from a “bubble wash”.
Explore the Martin MAC One Product Overview
Precision control and flicker-free operation are critical for broadcast use. What specific features allow the MAC One to deliver on these requirements?
The calibration used in our fixtures ensures that every fixture, regardless of age or purchase date matches each other. This has been done since the MAC 101 so Martin has a long history of making the calibration a really useful function to ensure that the LD knows that when they dial in a value from the console, it will look the same across all fixtures in the rig. We are also using a very good refresh rate on the LED that has been developed with extensive testing with TV studio broadcast equipment. Even with all the testing, there can always be flicker, depending on effects used in the cameras, so we also provide an adjustment channel for the refresh rate to overcome those rare occasions when the native rate does not work. It is as simple as dialing that channel up or down to overcome the flicker.
The eye candy effects seem like a creative tool for designers. Can you give some examples of unique looks enabled by this capability?
Having 24 small LEDs around the edge of the lens brings a new effect into the fixture, compared to our other fixtures with backlight effects like the MAC Aura and VDO Atomic families. Being able to move the zoom, changes the effects look from defined to diffused and combining with the main LED in a complimentary color creates even more looks. If you are using the fixture in basic or Martin’s “Ludicrous” mode, you also have access to the many built-in effect-macros that offer a new level of effects to the backlight without having to program a lot of effects, just choose the color and speed and use what is already in the fixture.
Martin was honored to have the MAC One awarded a ‘2024 PALM Sound & Light Award’ and ‘Best Debuting Product Lighting‘ at LDI 2023. LDI judges shared, “A compact and versatile beam/wash/eye candy fixture. It’s four-bar system makes rigging and transport simple while offering a wide range of creative possibilities for lighting designers and technicians.”
Beyond reduced shipping costs, what other benefits does the lightweight 4.4 kg design offer production crews?
It also means that almost anybody can easily lift the fixture, but it also means that it can be rigged in positions where a moving head has not been possible before due to weight, so it will bring many possibilities for fixtures in new places and angles in shows. It also means that you can fit more fixtures on a truss or pipe before hitting the weight limit on the rigging points and we all know that more fixtures make LDs more happy.
The optional MAC One Fourbar accessory sounds like a real timesaver. Can you share how it streamlines deploying multiple MAC One fixtures?
As the Fourbar accessory can be prepared ahead of time using cables and clamps or floor stands, it will enable you to rig four fixtures really quickly. They also have an interlocking system to make it easy to line them up quickly on a truss or pipe. Typically, this means that it can be hung by a single person, making it very efficient in the setup.
The Martin Grid Mount Adapter enabling video walls is exciting. What types of dynamic looks are possible when combining MAC One with other fixtures?
The Grid Mount Adapter brings a new level of compatibility with the VDO Atomic family and makes it possible to combine moving heads and static fixtures in large arrays. Matrices of MAC Ones can also be built and hung to enable big pods of light to be rigged and moved around quickly. As the spacing between the fixtures is perfectly aligned, you do not have to worry about lining up individual fixtures and the header bar at the top makes connecting it to a truss really easy.
We invite you to experience the Martin MAC One for yourself to better understand its creative versatility and design possibilities for unmatched stage lighting.
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