Wybron Cygnus LED Family at Austin City Limits Austin City Limits, the longest-running live music television series in America, has a new home -- a state-of-the-art studio at ACL Live at the Moody Theatre. Designed for a variety of live music performances KLRU-TV produces the PBS series there approximately 20 days a year. The mixed-use entertainment venue boasts the cutting-edge in custom TV/video taping lighting systems with a commitment to green building standards. This commitment to greening the project, enabled the facility an opportunity to apply for LEED certification, the highest standard for sustainable development. Walter Olden, the lighting director for the Austin City Limits television show since 1982, shared some insight into why Wybron's Cygnus LED fixtures were the first choice for the project. "During the planning and design phase of the space, there was always talk of LED lighting because of wanting to be a green project, trying to make it as green as possible." Looking to incorporate the latest in green lighting technology, the Cygnus LED family fit the bill perfectly. Olden stated that overall maintenance costs is something they definitely looked at for the long run, as it was a huge concern since they were now sharing space. "We wanted to go with a minimum number of lights, so to have a light that can serve multiple purposes in the same area is a huge plus. Not having to redo it each time and being able to make it a different color, that type of thing. We were really excited to be able to do something like that." Cygnus LEDs are compact, lightweight, and self-contained, significantly reducing power consumption. Due to recent innovations in LED technology, coupled with an advanced thermal management system, Cygnus' energy efficiency is unparalleled. The compact size means more light in less space and in terms of lumens per dollar, no competing fixture comes close. Since Austin City Limits has a reputation for quality production value, there was always a concern of "flicker" from lighting during the filming process. In the past, other LEDs have created flicker problems. "With Cygnus LEDs there is never an issue with flicker and it's exciting for us to know we have lights that won't give us any issues with video," explained Olden. Another concern is the rainbow shadow created by some LED fixtures on the market without integrated RGBW. This wasn't an issue for Olden knowing that the Cygnus LED luminaire are the first fixtures on the market to incorporate red, green, blue and white elements eliminating the rainbow shadowing. "I have demoed this light before and I knew it took care of everything pretty effectively," said Olden. Olden incorporated 50 Cygnus LED fixtures into Austin City Limits' overall lighting plot: 10 VN100s used as backlights on the balcony rail; 25 MF200s placed as audience lights and to highlight the cityscape buildings to create a nighttime feel; 15 VN200s, including three sets of four light arrays -- center up-stage, far-stage right, and far-stage left. He shared that with Cygnus LEDs, he has the ability to do more with the audience lighting -- colorize, change the color, change the tone and add more dimension. The excitement was evident as Olden discussed his overall assessment of why Cygnus LEDs were the perfect fixtures for their new state-of -the-art studio space. "The brightness is the biggest positive. The good rendering capabilities are important, especially since we are using it as daylight source shooting at night; they give us much more flexibility in that way. You can get quite a lot of punch and that's pretty exciting." 
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