Prior to establishing Productions Unlimited, Inc., Brian Phillips worked at Furman University as the technical director of McAlister Auditorium, where he met Eric, then-manager of McAlister. These roots sprouted a strong relationship between the Productions Unlimited, Inc. team and the university. We are honored to have completed a number of projects, big and small, in multiple facilities on Furman’s campus.
Our smaller installations at Furman include lighting systems in Daniel Recital Hall and Burgiss Theatre, as well as an audio system for the Eugene Stone Soccer Complex. In Timmons Arena, we provided curtains for the seating area, a power distribution system for trade shows, and theatrical rigging consultation prior to the arena’s opening. Our team also replaced the lamps on the steeple of Daniel Chapel. In all of our time at Furman, no view of its beautiful campus compares to this eagle’s eye vantage over the heart of the campus.
Additionally, we had the pleasure of working on some larger projects at Furman, highlighted in separate articles of our portfolio. We installed comprehensive lighting and rigging systems in McAlister Auditorium, a lighting system of impressive scope in the Furman Playhouse, and a brand new audio system at the Paladin Stadium.
Daniel Recital Hall is the centerpiece of Furman University’s Daniel Music Building. The hall, which seats 365, is in constant use hosting the music department’s rehearsals, chamber and solo music performances, opera performances, and being used as a multimedia classroom. Due to the extensive use of the hall and its lighting, Furman University chose to upgrade to LED lighting in an effort to make the hall more energy and financially efficient.
Over the 2011-2012 semester break, Productions Unlimited, Inc. replaced Daniel’s 42 incandescent house lights with The Light Source’s LED 100-Watt Fresnel House Light. These LEDs draw 1/3 the power of the original 30-year-old house light fixtures and are 40% brighter. We also replaced the fluorescent fixtures at the back of the house with Color Kinetics linear LED fixtures, and the two recessed incandescent can lights with Cooper LED retrofit kits. Both of these fixture types are line voltage dimmable and are connected to the main dimmer rack. This upgrade will significantly reduce the amount of power used daily and will virtually end routine lighting maintenance in the hall.
Over the stage, Productions Unlimited, Inc. replaced the oroginal 500-Watt tungsten fixtures with ETC Desire 110-Watt Lustr+ fixtures. Unlike the tungsten fixtures, the Lustr+ boasts x7 color mixing, creating clean whites and brilliant colors. These fixtures have added color to the traditionally “white” light stage without the need to change gels or leave the comfort of the control booth.
PUI’s work did not stop with the lighting. The hall has three ceiling panels that are height-adjustable in order change the acoustics in the room. We fully refurbished the original counterweight assist acoustic ceiling rigging system with new wire rope, eye bolts, sheave bearings, and performed a motor overhaul. We also replaced the aged motor control system with the first ever installed ETC Fixed Speed Motor Starter Control boxes as well as new four-position limit switches and potentiometers from Springer Controls. These new control components allowed us to install a new ETC QuickTouch Rigging Control Station to control the refurbished hoists and provide for height feedback and preset trim heights of the ceilings. We also replaced the unreliable stage lighting batten hoist with a new ETC Prodigy P650E unit with integrated raceway and cable management.
Daniel Recital Hall’s outdated architectural control system was replaced with an ETC Unison Paradigm System. This state-of-the-art system is easy to use and boasts a powerful processor designed to keep the lights on no matter what. Two LCD touchscreens were installed; one in the booth and one on the stage, and a single-button station was installed at the house right entry. The addition of this system to Daniel not only allows the peace of mind for 24/7/365 operation, but also allows easy control of the new lighting installation including the color mixing feature of the Lustr+. Lastly, we installed an ETC Emergency Lighting Transfer System as well as an Emergency Bypass Detection Kit in order to use some of the new LED house lights as emergency lights.
These upgrades should provide for many years of worry-free and energy efficient use of the Daniel Recital Hall.
The Furman University Playhouse has been housed in a temporary building for over 40 years. With a permanent home still in the distant future, Furman asked us to help them maximize their current potential. We created a facility with few equals.
In addition to the conventional lighting fixtures already in place, we designed and installed an intelligent lighting system of the utmost sophistication. The system includes 31 wash and profile intelligent luminaires by Elation and 12 Selador LED wash lights by ETC. The 10,000-channel ETC flagship Eos lighting console serves as the control for the system.
The flexibility of this first-class system affords students the freedom to experiment and engage in the learning process as they design a unique lighting experience for each production. With a small seating capacity of 105, the Playhouse’s intimate set-up is brought to life by dramatic, detailed lighting designs made possible by skillful use of their state-of-the-art system.
As the first building visible upon entering the Furman University campus, McAlister Auditorium is a prominent central point of the university. This holds true for its functionality as well; with just under 2,000 seats, the auditorium is a fulcrum of creative and intellectual activity. The venue accommodates productions ranging from dance recitals and orchestral concerts to political rallies and guest lectures. Needless to say, such a multipurpose facility calls for theatrical systems that yield first-class versatility. Productions Unlimited, Inc. had the privilege of helping Furman accomplish this goal.
Our work in McAlister spans several years, beginning with the shell rigging in 2003. We replaced the conventional counterweight rigging for three orchestra shell ceiling panels with line shaft hoists: a more efficient and user-friendly alternative.
Some years later, the folks at McAlister called us back to continue our rigging handiwork. Their existing cast iron, wire guide arbor counterweight fly system was antiquated and unsafe. We removed this system and installed a J-bar guide counterweight rigging system from H&H Specialties. We installed 33 line sets, four electrics, and two side ladders. We were later pleased to be given the opportunity to update these side ladders with two ETC Prodigy Hoists, allowing for greater functional versatility and control.
After the rigging system replacement, our next big project was the design and installation of a new theatrical lighting system.
McAlister’s emergency transfer system for the house lights was outdated and unreliable. We removed it and in its place installed an ETC 6-circuit discreet feed Emergency Lighting Transfer System. Additionally, we upgraded the module in the house dimmer rack, converting it from 50 Amp dimmer modules to 20 Amp dimmer modules, and we re-routed the lobby lighting circuits to the house dimmer rack. A programmable touchscreen control station now functions in place of the previous light switches. Furthermore, to supplement Furman’s reputation as an exemplar of sustainable building, we installed daylight harvesting sensors in the auditorium’s lobby. The sensors evaluate levels of ambient light present at various times of day, providing data that allows users to program higher or lower run time and lamp intensity relative to the amount of sunlight illuminating the space.
For the stage lighting system, we provided four ETC SR48+ dimmer racks, thereby establishing 384 theatrical circuits, and we replaced all existing electrical distribution equipment. We brought their processor up to date, moving from ETC’s Unison Legacy System to the new ETC Unison Paradigm system. Finally, we installed a complete ACN control network for lighting control, as well as new power distribution and 200 Amp and 400 Amp company switches.
Productions Unlimited, Inc. completed the installation of a new sound reinforcement system in the Paladin Stadium on the campus of Furman University in Greenville, SC in 2013. This work was part of a multi-million dollar renovation of the 32-year-old stadium. When PUI was approached about the project, Furman officials requested a system that would offer comprehensible speech reinforcement as well as the ability to play back modern music and advertising clips, all in a system that could fill the stadium with full range sound.
The original system consisted of a component horn system mounted to the end zone scoreboard and powered by amplifiers in the media booth on the fourth floor of the press box, approximately 500 feet away from the scoreboard and the speakers. Many of these components were installed when the stadium was originally built in 1981. Voltage drop of the speaker cabling in addition to the aged equipment led to a system with poor and inaudible sound. The university was very interested in a solution that would provide a more reliable system.
Productions Unlimited Inc.’s president Brian Phillips and audio engineer Kevin Little began the process of designing a system that would fulfill the needs of the university, as well as fit within the budget and time constraints of the project. Many system configurations were considered, but in the end, a scoreboard-mounted single-source speaker enclosure, fiber optic signal transfer, climate-controlled amp rack, remote controlled power switch, and a complement of both wireless and wired microphones were selected for the project.
The single-source speaker system was comprised of a Danley Sound Lab Jericho J1-94 loudspeaker, which has a combination of 15 drivers to provide one powerful full range box and produces clear sound over 400 feet away. No matter where a person stands in the stadium, they are able to hear the sound with clarity and ease. The speaker was mounted to the top of the scoreboard with a custom adjustable tilt bracket that was manufactured in PUI’s metal shop.
A fiber optic signal transfer system was selected to cut down on the length of the speaker wires and to minimize delay in the system. The Lab.gruppen amplifiers were mounted in a weatherized, climate-controlled amp rack manufactured by DDB Unlimited, so that the amplifiers could be within 75 feet of the speaker enclosure. This allowed speaker wire runs to go directly from the speakers to the amplifiers without splices. Switching of the amplifiers in this remote rack is handled by an SSRC Switch Box relay control box and switched by a SwitchCycle™ programmable sequencer that was rack-mounted in the press box media booth.
Signal is fed from a Tascam CD-500B CD player, iPod dock, Audix OM2-S, Sennheiser MKE104-EW kit, and a Sennheiser EW 312 G3-A wireless referee mic system with antenna mounted on the exterior of the press box, with control provided in the booth by an Alesis MultiMix 10 mixer.
Furman University officials are very pleased with the new system. Fans were blown away after hearing the system for the first time. Many mentioned that for the first time in a long time they were able to clearly hear the music and announcements.
Productions Unlimited, Inc. would like to thank Furman University for giving them the opportunity to work on the Paladin Stadium sound system. PUI’s team of experts would be happy to design your next audio, lighting, video, or rigging system for similar results.
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