One Year On: How Martin MAC Ultras have performed at the Royal Albert Hall

All images by Richard Ecclestone

In 2022 the Royal Albert Hall significantly upgraded its house lighting system with the installation of 26 Martin MAC Ultra Performance fixtures, adding to the MAC Encore Performance they acquired in 2019, as part of a process to replace tungsten, halogen and discharge lights with LED.

Since then, the MAC Ultras have performed on a wide variety of shows and events, including the Festival of Remembrance, Mountbatten Festival of Music, the BBC Proms, Classic FM Live, Teenage Cancer Trust, The Sound of 007, The Fashion Awards, Trevor Nelson’s Soul Christmas, and Sam Smith.

Now one year on from their installation, Richard Thomas RAH Lighting Designer, reports on the enhancements the MAC Ultras have brought to the house rig.

“The MAC Ultras have given us a significant reduction in overall rig noise, allowing them to be used on classical concerts and other events where previously we couldn’t use moving lights.” he says. “Framing in the Ultras has meant that they can be used far more often than previous fixtures, such as key lighting on the stage and in other areas such as aisles or picking out particular boxes in the auditorium as required.

“And in conjunction with the colour CRI enhancer and the variable CTO, the quality of the light on skin is great.”

Finally, Richard also praised the reliability of the MAC Ultras. “We have confidence that the rig will work every day!”

The MAC Ultra Performance is Martin’s brightest moving head fixture to date, with an 1150W LED light engine outputting 46,500 lumens, coupled with a refined optical system, extremely low noise floor and Martin’s innovative Extended Framing system.

For more information please visit https://www.soundtech.co.uk/professional-lighting/martin/mac-series/mac-ultra or contact Sound Technology on 01462 480000.