DRP Group Adds Chroma-Q Color Force to Production Inventory

The lighting division of the UK live event and communications agency, DRP Group has made its first investment in Chroma-Q products with the purchase of 24 Color Force 48 LED battens.

DRP is a single source supplier to a multiplicity of corporate presentations, live events, festivals, awards shows, parties, and charity works. The company's HQ is in the Midlands; it also has offices in London and Manchester and works around the UK and internationally.

Richard "Rikki" Parmenter, DRP's head of lighting explains that the company specifically wanted an LED batten fixture that would light walls, cyc, banners, and architectural features with a smooth, linear wash.

After comprehensive comparisons between a number of fixtures, Chroma-Q was selected as the brand of choice for DRP. Parmenter and his colleague managing director, Adam Pardoe soon made the decision to invest in the Color Force.

Apart from seeing Color Force in action for themselves, Chroma-Q had also been recommended by several of their regular freelancers. They liked the richness of the colors and the fact that the Color Force offers a clean white which can be either cold or warm by blending amber alongside the RGB LEDs.. This also delivers a better range of warmer colors.

Another key factor for the DRP lighting team was the smooth fades to blackout, which Rikki describes as "completely seamless" and "virtually imperceptible from those of generics," with no flickering or juddering. This is due to the Color Force's "theatrical grade" dimming curve, which, Parmenter explains, "makes them excellent for using and blending in with conventional incandescent and other light sources."

Since buying the Color Force fixtures, they have been in demand for a diversity of projects. The Color Force 48 version also happens to be the same width as DRP's standard modular set panels, which are 4' x 10'. When used for lighting sets, "They can really bring depth and additional dimension to our designs with their color and intensity" says Parmenter.

They have been perfect for all the applications DRP had in mind -- illuminating cycs, backdrops, banners, and an assortment of large areas. The cyc lens plate -- devised for throws of up to 5m -- is proving useful for these applications. They have also been used extensively for side-stage lighting and at sites/in venues where power is limited.

DRP recently used the fixtures for lighting the Hereford & Worcester Chamber Business Awards 2011, staged in the environs of Worcester Cathedral. The units were placed on the floor and used to gently highlight 14 imposing pillars running along the Nave, in the process also lighting areas of the ceiling 20m above.