So says lighting designer Michael A. Fink of Magical Designs,
a New York-based firm that designs lighting and interiors for
nightclubs, restaurants and theaters. Magical Designs has installed
systems at many top nightclubs, such as the newly renovated
Latin Quarter at the Manhattan Radisson, which he designed
alongside Accessible Technologies.
He continues, “You have to give people areas where they
stand out and areas where they can be quiet.
You have to have a show that, while repetitive,
because you don’t have endless budget for everything,
must be changing, must be moving, must be colorful...
And must at the same time give the DJ control to work with
the lighting people, to get the levels they want so that they can
build the emotions of the songs,
achieve the movement they’re looking for
to carry their set through the night.”

When it comes to technology, Fink can’t get enough.
“I’m like a child,” he says. “This is my version of play.
I’m always experimenting and trying different things.

And of course, the new technology that is evolving that
I’ve been watching, using, playing with, is LED technology.
I am extremely happy with a lot of the stuff that is out there.”
At the recent installation at the Latin Quarter,
Fink used Pulsar LED tubes combined with fiber optics to illuminate
a series of waterfalls. “The glass faces of the waterfalls are lit by
fiber optics at the bottom, and LEDs from the top,” he tells,
“and this gives us a really incredible look. It can be taken from a
very fast, harsh moving look with deep colors to very soft
transitional hues. I think nightclubs provide a perfect environment
to try techniques that you normally couldn’t try,
if you were locked into a time frame or
it had to be very specific for one show.”

Derek Iorfida is another lighting designer
who specializes in nightclubs. Based in
Providence, R.I., East Coast Lighting & Production Services,
where Iorfida is the sales and installation manager,
designs clubs in
Providence and the surrounding New England area.

Iorfida recently designed the lighting system
for a Providence club called Ultra, which features
a large number of automated fixtures including
MAC 250s, 918s, MX1s, 812s,
as well as a Martin Club Smoke system
and Color Kinetics LEDs, all controlled by a Flying Pig Hog 500.
“The Hog 500, to me, is one of the best consoles
to put into a nightclub,” Iorfida comments.
“And the MAC 250s and the 918s are great to work with,
as far as functionality and durability. I’m very happy with
the Martin equipment, and I’ve found that the
Martin Club Smoke has gained a lot of popularity as well.”

Specifying equipment is challenging, he notes,
often because of budget size, which he cites as the
number one determining factor when he starts a new design.

And when it comes to the available technology, he comments,
“There’s so much out there. You’re bombarded with so many
different fixtures that all do the same thing;
it’s just a matter of how well each light does it.”
The LED market, he says, is advancing at remarkable speed.
“Keeping up with the LED market is becoming very difficult,
because there are so many companies out there doing it.”

Like Fink, Iorfida works closely with club owners,
and sometimes other designers, to achieve the club’s desired look.
Many nightclubs don’t have in-house lighting directors,
but Ultra did—LD Jason Reed.
“I sat down with Jason and the owner,” he says,
“and we went over everything. He gave his ideas,
I gave mine and we came to a happy medium,
and put a drawing together.”
Iorfida thinks the most important part of establishing one’s self
as a club lighting designer
is bringing something different to the table.
“You’ve got to go to every club in your area to see what’s going on,”
he says, “because you want to be different.
To me, a lot of the clubs look the same.
And if you want to have longevity in this business,
you have to see what the newest equipment is and see what
everybody’s putting in their clubs,
then come up with something different.”