Helm Projects Creates Lockdown Learning and Livestreaming Center With Help From CHAUVET DJ

After finishing his NYE show for Bassnectar in Louisville, Justin Casey was gearing up for a busy 2020. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Casey elected to pivot his business. With live events on hold, he suddenly had all of his gear in the warehouse for the first time in five years. Rather than let this equipment gather dust, he made the decision to put it to use by creating a combination learning laboratory and livestream studio.

Once the warehouse studio became such a great learning space for the Helms Projects team, Casey decided to open it up to local musicians interested in livestreaming. This would give them a way to reach the community, while also providing Casey’s crew with some real-time experience working with artists.

Helping the Helm Projects team create immersive palettes at their warehouse studio is a collection of CHAUVET DJ Slim PAR and COLORrail IRC fixtures. “We have 80 Slim PAR Q12s and 14 COLORrail IRCs in our warehouse,” said Casey. “Normally, these fixtures would be on tour, but having them all here now gives us tremendous opportunities to flood our studio with vivid colors.”

The Slim PAR Q12 units in the Helms Projects studio are all positioned between the green screen and the live performance area, while the COLORrail IRC fixtures are used for pixel mapped eye candy  effects.  Creating geometric patterns with the linear COLORrail units result in compelling looks that come off well from all camera angles. (The studio has seven cameras and a Resolume setup for live visuals and camera effects.)

“When we discuss lighting in this application, we’re thinking in terms of how it looks for cameras, rather than the overall stage,” said Casey. Creating vibes with colors and movements rather than trying to make a ‘lightshow,’ is what we’re after. We keep it to a small recording studio vibe that has enough room to feel like it’s intimate rather than a venue stage. We are going for high quality sound and looks here to highlight the performers.”