Q&A: Matthias Hinrichs

Matthias Hinrichs, product designer and innovator in lighting control systems, has stepped out on his own after seven years at Elation. At least for now. He's on his way to his first ISE in Barcelona, and who knows what opportunities might come his way. Live Design catches up with him to get his take on the lighting industry and where it might be heading...

Live Design: How did you get into this industry - what is your background and what was your first job?

 

Matthias Hinrichs: I actually started DJ'ing a youth disco in a dance school in Germany when I was 15. Ended up repairing some of the lighting gear and got to know a local production company buying gels and lamps. I spent a lot of free time there learning lighting and audio equipment, and I am so grateful that they helped me get my first steps in the production industry. Pretty quickly I realized  that audio mixing wasn't for me though...

 

My real first "lighting" job was running a six-fader Pulsar analog desk with some PAR64's for a friend's music comedy act at a small club in my hometown. You learn so much when you have so little!

 

After a two-year break in the German Navy, I moved to Berlin to study theater and event technology and quickly got really busy in the exploding production scene in the city in the late 90s. I also got quite engaged in the light-network forums which led me to a class in 2001 at High End Systems in Los Angeles, the "Automated Lighting Academy." It was envisioned after the purchase of Flying Pig Systems by High End as a way to teach new programmers and lighting directors. I met so many influential people in the business that I am still connected to to this day, but also more importantly my wife through my roommate at the time. I'm still in the US, even a citizen now, as we got married and I left Berlin to move to LA. Michael Nevitt, who was THE Hog expert in the US then brought me on board at Martin for some freelance console training work. This started my shift into manufacturing and RD. If it wasn't for that class, I would have never met my wife and my initial group of friends in the US side of the production business. It's odd how some unrelated events shape your destiny I suppose!

 

 

MH: With the help of my previous "boss" and friend Eric Loader, I came on board as the brand product manager for stage lighting after I left Martin in late 2017. Due to my background in console RD I then helped facilitate the sale of Martin's controller portfolio to Elation, which evolved into the Obsidian Control Systems brand. 

I oversaw a complete refresh and optimization of Elation's static and automated lighting portfolio, helped rebuild the Martin console lineup into ONYX and created the NETRON Series for data distribution.

 

It was a very busy role, but very rewarding as I was fortunate to be involved in the drastic expansion of IP rated fixtures with Proteus, Paragon and Rebel, or new-color mixing products with Fuze/KL, the latter with help from my friend Bob Mentele who joined to expand the product management team a few years ago. An LD once told me that the work we did helped him create better shows as now fixtures can be placed literally anywhere. We did see so many designs shift from a box at the end of a stadium to the stage, gear and audience intermixed everywhere as weather was no longer a restriction. It's pretty amazing that I was in my role right through this shift to IP rated everything and everywhere and I got to attend some incredible shows over the years where the work we did at Elation had a great impact on the audience. 

 

 

MH: LED sources have become dominant for about everything; very few discharge fixtures remain available from manufacturers. The quality of light has drastically evolved, from so-so greenish white fixtures to incredibly accurate brilliant white or additive color systems. Almost everything has a network port now  (which I why I felt Obsidian needed a network product line), and we see the addition of NFC on some products for fast configurations via phone apps. I was really fortunate to be right in the middle of this massive evolution of especially profile fixtures from discharge to LED, where all manufacturers now have incredible products to offer in all price and performance classes. Also we see an increasing embrace of fixtures designed as visual elements, either to create mid-air beams or are just fun to look at with so many creative ideas of pixel placements, movable elements, or in-lens pixelations. So many great ideas and concepts, and I know many more will be released in the coming years.

 

 

MH: I suspect we will eventually start to see a reduction in fixture power as efficiency improves. I remember when the LED fixture talking point was that you can run your whole rig of a single plug you steal from catering. Now we have 1800W LED Profiles and massive power distribution needed to feed it. This wasn't at all what I thought when LED started to appear in entertainment fixtures. We will continue to get improvements in color quality and range, it's still not possible recreate certain gel colors, or not in sufficient intensity.  

I feel the weight and size of fixtures have to decrease, and there may even be more pressure due to health regulations driving this. Everything just got big and heavy (I am very much guilty of this myself with some products under my watch). We see improvements from consumer electronics and automotive manufacturing like unibody or gigacasting product frames appearing in fixture engineering. Lighter and stronger materials become more affordable as well. I feel on fixture performance, projection quality, overall product reliability its already incredibly good. A lot of evolution will happen in product weight and ease of maintenance, and I suspect we will see more focus on sustainable designs to improve recycling, upgrades or reuse of product elements. 

 

Lastly, I think we finally will get to a point where we can have large fixtures without wires. Battery technology is advancing so fast, driven by the growth of electric vehicles,  we may actually see fully wireless fixtures that last for days. Imagine building a tradeshow booth with no power cables and all wireless data that can run for a week. Or a stadium tour where the fixtures charge on the truck from gig to gig and then require no power cables.  There are so many amazing things possible. Eventually.

 

 

MH: 100% yes it will happen, and I am sure every console manufacturer is actively researching this. There are so many repetitive boring tasks alone that AI could automate to free everyone up for more creative time with the rig. I can't wait to see where this will go, we just scratched the surface. I am convinced it will lead to more gear and more technology being needed. And more people. Not less.

 

 

MH: I'm practicing programming on several lighting control platforms at the moment to expand my own knowledge and to get back more into production work; and I am doing a little bit of business consulting. Also educating myself on AI, reading a lot about the technology but also the philosophical impact it has on society. 
 

I planned to step back from any serious commitment to any new role till some time in 2026 to focus on myself, and so far have been in a great position personally and professionally. I can highly recommend to take a breather and recharge for more than a few weeks ;-)

 

 

MH: Tradeshows across all industries have shifted somewhat over the years, seem less relevant to the public as information and access to products is now possible instantly, and it looks like PL+S wasn't able to adapt. A lot of products lines across AV and Pro Audio and Lighting consolidated into fewer and larger distributors that only really want to visit one show per year, and ISE was positioned well to offer access to all manufacturers in one place. PL+S probably needed to embrace more people networking and put more focus on a technology and creative conference to interact with industry peers, with a mixture of product presentations, comparisons and so on. Basically, foster more interaction and idea exchange instead of the typical manufacturer presentation of products on a crowded and every expensive booth. Many manufactures now prefer roadshows or events to launch products in a more controlled environment to tell their story. It's hard to do this in a tradeshow format and usually never does the product justice.

 

I attended 29 of the 30 years of ProLight+Sound and its demise is sad, but I have to be realistic that it just wasn't good business  any longer to be there for many manufacturers. It really started with the end of the Musikmesse and never recovered as the show didn't pivot and adapt to changes around it. I think its unfortunate that this live production focused show in Europe is gone, and maybe PLASA in London will become more relevant again as it sits in a good time spot for product launches at the end of the summer for the following year's spring touring season.

 

 

MH: Don't try to do too much at once. Sometimes saying no is a good idea, even if it's not obvious at the time. Always look out for your health and well-being, even if it means turning down an opportunity (or product). 

 

I guess that advice also worked for 49 year-old Matthias as I finally took it!