The RAT Stand was born in 1976 when one of the UK's premier opera companies commissioned the design of an all new illuminated music stand. Since then over 500 opera houses, theatres, concert halls and civic centres all over the world have come to value our music stands. RAT music stands are now the preferred choice of opera houses ranging from the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden to the Sydney Opera House. In addition, our music stands, conductor stands, orchestra stands and lecterns are represented throughout concert halls, national theatres and auditoriums worldwide. RAT music stands are recognised as elite, musical furniture and equipment.

Their unique attributes of strength, stability, superb lighting and stackability make our music stands highly attractive.

Whether you are looking for a hi-tech music stand for a modern auditorium, or a fine mixture of traditional wood and polished metal music stand with optional music stand light or for a state of the art wood-panelled concert hall, RAT have a musician's stand to suit your needs.

All of our professional music stands have optional purpose made lamps to fit. All our music stand lamps are designed to give the best possible illumination with the minimum possible light spillage.

RAT music stands have a greater range of height adjustment than other makes, and their unique stacking design enables them to be stored in places where other musician's stands wouldn't fit. Please follow this link to see our full range of music stands and accessories.

 

Radio DMX Ratstands Eat Spaghetti

London, UK – 14 May 2010

RAT Music Stands introduce a new range of professional battery powered LEDlights with optional radio control.

“The new radio control receiver is an integral part of the very slim lamp housing”, said Andrew Michell, Managing Director of  R.A.T. Music Stands, “and in conjunction with rechargeable batteries this system enables the total elimination of cables that would otherwise present an ugly mess on the floor”.

In response to customer demand the new system enables every stand to have its own DMX address, so that in a situation where different combinations of musicians are required for different parts of the performance, each stand can be separately controlled.

The transmitter has built in rechargeable batteries and a local control mode which enables it to be used completely autonomously. As Keith Hogben, Sales Manager at R.A.T., points out, “in local mode, you can just plonk a group of stands in the aisles or the middle of a field and control them wirelessly without having to plug in a single thing”.

The new LEDlights have a housing as thin as a finger, and yet give sharper control of stray light than any previous R.A.T. light. A wide range of power sources is available including a choice of NiMH batteries giving 5 or 9 hours use at full power, and much longer if dimmed.

 

 

 

Mains voltage LEDlight is plug compatible with older RATstands Lights

London, UK – 14 May 2010

RAT Music Stands introduce a mains voltage LEDlight which needs no separate power supply, and can therefore be plugged straight into the mains.

“An enormous number of venues around the world are still using lights we made literally decades ago using candle or golf ball bulbs” says Keith Hogben, Sales Manager at R.A.T. “The new mains voltage LEDlight enables them to get into the twenty first century by upgrading those old lights to the very latest technology”.

The new light uses warm white LEDs which operate in the only part of the spectrum that professional musicians will tolerate. They give very bright and very even illumination of the score, and the sharpest cut-off of any light on the market.

“Our customers face a constant battle between the musicians and the lighting designer” says Andrew Michell, Managing Director of RAT Music Stands. “The musos always want more light, but the lighting designers want to minimise the light pollution coming from the pit. The LEDlight gives them the best of both worlds – lots of light, but very very little spillage”.

The mains voltage LEDlight can be dimmed by all known types of dimmer.

 

 

 

Metropolitan Opera choose the new RATstand

London, UK – 14 May 2010

30 years after the launch of the original RATstand the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York have selected a new version to replace their existing fleet of stands.

The Grand Opera Stand stand has been developed in close cooperation with Santa Fe Opera specifically to meet the needs of the US market. It shares a family resemblance to its older brother but is broader, taller, heavier and has a solid tray. It also has the largest range of height adjustment of any stand on the market.

The stand is available with any of R.A.T.’s lamps but both customers have chosen the new mains voltage LEDlight which can be plugged straight into the mains supply without the need for any special power supply. The new light uses warm white LEDs which operate in the only part of the spectrum that professional musicians will tolerate. They give very bright and even illumination of the score, and the sharpest cut-off of any light on the market.

"The US opera houses wanted a really heavy stand and one that would be virtually indestructible" says Steve Beeferman, US Director of Marketing for R.A.T. "The rugged construction, nylon coating  and ABS tray gave them all of that, but what they hadn't dreamt of was the quality of light they could get with the new design".

The mains voltage LEDlight can be dimmed by all known types of dimmer.