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Author Topic: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?  (Read 15196 times)

John Strzalkowski

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Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2011, 10:16:51 PM »

the last lighting rig I hung had a little over 400 fixtures in it...

and it wasn't even a rock show :)

you can never have too many lights

Completely agree. Sometimes if I have extra space in the truck to try out some new lights at a job, I will toss them in and see how it goes.
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alan hamilton

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Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #11 on: April 04, 2011, 02:04:22 AM »


I guess I'll just use a few pars, and rent extra stuff if the venue needs it. :(

Anyone in the bar circuit should balance the coolness of their light show versus what it really gains them. If anyone's light show means the bar staff has to stay 2, 3, 4 etc hours after closing time while you load out, let alone dealing with feeder cable and tie-ins and other things they'd rather you not do (like taking ceiling tiles out, cables across walkways to find more circuits, etc).... then you might find that the large light show is a hindrance to the band's bookings more than a help.
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Matt Melberg

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Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #12 on: April 04, 2011, 10:37:18 AM »


I guess I'll just use a few pars, and rent extra stuff if the venue needs it. :(

Anyone in the bar circuit should balance the coolness of their light show versus what it really gains them. If anyone's light show means the bar staff has to stay 2, 3, 4 etc hours after closing time while you load out, let alone dealing with feeder cable and tie-ins and other things they'd rather you not do (like taking ceiling tiles out, cables across walkways to find more circuits, etc).... then you might find that the large light show is a hindrance to the band's bookings more than a help.

Agreed, but these days most everyone at that level should be looking at LED fixtures.  The power draw is minuscule and with lightweight fixtures, bringing in portable stands and or trussing is a simple matter.  I bring in about 30-40 fixtures and our total power draw is less than 15amps!
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James Feenstra

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Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #13 on: April 04, 2011, 11:22:33 AM »


I guess I'll just use a few pars, and rent extra stuff if the venue needs it. :(

Anyone in the bar circuit should balance the coolness of their light show versus what it really gains them. If anyone's light show means the bar staff has to stay 2, 3, 4 etc hours after closing time while you load out, let alone dealing with feeder cable and tie-ins and other things they'd rather you not do (like taking ceiling tiles out, cables across walkways to find more circuits, etc).... then you might find that the large light show is a hindrance to the band's bookings more than a help.
agreed...obviously you can't pack 40 mac 700s into a small bar

once you get above the 20-30a circuit for lighting at that level you've got too much

it's all about putting the kind of show into a place that will look good and not be ridiculously over the top (unless you're TSO ;))

personally i'm not into 'lights on' shows (even before I became a LD), people are paying good money to see whoevers performing, and they should get a little extra for their ticket than just some guy/girl/band/whoever playing 10 songs off their album.

at any level it's always the bands that put in a little extra effort that get noticed.
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Steve Hurt

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Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #14 on: April 04, 2011, 04:26:47 PM »

..........I think it was only about 40 points though, kinda small ;)


1 point is too many for the average club gig!
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Jason Vanick

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Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #15 on: April 04, 2011, 05:01:08 PM »

at any level it's always the bands that put in a little extra effort that get noticed.

Definitely true... when my small bar band added lights (first few gigs were just sound-activated), the amount of dancing went up, as well as the amount of liquor sales.  In the few gigs after the first 'light' show, our attendance nearly doubled as well.

So, Lights == Happier/More Fun Audience == Better Bookings == More Money for the band.

Of course, we're not going to take a 40 point setup with us, qty 16 led cans are plenty for what we're doing.

4 trees pre-wired isn't that much extra to haul, and I'm lucky that the 2 guitarists will do the setup while I'm setting up the pa gear and the drummer is setting up his kit.

-J
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Steve Hurt

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Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #16 on: April 04, 2011, 05:19:17 PM »

Definitely true... when my small bar band added lights (first few gigs were just sound-activated), the amount of dancing went up, as well as the amount of liquor sales.  In the few gigs after the first 'light' show, our attendance nearly doubled as well.

So, Lights == Happier/More Fun Audience == Better Bookings == More Money for the band.

Of course, we're not going to take a 40 point setup with us, qty 16 led cans are plenty for what we're doing.

4 trees pre-wired isn't that much extra to haul, and I'm lucky that the 2 guitarists will do the setup while I'm setting up the pa gear and the drummer is setting up his kit.

-J

Running your show from the stage?  Got video? 
This is the size show that is about max for where we play and I am very interested in what others are doing.
We need to increase our light show to step the show part of the experience up, but the band will not pay for truss and labor. 
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Jason Vanick

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Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #17 on: April 04, 2011, 06:13:36 PM »

Running your show from the stage?  Got video? 
This is the size show that is about max for where we play and I am very interested in what others are doing.
We need to increase our light show to step the show part of the experience up, but the band will not pay for truss and labor.

I don't have any video at the moment... but, we don't have any trusses, just the 4 tripod trees and that's it.

Hopefully next show we should be able to have somebody shoot video and I'll grab some pics of the setup.

last show was in a small place and we lit from the sides and front, nothing rear.

the effect still worked nicely for the audience tho, IMO anything with some color and light changes synched a bit to the songs will help in a major way.
-J
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Steve Hurt

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Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #18 on: April 04, 2011, 06:21:53 PM »

I don't have any video at the moment... but, we don't have any trusses, just the 4 tripod trees and that's it.

Hopefully next show we should be able to have somebody shoot video and I'll grab some pics of the setup.

last show was in a small place and we lit from the sides and front, nothing rear.

the effect still worked nicely for the audience tho, IMO anything with some color and light changes synched a bit to the songs will help in a major way.
-J

I noticed you were doing it with 4 trees, not with truss, that's what got my interest!
That all we can handle at the moment ourselves.
Just looking to see how "big" people are making their show, while using a smallish light rig.

Maybe we can hire James one day to do a 40 point hang with a bazillion movers, but until then ......!
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Terry Martin

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Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #19 on: April 04, 2011, 11:25:45 PM »

The more the better!  ;)












SixtyFourEast - April 2, 2011 - Main Street Pub - Robinson, IL

I noticed you were doing it with 4 trees, not with truss, that's what got my interest!
That all we can handle at the moment ourselves.
Just looking to see how "big" people are making their show, while using a smallish light rig.

Maybe we can hire James one day to do a 40 point hang with a bazillion movers, but until then ......!
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Bands & lighting, lots or little ?
« Reply #19 on: April 04, 2011, 11:25:45 PM »


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