Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Earl Teigrob]

I put on a monthly dance at our local dance studio and purchased some pars to provide both static color and sound reactive color using the Raven DMX. The studio has mirrors all around so I was going to get some curtains to cover the mirrors where my pars are located. Basically, the pars will produce the full spectrum light. What color curtains would be best to project the pars onto? I don't want to too much light reflecting onto the dance floor and into peoples eyes so I discounted pure white. I've been debating between a grey or beige. I suppose the beige will produce a warmer tone and an overall warmer affect. I might have to try them both but I was just wandering if there are any rule pertaining to wall color and wall wash.

Thank you for your help

[Lyle Williams]

The darker the surface, the more of the light power you are wasting.

Remember that you are the only person on this forum who has seem the room.  This is an aesthetic decision.

[Earl Teigrob]

The darker the surface, the more of the light power you are wasting.

Remember that you are the only person on this forum who has seem the room.  This is an aesthetic decision.

Good Point. Ill try and not make it too dark. Maybe an Ivory with a mat surface would be best for me. The lights are facing straight up so a lot of light is going to be hitting the ceiling and reflect a lot of light so if the wall is too dark and I need to turn it up a lot, the ceiling will reflect more light.

[Paul G. OBrien]

You want white drapes any other color will absorb output from your fixtures and mess up the color palate, and unless you spent really big dollars on those pars your problem will be getting enough light output.

[Earl Teigrob]

You want white drapes any other color will absorb output from your fixtures and mess up the color palate, and unless you spent really big dollars on those pars your problem will be getting enough light output.

Paul,

Thank you for your input... I'm going in that direction but don't want stark white curtains because its going to look like carp with the house lights on. My fixtures have plenty of power (18x18w) each (That is 3w per color theoretical but is really 1.5w - 2w in reality...nobody outputs the max rating of the LED's) which is still lots of light. But I want people to see the beautiful colors on the wall and not just the ceiling. Ivory or light beige is probably best for me. Keeping the curtain colors in the grey scale will keep the light colors the truest I suppose.

Earl

[Jeremy Young]

Can you get any sample pieces (swatches or whatever they are called) of the fabric prior to ordering?  Then you could test first.

[Mark Cadwallader]

We have a light blue "cyc" at the theater that is good with a color wash or without.  Maybe something like that?

[Brook Hovland]

I put on a monthly dance at our local dance studio and purchased some pars to provide both static color and sound reactive color using the Raven DMX. The studio has mirrors all around so I was going to get some curtains to cover the mirrors where my pars are located. Basically, the pars will produce the full spectrum light. What color curtains would be best to project the pars onto? I don't want to too much light reflecting onto the dance floor and into peoples eyes so I discounted pure white. I've been debating between a grey or beige. I suppose the beige will produce a warmer tone and an overall warmer affect. I might have to try them both but I was just wandering if there are any rule pertaining to wall color and wall wash.

Thank you for your help

Be sure to get Inherently Flame Retardant or Treated drape (with a certificate) or your local fire marshal could force you to take it down.

[Len Zenith Jr]

Battle ship grey will show colors properly while taking down the brightness.

[Dave Garoutte]

I vote for grey.  Maybe darker than you think.
There are many situations where you want a black background.
There's nothing quite like a solo spot on the performer with a fully dark background.
If you are lighting curtains, look into non-vertical beams.
I much prefer an angled light beam, which hits all the high folds of the curtain, giving a nice 3D effect.
My general opinion is to light the show, not the back wall.

[Mark Cadwallader]

I vote for grey.  Maybe darker than you think.
There are many situations where you want a black background.
There's nothing quite like a solo spot on the performer with a fully dark background.
If you are lighting curtains, look into non-vertical beams.
I much prefer an angled light beam, which hits all the high folds of the curtain, giving a nice 3D effect.
My general opinion is to light the show, not the back wall.

But this is a dance studio, and I assume there will be relatively few solos. To the extent the OP can use side lighting (from SL and SR booms), there will be more sculpting of the dancer's body than if only using front lighting.  Without a pair of follow spots (and good operators) keeping a solo dancer well lit against a black background and dark stage is pretty tough, IMO.

[Earl Teigrob]

I vote for grey.  Maybe darker than you think.
There are many situations where you want a black background.
There's nothing quite like a solo spot on the performer with a fully dark background.
If you are lighting curtains, look into non-vertical beams.
I much prefer an angled light beam, which hits all the high folds of the curtain, giving a nice 3D effect.
My general opinion is to light the show, not the back wall.

Thanks Dave,

This is for a dance studio as background lighting for a group dance. No spotlighting. I simply want beautiful walls that make the place come alive. I'm trying to create mode and environment. My studio can cover one wall with back velour and based on a you tube I saw

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5yIVYua4weE

this can look quite nice. My only concern is that to get the colors to really look bright on the black I might have to turn the brightness up so much the that the white ceiling will reflect too much light into the room??? Or perhaps I can tilt the lights into the black to prevent so much spill onto the ceiling? Or maybe this is a complete nonissue?

My next step is to go the the studio with different colored curtains and test them all out.

Earl

[Earl Teigrob]

But this is a dance studio, and I assume there will be relatively few solos. To the extent the OP can use side lighting (from SL and SR booms), there will be more sculpting of the dancer's body than if only using front lighting.  Without a pair of follow spots (and good operators) keeping a solo dancer well lit against a black background and dark stage is pretty tough, IMO.

Mark, you are correct, a dance studio with relatively few solos. In fact, I have some warm white pars for spotlights but right now I am just trying to focus on the mode of the studio itself. In our West Coast Swing dance have have rarely used any type of lighting except house lights. We don't want light in peoples eyes because it is a very technical dance (It doesn't look like it however:) ) and the dancers need to be able to focus on the dance without interference. I'm going to test off-white, charcoal grey and black. I want the keep the dance room fairly dim so I can't have an environment where lighting the walls causes the room to be a brighten up too much. The black velour I linked to in my other post looks stunning but may have other drawbacks. Testing this will be interesting !!!

[Dave Garoutte]

My bad.
But do try angling the cans across the curtain folds.
I really like the look.

[Earl Teigrob]

My bad.
But do try angling the cans across the curtain folds.
I really like the look.

Thank you, I will definitely try the cross angle affect. I might try to have variations of the lights for every dance. Keep it interesting...

[ProSoundWeb Community]