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[John Ciallella]

Hey everyone, I am a newbie to this, but tried to do my research before bugging you.

I am in a 4 piece rock band, we play bars and small clubs (anywhere from 50-1000 people).  Stage is typically 20x10 (give or take).

Right now, we have 2 Color bank 8's and a fog machine.  The color bank is in each of the rear corners on the floor pointing up & out, and the fogger is in the middle pitched towards the rear wall to distribute evenly.

This is what I'm thinking of getting.

Front Lights:
Either standard Par Cans, or LED fixtures such as ADJ Par 64 LED.  I will get 4 of these and place 2 on top of each front speaker.  Each can will be aimed in the general direction of each performer.  OR I will buy 2 ADJ AccuSpot spot lights (one on top of each speaker).  While this option will be nice for individual lighting, I now have no front wash.

Rear Lights:
2 Trees (one for each rear corner).  On each tree will be:

2 Pin cans (aimed at drummer and drum kit).  These will either be LED or standard as well.
1 Strobe (aimed at drummer- looks REALLY cool when used in moderation for fills)
1 Moonflower type light aimed at stage floor.

Does this sound reasonable?  Any thoughts on how to change it up?  Budget isn't a huge issue, but I'd like to keep the cost to around $2000.

I should also mention that I have a roadie who will be controlling all of the lights during our performance, so a desk board is an option (which is why I thought the spot lights in front may be cool since he can control them as we play).

Thoughts?

[Tony "T" Tissot]

John Ciallella wrote on Thu, 12 April 2007 12:02

Does this sound reasonable?  Any thoughts on how to change it up?  Budget isn't a huge issue, but I'd like to keep the cost to around $2000.

Hey - everyone here is reasonable. (except when they say "budget isn't a huge issue" )

Think trying to look like your local 14,000 seat arena on a budget. What do you see?

My 2 cents:
Standardize on a fixture type - Par 46, 56, 64 - or dozens of LEDs if you can afford them.

Get lots of them - front, rear - then sides and floor foo-foo.
Lots's of light sources + good looking truss and towers makes you look very professional.

Add some movers or scanners to the mix for eye-candy. But do this 4 fixtures at a time. You want the audience to gasp when the see 4 or 8 movers choreographed to your music. The drummer strobe is fine - but that's only suitable for 30 seconds out of a four hour gig.

Get rid of any random nonsense.

Forget the DJ effects - They just don't cut it in a semi-pro situation. Forget the pin spots.

Pick a few things and do them to excess.