Advice on lighting for a Party Band

[dawbassman]

This is a great forum and I've already learnt masses but would appreciate any comments/ advice from you pros.

 

Current setup:

 

Stage Lights:

8 x floor mounted Par cans (56) with different gels - 4 static + 4 dynamic with sound to light fed from Audio desk via Pulsar Modulator

Dance floor lights:

2 Source static effect lights mounted wherever we can find a safe place!

 

Requirement:

 

Move up market with effects and stage lighting

? moving heads aimed at dance floor and stage

? colour changers/ dimmers aimed at stage

? truss attached to speaker cabinets

 

Been looking at possibility of 2 x Mac 250 Krypton or similar for the moving lights - haven't a clue with the colour changers/dimmers - the par cans give a good light but would like to change the colours for different numbers

 

There is no lighting engineer - the band needs to be able to pre-set or change settings between numbers

[gareth]

Re. the eight par56s on the floor - the first thing I'd suggest is to get a couple of stands and T-bars for those and get them up in the air. They'll do a much better job of lighting the band.

 

Re. the Mac250 Kryptons - reading between the lines, I get the impression that they'd be a bit 'over-specified' compared to the rest of your kit - there are several lower-budget options available from places like Thomann which, while not quite up to the standard of a Mac, would probably do what you need them to do and would leave you with some change to spend on getting some more Par56s, perhaps a few dimmers and a small desk, etc.

[benweblight]

if you are looking to contol the lighting yourself there are several options

 

if you use a lighting desk you can program in cues/changes, and use a footswitch (if the deskahs an input) to change them. or you can control it using a spare midi controller

 

alternatively there are several foot controllers which you could use to control the pars

[JohnPartridge]

If you really do want to technically advance your rig , I suggest some Scanners / Moving Mirrors and a nice desk , but I dont really see the point in spending the money on some new Mac250 Krips

 

John Partridge

[zonino]

I agree with gareth, get those par's on some stands!

 

if you're looking at a budget big enough to buy 250 kryptons, I'd spend the money on buying a few higher range scanners (something with dimming), its usually possible to mount these so the can scan the audience and the band,

 

rather than going for colour changers I'd probably invest in more par's and stick some different colours in those

 

I also agree you need a desk, but I'm not sure which I'd recommend. I know on the frog desks there is an option to have an external switch box with 8 buttons you can assign to operate different subs which could be useful,

[SceneMaster]

Ok… well I think a desk like the Frog might be over kill for what the OP wanted, like the mac 250 kryptons. I think what you probably need is some nice scanners for the party which can be controlled by a desk if you need to in the future and run of sound to light.

 

As for the band lighting I agree stands are a must to get the light level higher… with 4 Par56 per side you can create a nice wash which you can control by a foot controller and change between preset wash states and maybe use the chancing functions many of them have, although it would probably better with such a small system to keep the bands stage/area in a nice colorful full wash which occasionally changes and put of the movement onto the dance area. Plus the light won’t be as annoying in the bands eyes if it isn’t constantly changing (if this matters to you ).

[zonino]

I know, I just couldnt think of a desk that would be suitable/in price range (and I really hate scans on sound to light for band gigs!)

[dawbassman]

Thanks for the input everyone. The budget is not my main criteria - I want a quality system that is easy and quick to set up and will stand the test of time. I've been speaking with the Martin technician and I quite like the idea of using LightJockey to programme the effects for different numbers. I've taken on board the need for a desk/ controller - it seems a 2518 may suffice for my application.

 

What scanners would you recommend?

 

What is the best way to change the colours without having too mant par cans?

[Rich newby]

OK, Scanner wise, You could try Martin again, they have quite a range.

 

To colour change a par, the standard way would be with scrollers, but not the best thing, I'm not a fan of them personally, but its all up to you. If you wanted more pars you could try LED pars, which have been discussed on here alot. They are cheaper that decent scrollers, and will probably look better. Plus not as much setting up to be done.

 

Hope this helps

Rich

[P. Funk]

How about LightJockey on a laptop, using MIDI triggers from a MIDI foot pedal? I suppose its not particularly heavy duty, but it'd allow band members to control the lighting perfectly!

 

As for colours, I'd say just more lanterns, but have you got the space in the venues you play at?

[JohnPartridge]

OK Scanner wise...

 

Martin Mx1's

Martin MX4's

 

They are good quality , (typical from martin ) quite a good price aswell , however if you cant go for martin scanners , I use MAD scans quite alot and there quite good.

 

Ive used the Martin MX range and MAD scanners and eaither do the job very well , its just how much your buget is.

 

Ok also you need some more general wash light , I suggest the good old 2 Tbar setup with 4 par 56/64s on each , eaither side of the stage.

 

Hope this helps

John Partridge

[Rich newby]

Yep, that's exactly the advice on scanners that I would give. The martin Mx range are brilliant, one of my favourites. I have used the MAD scanners a couple of times before, but I could not use them to there full potential, because of the controller.

 

Price wise, looking at it from CPC (yay my 06 cpc catalogue came today!)the martin MX - 1 is £386.95 and the MX - 4 is £625.50. They are there DMX scanners, with a huge range of Non DMX scanners as well.

 

Martin do some colour changers called the CX-2(£341.10) and the CX-4(£584.10). I personally think these are a waste of money, as you can buy LED colour changing DMX Par64's for £150. And if you want to really look gig style, you could put all your pars on a truss frame, which will also give you lots of support to upgrade, and lots of different fixing points to give good stage coverage. I do think you need more generics, before you start upgrading to movers and DMX lights.

 

If you need some more info on some lanterns or prices and supplyers,feel free to pm me.

Rich

[Jivemaster]

Add some more PARs on T Bars onto the band, prob the controllers you have will power these too.

Then look at getting a trussing designed, then you can hang movers, waggly mirrors etc.

 

Please dont overload speakers with lights etc. really speakers were NOT designed for carrying loads.

 

Look at shows you admire and take inspiration from their look then adapt and improve it and adopt it as yours. When you have a "look" many on here will help you to achieve it.

 

Remember at ALL times to keep your show within the limits of the fee you can command, unless you can charge more for movers then dont invest more than the return is worth.

[JohnPartridge]

Yes I agree to what Rich said, dont bother going near colour changers , havent ever got good results from me.

 

Get some more 64's on T bars and a few Mx1's /4s to give the show an added boost.

 

To follow on from what jivemaster said , dont over loads speaker stacks with lights , ive seen people resting trilite trussing on them before ( very silly ) speakers were designed for delivering sound not carrying weight. If I am going to use speaker stacks for lighting I will only ever put 1 Mac 250/300 on each stack.( carefully secured )

 

Hope ive helped

John Partridge

[SceneMaster]

How much power do you typically have in you venues as this is a key consideration and of course scrollers aren’t for Discos\Partys they were never designed for that sort of usage they would wear out fairly quickly if you had constant color changing, they would probably cope as you band wash but it probably isn’t worth the fuss.

 

However don’t get the impression that scrollers aren’t great, they are a really useful tool if probably understood and used properly, many people have problems with them but they are quite easy.