Lighting equipment

[LX coops]

Hi

 

I am currently part of an up and coming production company supplying complete event management services for clients, part of this service is lighting. The company will deal with presentations/awards evenings, product launches and weddings.

 

As the main lighting person involved I have been asked to specify the equipment I want and to get ball park figure as to what they will need. The venue sizes will vary, the largest being similar to that of the Kings Hall in Stoke on Trent, this holds up to about 1000 people.

 

Can some one give me some ideas on what to buy for a new company thats just started off and I have to get all the new lighting equipment for this company and I have a budget of 15,000.

 

I also need a freestanding trilite trussing rig. We also need equipment that would be effective in big tents ect. eney information will be grate thanks.

u can email me on dean_cooper_88@hotmail.com

 

EDIT: Topic title spelling sorted out

[Jivemaster]

There are so many co's with the kit and so few with the work that little needs to be bought. Get the work in a sensible prices and spec the kit from local hire co lists.

 

Its actually the organisational skill that pays.

[niclights]

There are so many possibilities and questions. As a lighting engineer you must have some sort of idea what you want to achieve. Speak to your lighting supplier.

[b1nuzz]

You would need lots of parcans for creating colour around the room/tent.

 

Some sort of moving light, probably the MAC 250+ or the Robe 575. Something along those lines. This will be able to create you nice effects across the roofs of tents, or floors etc.

 

A desk to control them with. This is again competly up to you, but if you decide to buy a few moving lights, a phat fog may just do the trick. Or maybe somthing smaller. Best bet is to find a comapny where you can try different desks out.

 

Dont forget all the cables to power the units, maybe you will need some kind of power distro. Do you need to be able to run it all on 13amp power, or 16amp? And all the DMX cables to control the movers. lengths of cabels obvioulsy depends on how far apart the units are. Its alays better to have way to much cable, than not enough

 

Also, you will need to look at a haze machine and/or a smoke machine.

 

HTH a little.

[Jivemaster]

Your prefered lighting style will dictate the lanterns you need. then you will need cables control and distro, assuming the venue can supply you enough power as and where you need it.

 

You could spend £15k on Macs robes etc and still have too little to do some gigs. For other gigs £1500 would buy you all the lanterns you need and the cables, and leave you something for rigging.

[gingertom]

I would have to second the idea of hiring your LX kit; apart from anything it means that the equipment servicing becomes someone else's responsibility, and in turn means you don't have to allow for a service person/your time to service /

PAT the kit. Which in theory should reduce your day to day running costs.

[mumbles]

Hows about before you consider buying anything do a few months worth of events and then see what you use most. Then consider if its worth owning this.

 

Just a thought :(

 

EDIT: Just added a t, to correct spelling, why cna't I spell properly :D

[Chris_R]

Although not exactly the same question, but along the same lines, this thread raises some very good points (IMHO) about the purchasing some kit.

Hope it helps,

Chris

[enbee]

I'd personally have to say that you are beter off hiring in kit than buying. the chances are if you buy kit you're never going to have everything you need and you'll still have to hire one or two things. the other problem lies in keeping up to date. I have found that a lot of clients have seen something at another event etc that they want. if you don't own it, you're stuck either buying it or hiring it.

 

I'd focus some money on the things you will allways use, like tools and training. I don't know your background when it comes to lighting but we can all live by the moto 'you can't buy talent'

 

the other thing you will avoid by hiring is costs of storage and insurance for the kit

 

hope this is of some help

[djwiltsh]

I would agree with the hiring thing.

 

I would purchase a basic rig (pars, maybe a few colour scrollers etc plus stands and cables, dimmers) that could be used for most of your smaller bookings, then hire in the specials (moving heads, LEDs etc) that you need for the bigger venues when you need them.

 

Thus you save on the storage space and cost of the more complex moving heads, and you have your own rig that you can use for many different bookings.

 

Dan

[mumbles]

I'd personally have to say that you are beter off hiring in kit than buying. the chances are if you buy kit you're never going to have everything you need and you'll still have to hire one or two things. the other problem lies in keeping up to date.

 

Following on from this, what do people think about owning desks?

 

Having spoken to a variety of people, they have come back with mixed opinions about it;

-On the plus side, a desk is likely to be used enough in a year to offset the cost of buying, against hiring one, and you can have it set up as you're going to need it with personalities etc.

-On the down side, there is the obvious problem of maintainance, and a 'need' to use that one desk for more of your events in order to earn something on it, which may mean you don't have the right desk for job.

 

Any ideas for the OP on this as desks don't seem to have been given the same level on discussion as the fixtures

[djwiltsh]

I would personally recommend buying one of the frog range (I don't work for them!). They are so versatile, you can get the right size according to how many intelligent fixtures you want to control, you can run them theatre cue-stack style (although there is only 1 memory stack), you have loads of subs and the palettes for easy busking live, they are easy to use, lightweight, and with careful programming you can achieve almost every effect etc you could want.

 

They are not too expensive, and as I said, you can use them for almost any event. My 2p worth!

[mumbles]

I would personally recommend buying ...

Sorry, what I meant is do you think its worth buying a desk, and not which one should you choose, as this will depend on what gigs are being done. For example, I am buying a fatfrog because it allows me the control I need for my movers, but my friend is buying a etc expression, because he normally works in theatre productions in church/school halls.

 

If LX Coops doesn't know what else he would want to buy, do poeple think its worth owning your own desk, or just hiring in for everything?

 

Personally, I will soon own a frog (as said earlier) so obviously I feel its worth owning a desk, but am only buying a frog when I mcuh prefer pearls, because I cant justify spending £5000, when there aren't many event that I do that a frog couldn't handle.

 

Sorry for any confusion in my last post.

[dfinn]

Hi,

 

I'm working closely with LX Coops on this project but thought it would be good if he asked you guys on here for advice.

 

So far we have decided that we are going to buy a basic rig to deal with the smaller events, then decide whether to buy more kit but more likely save the money and use it to hire out different kit according to the type of event we do. E.g. for a wedding we would get a few smaller movers, a low fog machine and a truss setup, whereas for a presentation night we may get larger movers, Fresnel's and more rigging.

 

Your input has been most valid and has influenced us in this way. We are striking a balance between total hire of kit and buying kit by buying the stuff we are familiar with (Particularly the Fat Frog and Betapacks) whilst avoiding products that will be expensive to maintain, service and are less reliable (moving heads, LED units etc).

 

This rig costs about £5000

 

So, our rig so far:

 

1x Zero 88 Fat Frog

1x LCD Screen

1x PS/2 Keyboard

 

1x Zero 88 Twin 15A Betapack

 

12x DTS Par 64's (15A Plug)

14x CP88 500w wide angle lamps

12x safety ropes

12x G clamps

2x 4M Power drive stands

2x Mounting Spigots

2x T bars

 

1x Haze machine (DMX)

 

2x 20m 6 Ch Socapex runs

2x 6 way 15A plug to soca fan in

2x soca fan out to 6 way 15A Plug

3x 20m DMX Cables

 

1x Flightcase for Fat Frog

1x 4U Flightcase for Betapack

2x Par cases for pars on bars

1x 1000mm x 500mm x 500mm road trunk

 

Comments/ criticisms on this setup most welcome.

 

Thanks,

 

Daniel

[niclights]

So essentially that's two bars of six, stands, dimmer, desk and bits to run them. This will be very limiting esp. with just 500W lamps. Are you sure the business is there? Are you sure you can make the costing viable after hiring in any extras that you would almost certainly need?

 

Anyhoo. Things you might have forgotten: Power for dimmer inc. various adaptors. Power for haze and desk - do not assume venue will have local 13A supply. Try to provide some hard 16A distribution off the back of the dimmer rack for these along with a power line taped to the DMX 'multi' for control. Gels & frames. Most importantly can you transport all this? If not you need to include van hire into costings.