Do I Need Lights?

[Billy Rigby]

I tried the FAQ first as I didn't want to bog the forum down with an unecessary thread but unfortunately it was all a bit too high tech for me!

 

I am a swing singer and have been ploughing my furrow for about eighteen months now. As such, I play anywhere that will have me, which is to say sometimes I'll play a wee pub with no stage ("Just set-up behind the fruit machine, son"), bigger pubs with stages, clubs and function rooms (alas, Carnegie Hall and Caesars Palace are not within sight just yet). Lately, I've been wondering if a small lighting rig would be a good addition to the show. Because of the type of music I perform, I don't really need an extravagant set-up (subtlety is the key) but I feel that the odd light would certianly add to the performances at the venues which have the space to accommodate.

 

Firstly, am I wrong to think this? Would I be fine to carry on with lights? Some venues have their own lighting rigs and some venues - as I said before - are too small anyway.

 

If I were to consider getting lights, where would I start? What exactly would I be looking for? I'm completely in the dark on this issue (pun intended) so any help in this area would really be appreciated.

[david.elsbury]

If I were in your position I would be wanting something fairly compact, with low power consumption, and ease of use. I'd probably look at a couple of stands, and 4 or maybe 6/8 LED parcans and a controller. They will run off a standard 13A socket (most small venues don't have a lot of power anyway) and have no heat, and are reasonably compact.

 

HTH?

[Andrew C]

Need? Maybe not. Would it improve the look of your act? Probably.

 

I'd have thought that getting a couple of stands and a couple of lights for each could be worth it for the smaller venues. Something to light your face (300w Fresnels), and a few (maybe LED PARS) to chuck some colour onto the wall behind you. Simplest controller you can find to enable you to choose the colour, and balance the intensity and then leave it at that, rather than fiddling with too many changes during your set. Although if you could pre-set a few looks it could be even better.

[prolightdesigner]

Hi

 

Only you can really answer the question of do you NEED lights. Using a few would be recommended if you want to add some sophistication to your act. As others have already mentioned, you'll want something portable and compact, as well as flexible. LED washes are a possible solution as they are very small and draw very little power. The draw back to those is that they are a little on the pricey side. You'd be looking at spending at least a few hundred for a small kit, a few thousand for a nice LED kit. You could also consider industry standard PARs, either 16 or 38s. They don't have the color mixing capabilities like LED PARs do, so you won't have as much flexibility. There are plenty of threads in this and other forums that list the pros and cons to LED vs conventional lighting. Either way, small is the way to go!

 

-Jeff

[Billy Rigby]

Thanks, everyone. I like the idea of small and few! I'm not looking to spend a huge amount so somewhere in the hundreds rather than the thousands is what I'd be looking at.

 

You've certainly given me something to go off, though. Ta very much.

[heinz57]

What about the iSolution iColour 3 or 4 pack? This could be a good choice. My amdram group once borrowed one for a small time performance we did. The lights in these packs are pretty good.

 

http://www.ebdj.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?product_id=10659 (iColour 3)

 

http://www.ebdj.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?product_id=11139 (iColour 4)

 

It can all pack into a case

 

http://www.ebdj.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?product_id=11046 (iColour 3 case)

 

http://www.ebdj.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?product_id=10773 (iColour 4 case)

 

You would also need to purchase a couple of tripods, here are the proper tripods for the gear

 

http://www.ebdj.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?product_id=13349

 

Might something like that be useful?

 

Heinz B-)

 

EDIT - added tripod link

[benash]

What about the iSolution iColour 3 or 4 pack?

 

The iSolution lights have (IIRC) 3 or 4 500W lamps, if you're going to go with them you need to watch your power consumption. Lots of small venues only have one or two sockets to run off. If you happen to go full on all the channels you can start tripping breakers pretty quickly. Having said that if you want lots of colour with a minimum of gear they do work pretty well.

[prolightdesigner]

Lots of small venues only have one or two sockets to run off. If you happen to go full on all the channels you can start tripping breakers pretty quickly.

Very true. LED units draw almost negligible current (unless you use a bunch), so they would be a great choice to use in locations with little accessible power.

 

-Jeff

[Sound In Gloucestershire]

I was going to post about the isolution icolors, but someone beat me to it

 

id keep the 300w lamps inside (thats what they come with) as it will reduce your power drain, but they will do the job perfectly, for smaller gigs you can just take one in

[djdave]

icolors are good and they are excellent value for money but heat wise they do give off a lot. There are a couple of all in one style LED products

 

http://www.kam.co.uk/index.php?action=prod...;product_id=193

 

and there is the LS-70 system from american dj which is similar but without RGB mixing. Just for different pars with different coloured LED lamps.

 

 

I think something like that would be better. Less power and the KAM parbar is very compact and neat. Only problem is if they are pointed right at you may have dots in your eyes.

[upsuEnts]

I would say, hire some first, see what you like the look and feel of then if you like them, buy some. Simple B-)

[dmxtothemax]

How small do you want to start at?

small start, use some colored par 38 lights, they are cheap and robust, compact so usefull in small venues.

medium start, buy some par 56s, and use color filters, some stands could be added.

or even led based 56s.

larger start, 500w washs or 1000w washs, such as par 64s, how ever power supply could be an issue in smaller venues

 

whats your choice?

[heinz57]

if you're going to go with them you need to watch your power consumption. Lots of small venues only have one or two sockets to run off. If you happen to go full on all the channels you can start tripping breakers pretty quickly.

 

A good point.

 

However,

 

Recently my am-dram group once borrowed some iColour 4s. We ran them off 2 sockets in the venue. These sockets was on the same circuit within the building. They was on separate sockets simply for the convenience of not having cables trailing about everywhere. They didn't fuse anything once. And we ran them off full intensity, if we lowerd the intensity it was simply to stop blinding the performers.

 

Heinz :(

[Sound In Gloucestershire]

heinz, they mean most venues have 1 or 2 sockets (once you have unplugged the fruit machine...) in total for everything including sound AND light!

[musht]

Had a poke at the Kam Par Bar at PLASA, really liked it , anyone seen anymore reviews of them?

 

Brightness against show hall lighting was quite acceptable, really neat thing is the size less than 2 " thick for the whole bar, fit a few of them on a meatrack...

 

PAR38s don`t go there, they are quite fragile, filament dosn`t like vibration, and lamp cost will eventually make you weep, been there long time ago.

 

The LED Par Bar now really is the replacement for the PAR56, dimmers integral, cabling all integral, pulls less than a single `56 for the whole bar full up, and did I mention its about size of a keyboard case.

 

But bearing in mind your a swing singer crooning you probably dont want loads of bright flashing colours all the time but back and side light can help set a mood.

 

LED looks awful on skin tones so it isn`t any good to you as a frontlight, options include twisting couple of the pubs tracklights your way, couple of PAR16 birdies mounted however you can, use GU10 ones, cheap lamps and put padded big croc clips on them for mounting, at a push can always clamp them to table edges to give you some front/side light in a nice warm tungsten.

 

LED for backlight, direct backlight makes you stand out from the background, but only if you have some front/side light or you`ll look like lead singer of Sisters of Mercy;-)

 

Bounce light off wall and ceiling as well to give backdrop colours, with LED you can have all the colour combos out of only 4 lites.