Lighting Music Gigs

[Just Some Bloke]

Do you think it helps if you are musically talented

 

Absolutely. With bands, for both lighting and sound the best technicans are the erstwhile (sp?) musicians. If you can't make the lights flash in time with the beat you're going to struggle and if you can't recognise a build that's going to culminate in a chorus then you're going to miss the obvious cue points. Sorry! ;)

 

Red on the fast ones, blue on the slow ones. If in doubt put the spots on the money.

 

Utter ... [struggles to find the correct word] ... tosh!

 

If the song was called "you warm my heart" you'd light it in blue? You'd never put blue in from the side and red in from behind?

 

This is supposed to be a forum with a professional ethos. Such suggestions are for people who don't know much and can't be bothered to improve.

[paulears]

I've got to side with Eric here.

 

I've sat through so many school and college gigs where the lighting seemed to have no link whatsoever to what was going on that the comments here just make me smile.

 

I rather like it when a music show turns up at the venue and give you a sheet that lists the numbers and gives clues:

1. Blue, add red for chorus NO FLASHING - follow spot on Jane

2. Bright - flashy. Don't flash on guitar solo - pick him up in spot, otherwise - spot on Jane (unless 2 available)

3. Red - no follow spot. No flashing, but gentle crossfades ok. Snap FUF on final bum bum BUM

 

These things are easy to understand.

 

Chases - my pet hate is one or two preprogrammed chases, usually fast and slow. I always put the chase steps on buttons and then I play them, piano style - and if you know the music, results are so much better - often the lights and crash cymbals work together. As the bump buttons have a fader above them, when you're busy flashing you can end on a button down, shove the fader up and maintain the state. Other times I'll have colours on faders, or positions - anything that looks good, then mix and match as the show progresses. When the band suddenly look to the audience who are waving their arms or whatever, an audience slow wipe with some movers might work.

 

If you don't even know the content, you can still do it if you're on the ball - if they sing Blue Moon, then blue might make sense, and although a moon box is unlikely to be in the rig, maybe you have a star cloth - a song called Yellow River suggests a colour, drum solos might be a load of movers on the kit strobing away.

 

Musical people do it better than those who are not. It's to do with feel. Some have it, some don't.

 

My first ever music gig was the Syd Lawrence Orchestra with Syd on trumpet. Lighting control was a big manual resistance control with clutches, chain drives and huge master wheels - and it was a physical thing - 4 blue, red, yellow and green battens - any combination, but that was about it! I used to call it arm dancing!

[Lampy Craig]

'Ello peeps,

 

just having a read, and most of the time programming a load of different pallettes, memories and chases then bashing away in time to the music will get you out of trouble most of the time.

 

When I was a kid I listened to music for about five years non-stop, so now I'm pretty good at knowing where a song is going to go, so nine times out of ten I make up a few busk pages on a pearl then just see what happens and go with it which is my preferred way of operating.

 

usually when you're touring and the band are doing a simillar set most nights, then you can then program a whole show as the time which has to be put in is then a bit more worthwhile. Most people would program a song on a page, and then recall that page when the song comes up in the set.

 

the main thing to remember is there are no rules in lighting music, only rough guidelines and some times the more you break the so called rules the better results you get. I find sometimes colour choice has more to do with the atmosphere in the venue that the Ld senses, than names of songs. Some nights what looked good in red the day before may also look cool in green another night.

 

Example of a song called 'Heart Beat' that blue and cyan lighting suits

 

 

and a couple more examples of making it up as you go along(busking)

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKxXrk0s18U

 

 

 

Craig

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigmccleary/

[dbuckley]

If you can't make the lights flash in time with the beat you're going to struggle

Whereas any half decent parcan operator can make this work a treat, there are very very very few occasions at all that I can recall where movers (or strobes) work to the beat in any meaningful fashion. Very often one can discern a series of steps that the movers are undertaking, but seldom does the rate of steps or the timing of steps coincide with the music.

[Aaron-Hill07]

I think it depends on the genre of music your working with.. I work a lot with Rock, sometimes Heavier Metal type music, but sometimes I have indie bands and light melodic rock on the same setlist.

 

Of course, with Metal music it's easy to use lots of blinders, lots of strobes etc as theres a lot of crash cymbals and screaming unfortunately.

 

I usually run with a design including scrollers or LED Pars if I can, because that way you aren't limited too much in coloured washes as they're more versatile. I also usually use 4 or more moving lights but that's personal preference as a lot of designers/LX tech's like to use just generic rigs.

 

When it comes to opping, I use Avolites consoles on the majority of my show's so busking is perfectly suited which is the general idea... I usually set-up several chases, shape generations and then pallettes and literally busk my way through it.. I also find rotating gobo's something handy for the more melodic bands and also nice out of phases strobing looks good.

 

I'm personally a musician, and I think it makes a difference as I usually get the structure of the song straight away as soon as the song starts and can usually match mood with colour and dynamics quickly. I also find, (if possible) having an eye on the drummer helps... you can usually take your cues for buildups, good oppurtunities to use blinders etc on crash cymbal beats and also song endings.

 

Pay attention during soundchecks so you get an idea of bands genre's etc before you start as it definately helps set the mood!

[Lampy Craig]

If you have made yourself a movement by way of a chase using say a three or four positions, if you have the speed of the chase set to the beat of the music it will look pretty pony and detract from the performance on stage as it will look too stupidly fast.

 

Better to use slow movements/shapes and use the dimmer bumps/shapes/chases over the top of the movement. Generally looks much better.

 

Also, Don't be too worried about being in time with the music all of the time. A show where the lights just change in time to the music can end up looking very dodgy disco after a while. Just go with what you feel naturally and go with the rhythm of the event, the rhythm that you feel in the atmosphere around you. I'm complimented by musicians quite a lot on my rhythm but a lot of the time chose to not keep the lights in time with the music. Don't forget you are trying to create a vibe first and foremost. sometimes miss a beat and go with your change on the next or fouth beat.

 

Don't be afraid to leave the odd song looking pretty static, I sometimes even catch myself purposely flashing lights out of time, so the lighting jars agaisnt the music. On the right track this can look pretty cool. Just do whatever you feel suits the song, as it's all about complimenting the song. You'll know if you've nailed it or not by having a word with the band, management and punters afterwards and just listening to what they say about the experience of the gig. If the lighting was poor you'll soon get moaned at.

 

It's the experimentation thats half the fun, I've been very lucky in that I've now lit well over three thousand band performances, by all types of bands imagineable, so have had a lot of time to mess about and experiment, so now have a good idea of what tends to work and what does not work. But it's only through the messing about that I gained this experience.

 

As soon as you're worrying about catching every beat and not enjoying yourself it quickly comes across as an under par lightshow and detracts from the gig and most of all, the experience of everybody watching.

 

As they say talent creates and genius steals! If anyone is trying to light bands for the first time, youtube a couple of live performances. Try and figure out what the Ld has done during the gig, then try to steal it. After a little while you will soon work out how to embelish it in your own little way, and your own style of lighting will soon develop.

 

Nice one

 

Craig

http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigmccleary/

[Ynot]

Sounds like a good reason not to ask the band :P

Rather unprofessional, don't you think? After all, you're there to light the band, if they have requests then you should cater to them if possible... not like the punters are there to see a lightshow.

I'd question the last statement, David - to a point.

As with a lot of things these days, punters may go primarily to see/hear the band BUT I'd bet that if you put most of them on stage with just basic lighting those punters would feel cheated...

 

But as for asking them what they want, I'd personally recommend listening to their 'dont's' and if they seem odd or even unreasonable, ask why that is. We don't do many band nights these days, but we used to get a fair few through our small doors and more than once had odd restrictions - it's usually because at some stage in their past they've had some d1ckhead at a venue who ruined the mood on one set by doing something inappropriate, and so they, in over-reaction, have decided that they wouldn't have colour 'x' in their set any more...

 

Discussion of options can usually resolve those issues.

[Lampy Craig]

But as for asking them what they want, I'd personally recommend listening to their 'dont's' and if they seem odd or even unreasonable, ask why that is.

 

like your style Ynot, you make a lot of sense.

 

I often get bands saying "No strobes!"

 

Me " why not?"

 

Band "drummer don't like 'em, the other night in leeds/bristol/glasgow? some idiot had the strobes on for three minutes non stop so we're not having them anymore"

 

Me "well what if I use them sparingly? only in the heavier parts in one or two songs? You tell me the songs that may suit them and during the show if you want them to be stopped just give me the signal and I'll stop them"

 

Band "yeah sounds cool"

 

another one is the one where they come in and say "No smoke"

 

Me "well what if I take the smoke machine off of the stage and put it somewhere else in the venue with a fan behind it and (again!) use it sparingly, just to give a slight haze to the air? The lighting will look so much better if WE! could do this and it'll add to the gigs atmosphere."

 

Band "yeah sounds cool"

 

If you just explain to people why you want to do things, give the reasoning behind it and show them you know what you are doing, you can usually talk them into most things and put on a better show.

 

Craig

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigmccleary/

[dbuckley]

Some bands have specific requirements: check out the Iggy Pop and the Stooges lighting rider.

 

Clear and unequivocal, and very different.