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Hanging lighting from a saddlespan tent


timsabre

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Hi folks, has anyone here ever rigged lighting in/from a Saddlespan tent? I have been given about 24hrs to design a rig in one, starting now!

It's an S-5000 tent (the biggest) and I have a manufacturers data sheet saying you can only hang 120kg x 4 from it.

However I have found various pictures on the web showing all sorts of lighting and trusses hanging from them, including the manufacturer's website. Some sites say you can hang 3 tonnes.

 

This is a pic on the manufacturer's website:

http://www.tentnology.com/tent-catalogue/s...ddlespan_4.aspx

 

Just trying to work out whether it is a job for ground support... I will try to find out who the tent supplier is tomorrow and contact them, but if any BR members can help out in the meantime, please share your experience.

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I have done several gigs in these tents. On each occasion I have decided to hang a 2 6 lamp bars on the front cantilever to give me some face light, and then used vertical trusses on bases to hang the rest of the lights off of. What kind of rig are you looking to put in? I shall try and dig out a few of my gig pics!

 

Regards,

 

AndyJones

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I have done several gigs in these tents. On each occasion I have decided to hang a 2 6 lamp bars on the front cantilever to give me some face light

Also seen that done, though I believe they encountered issue's with the cords being of a different size to standard truss. They resolved them, but don't go expecting to attach stuff with swivel-couplers.

 

Aside from that the rig I'm thinking of was all ground supported - the stage didn't go right to the edge in any direction.

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I have done several gigs in these tents. On each occasion I have decided to hang a 2 6 lamp bars on the front cantilever to give me some face light, and then used vertical trusses on bases to hang the rest of the lights off of. What kind of rig are you looking to put in? I shall try and dig out a few of my gig pics!

 

Regards,

 

AndyJones

 

I have got 4x Robe 1200 spots, 6x Robe 700 spots, 8x 6-way parbars, some 4 way raylight bars and 4 molefays (??). I have a range of truss options available including some self-climbing towers. The event will run through the day and into the evening and has gospel choirs, samba bands and a bit of light pop stuff.

The strange thing is, the stage (12m wide in the 15m canopy) is in the rear part of the tent with a dance floor under the front part of the canopy. This puts the stage a long way back from the front cantilever and results in the lowest part of the roof being over the front of the stage. So I am trying to avoid horizontal trusses as they are gonna be too low.

It's hard to tell from various web photos what the angle is on the side walls and how high a vertical truss I am going to get in if I put it at the front corners of the stage.

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OK just for those who follow after, I will complete the story...

The 120kg loading is apparently correct, so I am not sure about those photos on the web of big trusses hanging off the front of the tent. Modge is right about the tent truss, it is much bigger tube than normal truss. They suggest putting a length of ally pipe inside the web of their truss and clamping to that, so we did that but it was a bit of a fiddly job.

 

We went for 2 par bars on the front for face light and a couple of blinders... then everything else was stood on the stage and on various bits of vertical truss on bases. Hard work to rig but looked nice in the end, especially the last hour of the gig which was the only bit of semi darkness and when we were allowed to use the hazer.

 

I have to say, although it made a nice looking roof for the stage, the acoustic reflections off the tent made for horrible sound conditions on the stage.

 

http://www.congoblue.co.uk/dscf2553(1).jpg

http://www.congoblue.co.uk/dscf2566.jpg

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Hello,

 

your pictures looked very nice, Very similar to the jobs that I have lit in these tents. One thing I like about these is the fact that you can use the tent as a canvas, you can get some lovely effects with prisms, and mixing gobo wheels. It means you can do some very nice visual lighting during the day.

 

Looked good!

 

Regards,

 

Andy Jones

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  • 1 year later...

One thing I like about these is the fact that you can use the tent as a canvas, you can get some lovely effects with prisms, and mixing gobo wheels. It means you can do some very nice visual lighting during the day.

Andy Jones

 

Hi Andy,

 

Can you tell me what the most effective lighting position in this tent is for washing the inside of the roof with say Mac2000 performance?

Because of his curve, Its hard to figure out how manny I need to cover the entire roof.

I have a show with a Philharmonic orchestra in it and thinking of placing the yokes on their cases in the back and/or sides around the orchestra, any thoughts?...

 

thanks,

Hans

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Can you tell me what the most effective lighting position in this tent is for washing the inside of the roof with say Mac2000 performance?

Because of his curve, Its hard to figure out how manny I need to cover the entire roof.

I have a show with a Philharmonic orchestra in it and thinking of placing the yokes on their cases in the back and/or sides around the orchestra, any thoughts?...

 

On the floor at the back and sides was good for me. I had 4 Robe 1200 spots and 4 700 spots and these were very effective onto the roof.

 

The full inside of the roof can only be seen from a limited range of audience positions, so if you have a large audience bear in mind that many of them will not be able to see it.

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