flukather Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Hi! Sorry if this is a kind of a noob question. If you where playing in a duo, and you only had 6-8 RGB LED PAR64 cans as "your" lightning (the only light that you bring), where would you put them? I thought the logical placement would be to put them somewhere around the FOH speakers (or on top of them as in my previous thread), so it the light would hit the band 45 degrees from the side /front. But when I look around at other partyduos, they all have them either above the backdrop, or from the sides, why is this? Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 the thing is with live performers (other than DJs) is that the punters need to see YOU clearly (most of the time.This means you really need some 'clean' front light - ie an open white or coloured with just a tint to warm/cool the states.Putting RGB cans out front won't really give you that, hence why many people use them as backlight or side fills.Giving decent colour from those areas is preferable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottish_AV_in London Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Hi! Sorry if this is a kind of a noob question. If you where playing in a duo, and you only had 6-8 RGB LED PAR64 cans as "your" lightning (the only light that you bring), where would you put them? I thought the logical placement would be to put them somewhere around the FOH speakers (or on top of them as in my previous thread), so it the light would hit the band 45 degrees from the side /front. But when I look around at other partyduos, they all have them either above the backdrop, or from the sides, why is this? Cheers! I have to agree with above, your audience need to see you, so placing two or four to light yourself and your partner as you perform is advisable, then put the rest behind you facing into the crowd on a sound to light chase, or preprogrammed chase to create a moving effect should suffice to provide an atmosphere. What type of fixture are you using?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukather Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 Thanks for the replies guys! I'm not quite sure what you mean by fixture (english is not my first language). I suppose you mean what I will mount the lights to? In that case, either on top of my FOH speakers (T-bar and clamp), or on top of the truss that holds the backdrop. I guess I was abit unclear about one thing. On pretty much every place I've placed, the lights that are already in the room are enough for us to be seen onstage, so there is not a big need for a "clean" light to light us up. I was thinking of using the RGB LED cans for effect and atmospere (changing the color of the stage etc), so I'm asking where they should be if that's what I'm going for? I will also use a smoke machine, if that makes any difference in placement of the cans. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Allen Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Atmospheric lighting needs darkness and shadows so you can get contrast and sculpture. Just flooding a performer with lots of light from the front washes out all of the character. Look at a person in natural light, standing in the shadows and out in the open. Look at the shadows on the face and body, they help accentuate the lit areas. So atmospheric lighting works better from the side, from behind and from the front key light positions, which is 45 degrees out and up from the performer. Look up the MacAndless method. There are three heights to use for atmospheric lighting, on the floor pointing up, at waist height coming staight in (usually dance) and high or steep coming down. Adding smoke or haze adds another dimension, the Z axis as you can see the beam of light. To obtain atmospheric lighting you need to be selective with your front lighting and keep the levels down. So instead of a full stage wash, just have a spot on each performer and do not light the rest of the stage from the front, so your atmospheric side and back light can be more effective. Look up YouTube videos, taking into account low light levels due to the cameras used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swampman Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 A pet hate I've had for the last few years is the white front and two 6 bars (PAR 64/1000w) for economic set ups...Boring and insultingly unimaginative even with smoke... The use of coloured LEDS WITH a GOOD light output does mean you can get away with only 6-8 and your are not tied to 2 T bars or PARs at each side of the stage (not at the back as mentioned above!), adding to the three position idea: -One (or more one per performer) on stands on each side or on the PA,-One or more on floor behind: specials, song closers...-2 on floor at sides...-any spare for a special drum or other player or lighting backdrop/wall. Try to get away from using symetry of colours and levels: it seems a simplistic solution now dimmers with twin outputs are less in use: its time to take advantage of the subtlety that LEDs offer if programmed adequately and highlight indidual perfomers. The one problem that does bug me with LEDs is the loss of apreciable lumens with RGB only units when one tries to get a suitable tint kind on the skin of perfomers without them looking like zombies or vampires (unless the band's into gothic rock or similar!) - as RGBA etc models evolve this seems to get better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Just to answer the question on 'fixture' - it's just a word used to describe the actual light itself. We used to call them 'lanterns', then moving lights appeared and started to be termed 'fixtures'. Then Europe stepped in with 'Luminaire' and of course confused everything. There are subtle preferences for what to call the things that light up - but to all practical purposes, they're interchangeable really. So in this topic, the fixture is the LED PAR64 - NOT the hardware that holds it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukather Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 Hi again! Thanks for the replies once again :) One thing that I try to do with all my gear, is make it easy and fast to set up and tear down. Therefore, I don't think I will go with lights at many different locations around the stage. The lights will either always be mounted to a T-bar, which I then put in a case, or to the truss, which I haven't figured out a good way to store yet. But basically, which of the 3 positions is prefered, if I want the colors of the lights to really stand out? I mean from the sides, from the back, or 45 degrees from the side/front and down M(acAndless method)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Allen Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I do lighting at an open air venue, an old quarry so there is no grid, just some side lighting towers and two front towers, way out in front. For small bands I use two T stands next to the PA stacks so they are as close to 45 degress as I can get them, with three RGBA 250W led pars on each. I also use three to five RGB led bars on the floors as foot lights. This setup is quick to set up and pack up, gives me tight atmospheric lighting and the foot lights ensure the singers are lit up. It is a personal choice, but there are other factors. Some singers do not like foot lights as they like to see the audience. In this case the stage is at ground level so that problem has not cropped up. My backup for this eventuality is to use some narrow PAR64's from the front towers. The problem with these is they light up a large stage area so I lose the intemate atmosphere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukather Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Hi! It seems like from the sides of stage is pretty common for RGB LED cans for smaller bands. I think I will go with that after all, since the lights will be for effect more than to give a clean white light on the band :) Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swampman Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 If you're keeping it simple - 2 towers with 6/8 (multicoloured) Sugestion: you can still cover perfomers and use a couple to wash the background - try using the T parallel or at 45º to the stage front: the lanterns nearest the perfomers to light them and the others to wash the background or the public. That way you get more contrast and depth to the show than just a multicoloured front wash. Alternatively try also placing the T at the same depth into the stage as the perfomers: use the ones nearest the audience to light the performer and one's furthest away as what we call "contras" backlight to outline the perfomer from behind e.g. end of song silouhettes. (This is why I noted my per hate [see above about the white front and coloured rear approach]: imaginative things CAN be done with LED Tbars & multicoloured (scroller) 6 bars at the front!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukather Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 If you're keeping it simple - 2 towers with 6/8 (multicoloured) Sugestion: you can still cover perfomers and use a couple to wash the background - try using the T parallel or at 45º to the stage front: the lanterns nearest the perfomers to light them and the others to wash the background or the public. That way you get more contrast and depth to the show than just a multicoloured front wash. Alternatively try also placing the T at the same depth into the stage as the perfomers: use the ones nearest the audience to light the performer and one's furthest away as what we call "contras" backlight to outline the perfomer from behind e.g. end of song silouhettes. (This is why I noted my per hate [see above about the white front and coloured rear approach]: imaginative things CAN be done with LED Tbars & multicoloured (scroller) 6 bars at the front!) Ah, so you mean having the bars close to the speakers, and having them at a 45 degree angle, and then using the lights close to the performer aimed at the performer, and the other ones aimed at the stage behind them? I wont be using DMX though, so I can't really do that "end of song" thingy :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.