Lighting for rock band in very small venue

[GaryMcQueen]

Hello everyone. I play in a rock covers band and I'm looking at incorporating some lighting into our set-up. I've read a few guides to band lighting and they all say that some PAR cans on stands are a good place to start - the problem is that the places we play are too small to be able to put lighting stands in front of the band. I'm looking for something that will fit in the corner of the pub but still add some excitement to our show. I played at a small club once that had light on the floor at either side of the stage ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhsmjpoqb0g2gkd/Kage.JPG ) and while it wasn't the most flattering lighting, it was still much more interesting than no lighting. Can you recommend the kind of lighting I should be looking at? I've had a look online and some people have mentioned LED bars and some have mentioned LED PAR floodlights but I'm a beginner when it comes to lighting so any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated!

[paulears]

Led bars along the front tilted toward you can surprisingly bright and the closeness makes them even brighter looking. You could also mount them on mic stands dotted around verticall facing the audience which looks good too. A simple control or a pc based one can work well.

[Stee_cri1]

I would agree with that LED bars are amazing, you could even look at a base plate with a scaff pole of you wanted to get them into the air a little. Another option would be using LED par cheap and cheerful ADJ pars would do by the sounds of what you are trying to achieve.

[GaryMcQueen]

Thanks guys! LED bars sound like the way to go. For controls, I'd thought about a footswitch of some kind as that's the only lighting control I'd used before, but the idea of using a computer sounds interesting.

[Stee_cri1]

Gary I would recommend what paulears was saying a computer software system would be a cheap option and really easy to use. It also give you better control so you can do more things with your units

[GaryMcQueen]

Cool, is there any computer system you would recommend? The only portable computer I have is an Acer Aspire One netbook, so something that worked on that would be ideal.

[JLEvents]

What about something like the Njd Quartet set? Comes with a easy to use foot controller and all comes flightcased.

[paulears]

for starting out, get the ten quid dongle from chamsys - it's an intro product and times out after 5 hours, but that's enough. The software is free and you can find people running stadium shows of the very same software - plenty of easy options, and you have access to cue stacks, effects, and all sorts. If you get really hooked, you can buy a proper hardware fader panel at a later date.

[GaryMcQueen]

for starting out, get the ten quid dongle from chamsys - it's an intro product and times out after 5 hours, but that's enough. The software is free and you can find people running stadium shows of the very same software - plenty of easy options, and you have access to cue stacks, effects, and all sorts. If you get really hooked, you can buy a proper hardware fader panel at a later date.

 

Sounds good, thanks very much! Five hours will be more than enough and it runs on Linux too http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

[KidRay]

Hi Gary,

 

Just to warn you, while Chamsys is very powerful and capable software, it does take a bit of work to get yourself up and running with it if (like me) you're not familiar with modern lighting software.

 

A more expensive, but easier option, would be Enttec's DMXIS.

 

I've been using it with LED bars and par cans plus scanners and traditional dimmers and fixtures for a couple of years now, and while it's not what I would choose if I was a lighting operator, it's perfect for a member of the band to use as it allows control by two configurable footswitches.

 

I agree with the recommendation for LED bars, particularly the ones using a row of 3w tricolour LEDs rather than a matrix of small LEDs as they are brighter and look better when the audience can see the lights (if you see what I mean!)

 

Something like

, as opposed to

(both of the ADJ fixtures linked to are also controllable with a tiny handheld controller, not many options on it though)

[GaryMcQueen]

Any recommendations for LED bars? I don't have a lot to spend but I don't want something that's too bad either. I read a discussion on here about the Stairville bars and a few people mentioned that they sometimes flickered when you dimmed them, though the Eurolite LED bar was mentioned as a good alternative and I notice Thomann have the Eurolite LED Bar 2 RGBA 252/10 40° for £112.

[numberwrong]

Another suggestion is to get someone else to do it for you!!

 

A light show operated by a willing friend/groupee will be 10x better then anything sound-to-light or what you may or may not remember to trigger with a foot switch.

 

(I don't want to put you off) but remember even setting up a small lighting rig can cause a bit of greife, think how many times you've had issues with the sound and spent precious time arseing around before the gig? lighting can be the same, if you have someone dedicated to it that can be a weight off you're shoulders as a performer and the sound techttp://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif

 

If you're new to lighting don't under estimate the complexity of programes like Chamsys, it can be quite a lot to take in, if you don't have a willing participant I'm sure you'll get there!!

 

This is a great forum if your stuck

 

 

 

 

[GaryMcQueen]

I shall ask around on Facebook and see if anyone fancies the job. Do light ops get lots of groupies? It would help with getting someone interested if they did.

[Pattern123]

I'd say 4 (Or 8) x Par 36 LED Cans on 2 lightweight stands either side of band running sound to light will be your easiest bet and cheap as chips from CPC at £28 + VAT Each or you could buy the floor can version with two yokes for a couple of quid more and stick them in front of the band as footlights. If you want to DMX control them later you can.

[paulears]

I've got to be honest here and say that I was very 'anti' pc software for a long time and even bought some stuff that never even got used.

 

I really cannot understand people saying that magicq is difficult. it's got a huge amount of things under the hood, but the manual is good, and you could patch a few things and start to create stuff very. Like any piece of modern software, you need to sit and have a think first, but if you patch in an led bar - you can make things happen without much effort - magicq also is quite happy to guess what your wrong keystrokes or button pushes were meant to do? I still cannot get to grips with pixel mapping - but when I really need it, plenty of people will help me! However, making a few things light up is so simple - then you can prod a button to add an effect - choose one and then it just happens? What exactly is hard?

 

My own experience of the 'simple' controls is that when you just want to be a tint bit clever - they fight you!