New Lighting Installation

[HilcrRWise]

We have been allocated £15,000 to replace our exisitng lighting infrastructure. Below is a rough outline of what we currently have planned however as I have very little experience with current trends in the industry I would be grateful for any comments/suggestions on what we can do to get the best out of the new setup.

 

Initially we are concentrating on sorting the infrastructure with this budget, we currently have 18 fresnel lanterns we will reuse with the new setup, plus some additional lanterns and a Zero88 Jester ML48 we can nick from our drama department as and when they are required, we will look at purchasing additional lanterns if we have any budget left over, or at a later date. The only lights that definitely have to be replaced within the budget are the Cyc floods. Can anyone recommend any decent replacements for these, I am thinking an LED system would be good for this.

 

I have included several permanent mains connectors along the IWB's as recommended by one of the companys providing a quote, however they specified using 16A sockets, others just specified a single 13A socket at the end of the bars. I have also noticed that some kit uses powercon connectors these days aswell. What would people here recommend as the most universal socket type to use for these permanently powered sockets?

 

Thanks.

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/2918/halllighting.jpg

[Brian]

I don't see any DMX on your bars.

[HilcrRWise]

DMX on the bars are assumed, I was only interested in specifying the DMX points where the control desk can be plugged in.

[mrboo]

With 16amp sockets you can use 16amp to 13 amp adaptors as needed and 16amp plugs/sockets are better made and there no fuses. with powercon they tend to feed in and out of units so the first unit can be 16amp to powercon.

[Shez]

You have a lot of dimmed outlets out front and very few on stage which is the opposite way around to what I would expect to see. How is the space used? Do performances only happen on the stage or out in the middle of the three bars out front too?

 

(And don't assume anything when it comes to specifying things to contractors. Speaking from experience you have to explicitly specify even the most boringly obvious and mundane things that you'd expect anyone with half a braincell to do without even thinking about it...)

[mrboo]

Maybe worth having cat 5 run up for video and lights

[mar]

Are the 'permenant power sockets' going to be remotely switchable? Not much point in them if you can't turn them off from the ground.

[Wol]

You have a lot of dimmed outlets out front and very few on stage which is the opposite way around to what I would expect to see.

 

I'd agree with this one. Would expect to see a few more sockets above the stage although I fear maybe the quick sketch wasn't quite to scale.

 

A bit more info on how the space is used as a whole would be nice. The U shape of the LX bars not over the stage seems to suggest there's stuff that happens in the round a bit more in the center of the room?

 

Another way to reverse engineer it is: Come up with a hypothetical show/scenes, and make a lighting design for it with that above plan as a template. Do you find that you run out of certain angles/spaces? If you are doing fairly theatrey shows, I'd expect to see at least 2 horizontal bars FoH to do a front wash from. The front-to-back bars seem a bit odd where they are.

[musht]

DMX on the bars are assumed, I was only interested in specifying the DMX points where the control desk can be plugged in.

 

Are you just going to string DMX from control point out as needed or are you going to employ a DMX splitter and provision DMX outlets on each bar?

 

Wouldn`t put 13A sockets at ladder height, 16A wired back to breaker per socket would seem ideal.

 

CAT5/6 everywhere whilst the walls are open ,because it will allow DMX/video/audio/comms/stuff that isn`t out yet to be plugged in with ease in the future.

[sleah]

Apart from what has been suggested, if the floor area is likely to ever be used for performance, then I would suggest creating a grid by adding two more 9m bars left-right to form a square with a bar mid way down the 6m bars. An additional bar would also help give additional capacity when trying to front light the main stage area and the apron. It's suprising how many you can need when you are asked to flood the entire area from the cyc down to the floor! .... and then in 3 colours...

[alistermorton]

The shape that your bars suggest reminds me of the Charles Cryer in Carshalton. Could be worth having a look at the drawings for that theatre, to see if it gives you any further ideas?

 

Dimensions : http://www.suttontheatres.co.uk/images/Chalres_Cryer_Studio%20_Theatre_Dimensions.pdf

Plan : http://www.suttontheatres.co.uk/images/Charles_Cryer_Studio_Theatre_Auditorium_Plan.pdf

[HilcrRWise]

I have updated the plan to include some of the suggestions given, I have also added some more accurate dimensions to give a better idea of the size of the area. DMX points (using splitters) will be included on the IWB's adjacent to the 16A mains sockets (which will be individually distributed from an MCB board). Does it look a bit better now?

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for the Cyc flood lights that I can look in to?

 

The majority of the usage will be on stage or just infront of it on the ground level, however we do occasionally do in the round stuff or need to light a corridor down the center of the hall. The rest of the time we may want to throw a bit of colour in to the audiance for things like rock show, etc.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/3434/halllighting2.jpg

 

 

[Shez]

I would have a load more sockets on your upstage bar - that's where all your backlight will come from. In my designs at least, that will always be a busy bar.

[kerry davies]

As per Shez I would double the number of sockets on the back bar and maybe extend it as far as possible for key light usage. If the "down the centre of the hall" usage is for catwalk style things a back bar to square off the "grid" would be my thought. Using my limited brain cells I assume the side bars in the hall to be 2.15m from the walls and dependent on how I felt in the space maybe the 9m bars front and back might be better extended to take side bars to 1m from the walls, but that is subjective.

 

The suggestions for Cat 5 and DMX are all valid though I prefer non-installed 16A power feeds which make things more flexible for "touring" purposes. I am just a travelling player really and permanence = lack of flexibility in my book.

The suggestion to "steal" ideas from recent installs and refurbs is the best yet, anyone else know of recent projects on this scale?

 

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

[HilcrRWise]

I have now extended the 9m bar of the C section to 11m, removed the 4 ground level 15A sockets and added two more to the 11m bar and two to the back bar. I am also currently considering just having the one 24 channel dimmer and pairing off all the 15A sockets and with the spare cash purchase a batch of LED Pars. From what I have read LED is the way forward so it would probably be a waste of money filling the bars with a large number of dimmable channels and end up not using them. Also would I be better off squaring the grid or having the additional bar closer to the far wall? I don't really want to have any more than 48 15A sockets (whether I get two 24 channel dimmers or just the one and pair them) so I would have to spread them out a bit more however as we will be mostly going along the LED route for future purchases this shouldn't matter that much.