mwp Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Hi there, Towards the end of April, we are holding a big dance festival with over 300 pupils involved. I have just about managed to persuade the school to hire a couple of Martin Acrobats - not too exciting I know, but good enough for our requirements. We hired the same lights last year, and I decided to bring in my Antari Alpha F80z to highlight the beams from the moving lights. Due to access restrictions and the cramped audience around the dance floor, locaing this machine (with only 3m of remote cable) was pretty diffificult. I would have ideally liked to have hung it from one of the FOH bars above, but with such a short remote length, we couldn't have controlled it. I ended up placing it on one of the corners of the dance floor near the audience. However, the smoke simply came out and went straight up, choking the nearby audience, and blocking our sight lines! The small amount of feeble mist that did reach the Acrobats was pretty awful and was an overall waste of time! So, cutting to the point (!) can anyone suggest some ideas for where to locate the machine, bearing in mind I have got to keep gangways clear, not choke the audience, and make sure the smoke reaches the lights! I should point out that I have just this minute ordered a longer remote (8m) for the smoke machine from Maplins which also allows me to operate the smoke machine from a greater length. I know I should probably be hiring a much better machine, but the funds simply aren't there, and for two nights, it is much more feasible for me to bring in my own machine. Sorry is I'm rattling on a bit but I really would like a solution to this! Cheers,mwp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Well, if your trying to create a haze effect, (and it sounds like you are)... If you place your smoke machine at the back of the stage, so you can get it as central as possible. Place a fan to one side of the smoke machines output, so it disperses the smoke into more of a fine haze. Don't put the fan directly infront of the output, because it'll get covered in condensed smoke fluid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwp Posted March 20, 2005 Author Share Posted March 20, 2005 Thanks for your idea. I had thought about a fan - are there any special ones I could get hold of (cheap) or would a normal desk fan suffice? Thanksmwp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Ive seen a desk fan used well mulitpule ones on multipule smoke m/c's. If you are already running Acrobats, then you should be able to put a DMX fan in to the system on to a submaster so you can have a varied smoke to haze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwp Posted March 20, 2005 Author Share Posted March 20, 2005 Do you know of any cheap DMX fans apart from the JEM smoke fan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Do you know of any cheap DMX fans apart from the JEM smoke fan?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> I don't mean to sound rude, or piss on your bonfire, but is it really necessary? If you can afford [to hire] a DMX fan, you'd be better off hiring some more lights, or a proper hazer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinny baby Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Maybe something like this could be off some use, you can get them to suit your model of machine from most disco shops. remote :( vince Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Do you know of any cheap DMX fans apart from the JEM smoke fan?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes. Any old fan, plugged into a switch pack. Or one of your dimmers set to switch. (Yes I'm aware that this isn't recommended, but if you don't dim it, just switch it, the chance of damaging the dimmer is virtually nil.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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