Let's Talk Lighting

[Norris]

I've just bought a new toy - a Chauvet Mini Kinta. It's a compact LED wide-angle moonflower type of light and a brilliant (ooh - nice pun!) bit of kit for the money. I can't wait to try it out at a gig. It got me wondering what other bands use.

Anyway, my lighting kit for our pub covers band is:
Stairville (Thomann) DMX Master-1 controller
4 of their cheap PAR-56 DMX cans
Plus the one I've just bought

I assume that a lot of you will be responsible for lighting (and probably everything else too!), so what do you use? DMX? LEDs? Do you have a lighting engineer or fly it yourself?

[blue]

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1416091598' post='2606894']
I've just bought a new toy - a Chauvet Mini Kinta. It's a compact LED wide-angle moonflower type of light and a brilliant (ooh - nice pun!) bit of kit for the money. I can't wait to try it out at a gig. It got me wondering what other bands use.

Anyway, my lighting kit for our pub covers band is:
Stairville (Thomann) DMX Master-1 controller
4 of their cheap PAR-56 DMX cans
Plus the one I've just bought

I assume that a lot of you will be responsible for lighting (and probably everything else too!), so what do you use? DMX? LEDs? Do you have a lighting engineer or fly it yourself?
[/quote]

Lighting, didn't you read our ryder. We don't use any reds or greens.

Blue

[Norris]

How on earth do I correct the typo in the thread title? Darn it.

Edit: Thank you magic forum pixie

Edited November 15, 2014 by Norris

[paulbass]

I got the job of organising the lighting in our band which if your not careful it can become additive! Being a rock band we didnt want too many flashing type lights so after a bit of trail and error we now use a bank of adj mega par cans which we set up at the back of us and 2 adj bar lights at the front. I do use a couple of lx5 chauvet lights(cheap and cheerful) either side of the drums just to add a bit of interest and they look good with a haze machine. I operate the lights using a footswitch and it only takes about 15/20 minutes to set them all up. They are all LED and run off one socket which is helpful. I will be getting a couple of white spot lights to shine back at us as it helps us see what we are playing and can look effective amongst the colour wash. I'm sold on LED lighting as they are bright and dont get hot and last few thousands of hours and the price of them are coming down all the time.

[spacey]

There is a new boy about town, the Ledj 7q5, these LED cans pack some very serious punch, not talking those led cans you need two inch from your face, these things knock out a right beam for the money.
You can put them on stands at the side of stage like old par 56 cans, they really are that good.
Check em out, you can get foot controllers as well and the chain together with DMX
Two each side is enough for the full stage.
Seen some in action at a venue and I was most impressed, as up to now LED lighting has always seemed a bit far away and dull to me, but these really do crack some light out and the colours are very strong as well.

[Norris]

[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1416141509' post='2607238']
There is a new boy about town, the Ledj 7q5...
[/quote]
Those look rather good. I'm thinking of upgrading the PARs as they don't throw a huge amount of light. They are good enough for small venues where they are on top of you but struggle a bit if more than about 15 feet away. I could also do with some lighter stands - they are a decent height and very sturdy, but weigh a ton!

[spacey]

I looked at some ledj 7q5 at venue, see my lights he said, here we go I thought, more dull LED lighting and jesus when he powered them up, they really do chuck some light out for the money, they are better side of stage as they are a bit bright to look at, but thats output, if you think normal LED you get in cheap cans are 300mw at best, these have 5 watt LED, 16x the output and they have some range to the beam as well.
Probably the best new lighting product in a lot of years.

[Happy Jack]

Are we talking about http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/lighting-c1/band-stage-and-uplighting-c9/led-pars-c48/7q5-led-uplighter-7-x-5watt-rgba-led-p1419/s1460?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=ledj-7q5-led-uplighter-7-x-5watt-rgba-led&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&gclid=Cj0KEQiAs6GjBRCy2My09an6uNIBEiQANfY4zNbGo0-kd45KiBSAZtJPSW74pmjAtN4Tod3DgQYONF4aApSz8P8HAQ

[Norris]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1416147992' post='2607323']
Are we talking about http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/lighting-c1/band-stage-and-uplighting-c9/led-pars-c48/7q5-led-uplighter-7-x-5watt-rgba-led-p1419/s1460?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=ledj-7q5-led-uplighter-7-x-5watt-rgba-led&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&gclid=Cj0KEQiAs6GjBRCy2My09an6uNIBEiQANfY4zNbGo0-kd45KiBSAZtJPSW74pmjAtN4Tod3DgQYONF4aApSz8P8HAQ
[/quote]
That's what I saw when I Googled. They might be a bit too bright for our git/voc - he complains about the cheap dim ones I've got!

[Happy Jack]

At that price, they look like very good units.

We're just a pub band so I have no interest in DMX, but that enormous colour wash in the corner can look very good even at the Dog & Duck.

[Les]

[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1416141509' post='2607238']
There is a new boy about town, the Ledj 7q5, these LED cans pack some very serious punch, not talking those led cans you need two inch from your face, these things knock out a right beam for the money.
You can put them on stands at the side of stage like old par 56 cans, they really are that good.
Check em out, you can get foot controllers as well and the chain together with DMX
Two each side is enough for the full stage.
Seen some in action at a venue and I was most impressed, as up to now LED lighting has always seemed a bit far away and dull to me, but these really do crack some light out and the colours are very strong as well.
[/quote]

Can't see the foot controller would you be kind enought to point at it please.

[Happy Jack]

It's down by his feet.

[Les]

Top drawer stuff Jack

[Norris]

I went for DMX mainly to synchronise the colour washes as my cheap PARs don't do master-slave, but it looks cool to have the stage dimly lit during breaks at the touch of a button too.

[DaytonaRik]

We keep It simple - a pair of PAR 56 LED panels either side of the stage and a pair of ACME colour changers either side of the kit, all programmed through Chamsys MagicQPC on a laptop. Job done!

[skidder652003]

as well as led pars we use one of these which looks quite good against the band logo backdrop
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-RETRO-SOUND-LAB-OIL-WHEEL-DISCO-BAND-PROJECTOR-LIGHT-EFFECT-/301395158462?pt=UK_ConElec_LightingLEDsStrobes_RL&hash=item462c8d25be

[redbandit599]

Thinking about getting some new lights. Like the look of these LED jobs, do any of you mount them on your PA stands in any way? Would be good to not have to have other t-bars etc?

J

[UglyDog]

My guitard has spent an absolute fortune on lighting stuff, he's got the bug big-time so it's all cutting edge stuff. He tried explaining it to me once and I got hopelessly lost now when he's not gigging with us he's out doing lighting for other bands. By contrast, he hasn't bought any new guitar gear for about 20 years

[skidder652003]

[quote name='redbandit599' timestamp='1416697603' post='2612809']
Thinking about getting some new lights. Like the look of these LED jobs, do any of you mount them on your PA stands in any way? Would be good to not have to have other t-bars etc?

J
[/quote]

velcro on top of the speakers and velcro under the light bar, lights sit on top of speakers and more secure than gaffa tape

[Damonjames]

Those ledj 7q5's look freaking awesome!!! Now I'm gassing for lights!!!

[bonzodog]

I sell LED lights in my day job for ambulances and the technology is moving incredibly fast. We are seeing 10w LEDs on the market now so stage lighting is becoming great for LEDs as the main bonus is the lack of heat in your face.

[TimR]

I would avoid fixing lights to speakers. Lights need to face across into the band. Speakers need to be positioned to face out to the audience while being out of the way.

I had this argument with a drummer for many years as he kept saying we should fit the lights to the speakers to save on stage space.

When I left the band I heard one of the first things he did was fix the lights to the speakers.

They lasted one gig when he found.
a. The lights didn't point in the right direction.
b. The venue ceiling was too low to have the speakers at ear level with enough space on top for the lights.

We have 4led pars and two TBars. In the old band we had a DMX programmable mixer but we did functions. In my current band I just let them do their own thing.

.

Edited November 23, 2014 by TimR

[Norris]

[quote name='redbandit599' timestamp='1416697603' post='2612809']
Thinking about getting some new lights. Like the look of these LED jobs, do any of you mount them on your PA stands in any way? Would be good to not have to have other t-bars etc?

J
[/quote]

I use separate T bars as it gives you a bit more flexibility. If space is tight they can tuck in quite close to the PA. It's better if you can get them up high as then they don't dazzle you so much

[redbandit599]

Thanks guys for the 'lights on speakers' input. I wondered if there was some sort of clamp that could maybe fix onto the speaker pole so the lights could point back tpwards the band. However, I get that they would probably be too low now. Velcro idea has got me thinking cheers.

[bigash]

[quote name='redbandit599' timestamp='1416697603' post='2612809']
Thinking about getting some new lights. Like the look of these LED jobs, do any of you mount them on your PA stands in any way? Would be good to not have to have other t-bars etc?

J
[/quote]We use some chauvet clp 10 clamps. Currently half price from ebay £6 each. They clamp on to your pa poles with a wing nut to secure lights. They come with various plastic inserts for different diameter poles. However they dont have an insert for standard 35mm pa poles. We used the slightly larger insert with a strip of foam kitchen cloth,l this provides a secure fit and works well.