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Does anyone want to discuss lighting?

Postby cphollis » 24 Feb 2019, 06:16

After I conquered band sound, the next frontier for me was lighting. People eat with their eyes. So lighting can be just as important as getting the killer stage sound. And, given the cheapo gigs I play, there isn't going to be a lighting guy in our future.

My goal was to come up with something super-simple and super-effective. The stuff I've collected works well. Best part? I can hand off setup and tear down to another band member, and it's working out OK.

The battery-powered, sound activated stuff is the bomb. The batteries can make it through 2-3 gigs, no problem. The sound activated part makes it look like someone is programming it.

First and foremost are the Chauvet Freedom Sticks. They are amazing. Great for a live electric band. Go check'em out on Youtube, you'll see that it's a crazy LED light show with minimal configuring.

Positives: super easy to configure, light, long battery life, amazing visual action. Crowd goes wild.

Downsides? Fragile and failures -- they're not good at hard use. Expect a few to break with no recourse. All in all, I'm good with what they do.

The other winners are the Chauvet EzPar64 battery powered cans. How useful. Super bright.

I can use them as static stage lighting, or make them sound-powered to change based on the bass beat. I found these inexpensive trusses so I can hang four on a pair of towers to illuminate our acoustic gig, as well as the electric gigs. No external power required, which means setup is a breeze.

I get calls all the time -- can you do lighting for our gig? Maybe there's a business there ...
I think I have gear issues ....
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Does anyone want to discuss lighting?


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Re: Does anyone want to discuss lighting?

Postby harmonizer » 24 Feb 2019, 07:06

If you care about getting good pictures or videos of your band, the presence of decorative lighting can interfere with this. If your band is playing in a venue which is relatively dark, the brightness from any decorative lighting can be especially problematic. I have experienced this in covers bands I have played in, and I mention this here because some bands consider getting good videos up on youtube to be important for marketing themselves.

That being said, with our previous band we did once have a video shot by a 3-person pro team, at our rehearsal space which was well lit, and they set up some lights behind us to create some cool backlighting effects, including occasional instances of bright light flashing into the camera view near the edge of a musician. I'm gonna guess this might not have worked so well if our rehearsal venue was not well-lit, though.
Last edited by harmonizer on 24 Feb 2019, 07:09, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Does anyone want to discuss lighting?

Postby fieldflower » 24 Feb 2019, 09:59

I'm still doing the DMX thing with my band.
Nothing fancy, just a couple of flat RGB lights on top of the backdrop stand, and 2 stands up front each with 3 regular PAR56's and 1 sound activated disco effect lights.
I like the regular PAR56's since I put the stands right on the stage edge, where I can dial in a warm light at 25% on the dimmer, and a little higher (whiter) on the lamp on the singer in the middle.
The disco effects I point right at the edge of the stage, so that half the light falls on stage/us and the other half on the closest part of the dance floor.
I control this with a Behringer DMX board in the same rack as the sound mixer. Just a couple of different programs where all flat RGB's are in different color or same color.

I tried for years to explain to the band how important it was with lights, but the consensus from the other was that the lights we had was sufficient.
It was 3 PAR56's without dimmer on 1 pole. It really looked like crap. If we at all could position the pole in a place where everyone got light on them we looked like deer in headlights.
So I purchased the lights myself and started bringing it to gigs. Strangely enough nobody complained. :lol:

Likes and dislikes with DMX:
I like the control I have - that I can turn off the disco effects whenever I want, change to a softer program, etc.
I dislike having to drag around the DMX cable as a bus cable from item to item.

Would like to:
Get wireless DMX transmitters/receivers for the poles and backdrop.
Add some kind of chasers.
Add a MIDI pedal board so I could make and control more interactive programs: Blackout, all black except light on the singer, etc for stops. Or on the guitarists/drummer for solos. Should be fun with programmed chasers, so I can point at whoever I want.
Last edited by fieldflower on 24 Feb 2019, 10:04, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Does anyone want to discuss lighting?

Postby danrv » 24 Feb 2019, 12:50

fieldflower wrote:Add a MIDI pedal board so I could make and control more interactive programs


I think this is essential for achieving any kind of synced light show for live bands doing their own lights.
Another way would be to trigger the lights from a keyboard as all budget DMX desks from Chauvet, ADJ, Transcension, Stairville etc.. change scenes and chases remotely via midi note commands.
Most advanced midi pedal boards can send midi note so will work but others such as Tech 21’s Midi Mouse and Midi Moose only send program change. A midi data converter box would be needed.
The Behringer FCB1010 is a popular choice for controlling DMX boards.

For years I used a pair of NJD Spectre floods on tripods and used the RJ45 hand held controller to change from sound to light to colour fade.
Hardly ideal when playing keys.

I’ve now swapped the Spectres for a pair of ADJ 12P Hex llights which are great. They’re up on tripods each side of the stage and I use a Yamaha MFC10 midi pedal board to trigger an ADJ DMX Operator One desk.
I also have a few cheaper ADJ Mega TriPar Profiles for uplighting at the back but these aren’t linked to the desk.

The priority at gigs is the PA and sound and this setup is the simplest and best way of lighting the whole band.
Having more rigging or a goal post over the drums with spots and movers would be way too much hassle considering I’m the only one in the band with any interest in lighting.
I did consider the Lanbox LCX DMX controller to use with the MFC10 as it’s tiny and could sit anywhere. Steep learning
curve on the programming though and quite expensive too.

The Chauvet sticks sound interesting. Can’t get much quicker setup than that.
Wondering if they light up the band enough as they’re on the floor.
Last edited by danrv on 24 Feb 2019, 17:19, edited 8 times in total.
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Re: Does anyone want to discuss lighting?

Postby cphollis » 24 Feb 2019, 17:11

All blessings to those that have the time and interest to program a light show -- as well as spend the time required to haul equipment, set it up, deal with failures.

That isn't my situation at all. These are small, local gigs that pay OK but not a lot. We just want a bit of eye candy.

My goal was to have some decent visual appeal with a minimum of effort. For example, the Chauvet Freedom Sticks can be set so one is the wifi master controlling the others. Set the master to respond to sound, and then tell it to cycle through its built-in programs. It's interesting enough that it looks pre-programmed, but it's not. No cables, no power required.

BTW they don't throw enough light to illuminate the band. You'll need something else as well.

The EzPar64s on a truss shine down nicely. Depending on the gig, we'll either use a static wash, or make them dance to the music as well. Also no cables etc. Two each on two trusses seems to be the minimum for our situations, although more is always better :)

Our entire lighting setup (8 Freedom Sticks, 4 par cans, two truss poles) can be carried in one trip using both hands -- 5 long, reasonably light bags.

Win.
Last edited by cphollis on 24 Feb 2019, 17:15, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Does anyone want to discuss lighting?

Postby danrv » 24 Feb 2019, 18:04

cphollis wrote:All blessings to those that have the time and interest to program a light show -- as well as spend the time required to haul equipment, set it up, deal with failures.

That isn't my situation at all. These are small, local gigs that pay OK but not a lot. We just want a bit of eye candy.

My goal was to have some decent visual appeal with a minimum of effort. For example, the Chauvet Freedom Sticks can be set so one is the wifi master controlling the others. Set the master to respond to sound, and then tell it to cycle through its built-in programs. It's interesting enough that it looks pre-programmed, but it's not. No cables, no power required.

BTW they don't throw enough light to illuminate the band. You'll need something else as well.

The EzPar64s on a truss shine down nicely. Depending on the gig, we'll either use a static wash, or make them dance to the music as well. Also no cables etc. Two each on two trusses seems to be the minimum for our situations, although more is always better :)

Our entire lighting setup (8 Freedom Sticks, 4 par cans, two truss poles) can be carried in one trip using both hands -- 5 long, reasonably light bags.

Win.


Battery powered WiFi lighting looks like a great idea here.
Anything to cut down on cables which I have too many of.
For small pub gigs, often we just put one or both 12P Hex lights on the floor and use the supplied remote control.

I’ve used the onboard sound active and auto chase features on lights for years and tbh, people in the band and audience couldn’t care less what the lights are doing. It’s always been fine.
For large functions and balls though, being able to black out the lights on endings and trigger strobing, scenes, sound active on/off is really useful.
I think people enjoy the band more. They may not be aware why but it all adds to the spectacle.
Last edited by danrv on 24 Feb 2019, 18:31, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Does anyone want to discuss lighting?

Postby fieldflower » 24 Feb 2019, 18:33

danrv wrote:The Behringer FCB1010 is a popular choice for controlling DMX boards.

That's the one I'm considering.
I think I could run the DMX mixer with just a MIDI cable in from that board.

Time and effort is kinda ok for me. We really don't gig that often, so I think it's fine like it is.
Of course I like simplicity, but now that I have these things already it's easier to use these than to exchange the lot.
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Re: Does anyone want to discuss lighting?

Postby danrv » 24 Feb 2019, 21:27

fieldflower wrote:
danrv wrote:The Behringer FCB1010 is a popular choice for controlling DMX boards.

That's the one I'm considering.
I think I could run the DMX mixer with just a MIDI cable in from that board.


Yes. The FCB1010 can send program change and midi note. Not sure which the LC2412 uses for midi control but it should work fine.
The pedal board is quite large as it has two control pedals (main reason I went for the Yamaha one).
It’s very good value for money though and well built.
Programming the FCB1010 can be a bit of a challenge but there’s a dedicated online forum.
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Re: Does anyone want to discuss lighting?

Postby Quai34 » 25 Feb 2019, 04:29

I have two Yorkville Led2 or my keys:
http://yorkville.com/legacy/product/lp-led2/

I still have to buy some poles though....

When we play, we rent 4 or 6 Led4X, depending on the room we have, controlled by a light guy with a DMX Controller:
http://yorkville.com/lighting/product/lp-led4x/

I haven't taken the time to learn what DMX could do, but it looks great!!!!
Last edited by Quai34 on 25 Feb 2019, 04:51, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Does anyone want to discuss lighting?

Postby ericL » 25 Feb 2019, 06:04

I like lighting. Here's what one of my bands does with lighting.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6i7DLesvE ... e=youtu.be
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