OTON? (off topic or not?) Best Lighting Color(s) just "on"

[Audiopile]

I suspect I'm among some peers here in-that I'm a sound person who also happens to own some stage lighting. And if so, I'm likely not the only one who, time after time, I bring dimmers and a controller and a case full of various gels... set the lights up, just to find-out the band simply wants the lights "on"... no scene changes, no chase, no flash or bumps, no black-outs... just "on". When that's the case (more recently) I've been just bringing a couple of power strips with on-off switches... plug the par cans into the power strips, turn the stage lights on at the beginning of the show, off at the end... and that's that for that. Suits me fine, and generally pays the same. Typically for these sorts of shows I'll bring a couple of PAR 56 4-bars (8 total cans) on tripod stands. Typically I load 1/2 the cans with salmon gels, and 1/2 with light blue gels... focus the salmons on the faces (flesh tones), and the light blues on the "chrome and colored stuff" (drums, instruments, backline, etc...).

 

Better/different suggestions on color schemes? I suspect some/many of you folks have changed over to LEDs... but I'm sticking with incandescents (for now)... they work, they're paid for, they're lightweight, they're cheap and easy to fix, and besides all of that: Typically, especially this time of year, the show's outside and a little added warmth on-stage is appreciated, or outright necessary once the sun goes down. I suppose, incandescents or LED's, it doesn't matter how the color is generated if the performers just want them "on", lighting up the stage nicely and making them look good.

 

What's the go-to colors of choice? I've found green doesn't work, especially for flesh tones... sometimes brown actually works fairly well for lighting up the chrome and colored stuff.

[RoadRanger]

Yah, no green except for Halloween . The "go to" face lighting seems to be Bastard Amber - I usually cheese out and just use Amber floods (AKA "Bug Lights"). Mixing in a little red gets you closer. For older less photogenic bands (AKA folks our age ) I tend to favor Blue from one angle and Red from another. I generally use cheap Chinese LED floodlight fixtures that are available in Yellow, Blue, and Red, I also have some of the RGB ones that have an IR remote - but I usually just run them in default mode which is a slow fade between 7 (?) colors. I use the 10 watt ones indoors, one on each side (they have a 120 degree angle) but I think most folks would prefer the 20 watt ones.

 

Oh, and outdoors I like to avoid white and blue as they attract insects - Yellow/Amber and Red pair up OK.

 

Back in the day we didn't want to get into distros so our lighting rig was eight homemade PAR38's with 150w colored reflector spots (no gels needed). The lighting board was homemade with two household light dimmers each controlling 4 fixtures (dimmers were rated at 600w). each light had a toggle switch to turn it on or off and a pushbutton switch to reverse it's state - I can still remember a drunk roadie playing the lights with his head down on the table LOL.

[RoadRanger]

There's quite a bit of good stuff here:

http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/LivePerformanceCategory/acapella-34

and my cheaparse experiments too - $25 light show anyone ?

[Mike M]

My concentration is sound production but sometimes adding "basic lighting" to a bid closes a deal.

 

I use "rather archaic" par 38 (w 90 watt halogen bulbs) lights. Black cans, two trees of 4 cans per tree plus two floor mounts with four cans per mount....16 total cans. Dimmer packs & Elation light controller for scenes. RGYB colors. I have a few scenes programmed with different colors activated by the light controller's "audio input mic". Pretty basic.

 

All of the above has been purchased "used" (except for the bulbs and gels) and can be run on one 15 amp circuit.

 

For static lighting I change the gels to Bastard Amber and leave them on without the use of the controller/dimmer packs.

 

Yup, basic lights...

 

 

 

 

[abzurd]

Just last week I was working with my new front wash lights and doing scenes. I came across the link below, which may be helpful.

 

http://www.onstagelighting.co.uk/ban...ight-your-gig/

 

I'm always looking for better looking and easier and came across the Chauvet Colorwash FX. With a street price of $125, it's an easy, compact. good looking, way to light tight spaces by using the fly points on your speakers. I used for the first time last week. I wanted to get some more pics, but had a ton of people come that I hadn't seen for a long time so didn't get to it. I'll write up the details and pros/cons after a few gigs. I also have a super simple intelligent light system that uses a Tech-21 midi-moose to control a DMX lighting controller via a 30 ft midi cable.

 

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[agedhorse]

I think that what you are using now is probably the best of both worlds Mark. Warm front lighting of a no color pink or amber, cool color from the back and for accents of a very pale blue.

[wesg]

On a related note..............my band is complaining that my lights are too bright and they hurt their eyes. The lights, in fact, are barely bright enough from the audience POV. Each fixture has 6 3W LEDs and they are at a distance where they make a 4 four circle.

 

What's the right solution? Buy brighter lights, taller stands, and move the lights stands off stage and into the audience?

 

Does anybody make a fat to skinny light stand adapter? I have been looking without success.

[RoadRanger]

Lights should be at a 45 degree angle or greater from the talent's line of sight. It's really tough to do that with portable front lighting. I really dislike putting stands on the dance floor. Wide flood lighting on top of the mains works OK for me - but the typical LED stage fixtures are spot not flood lights. That's why I use the cheap LED outdoor flood lighting fixtures for "front" wash lighting, they are 120 degrees vs around 20.

[abzurd]

On a related note..............my band is complaining that my lights are too bright and they hurt their eyes. The lights, in fact, are barely bright enough from the audience POV. Each fixture has 6 3W LEDs and they are at a distance where they make a 4 four circle.

 

What's the right solution? Buy brighter lights, taller stands, and move the lights stands off stage and into the audience?

 

Does anybody make a fat to skinny light stand adapter? I have been looking without success.

 

 

That's why I like to mount the lights on top of the speakers via the fly points. It gets them high and keeps them close so the angle is as severe as it can be. Moving them further out makes them a tripping hazard and reduces the angle. Moving them out AND higher makes them all the more unstable.

 

And what do you mean fat to skinny light stand adapter?

[Audiopile]

 

And what do you mean fat to skinny light stand adapter?

 

I suspect female 1 1/2" to male 1 3/8"? If so, I suspect it will be easier/cheaper/ and less of a kluge to source final section stand tubes sized at 1 3/8" at the top... that's what I own/use are stands with interchangeable final section tubes that I can use for either lighting (commonly 1 1/2" sockets) or speakers (commonly 1 3/8" sockets). Also, in a pinch I've found common clothes closet hanger wooden "poles/dowels" are nominally 1 3/8"... and it seemingly works "a-ok-fine" to cut about a 8" length of the clothes hanger dowel... shove it inside the 1 1/2" OD top stand tube leaving about 3" of the wooden dowel sticking out and gaff tape the dowel solid into the pole.

 

 

[RoadRanger]

Chain link fence top rail is 1-3/8" - and Home Depot / Lowes / whatever will usually cut it to length for you if you ask the guy in the plumbing department nicely .

[Audiopile]

And it could be that one end of the top tube of the stand is 1 3/8"... on the other end. If you haven't already checked, pull the top tube out... maybe all that's needed is to flip the top tube over?

[RoadRanger]

I'm always looking for better looking and easier and came across the Chauvet Colorwash FX. With a street price of $125' date=' it's an easy, compact. good looking, way to light tight spaces by using the fly points on your speakers[/quote']That looks awesome, thanks! I searched a bit and found it spec'd at 90 degrees - I assume that is the horizontal so the vertical is maybe 60 degrees. A clever solution to the too tight coverage of these LEDs.

https://www.chauvetdj.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Wash_FX_UM_Rev1_WO-1.pdf

Looks like it normally functions with all six zones the same color but under DMX control you can "split" the zones into independent colors if you want to get fancy.

 

[cappttenron]

Back in the day we just used two par 38s and they worked a lot better than nothing. Put them on one old speaker stand in front/side of the band and that was it. haha With LEDs you can do a much better job with 5 LEDs I put three on the back wall and clamp one each on the speaker poles and with a cheap wireless controller get pretty good lights for a bar band. Sometimes we use 11 LEDs if we want to do a bigger show. You can buy the older style pretty cheap on ebay.

[wesg]

Thanks for the aiming advice. Now I know what I did wrong on the last show. I have used them on top of the mains in the past, and only had complaints from the drummer....my worry with them on the mains is that they are at too sharp an angle, and light more of one side of the side of the face than the other. I guess I should shoot more symmetric fixtures.

 

Re small pipes -- I mean the really small ones, smaller than poles, the stuff my Microh Stagebar Tri38 and similar fixtures use. I am using plumbing pipe on top of my mains (have a large flange attached to flypoints), I believe I am using a 1/2" nominal (so 0.84" OD) nipple for those and it's a bit loose...so they are probably 1" tubes. Would like to be able to put them on my nice 1.5" x 8'4" poles.

[Kalina2]

[Видео = YouTube; gJbs08rPYLk] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJbs08rPYLk [/ видео]

 

Lego LED curtain is placed in the bag, it looks spectacular on the stage and has a low price ...

at any time and in any place, you can make the scene a short time

[wesg]

Hey, that looks great, Kalina!

 

Do you ever worry about your customers getting those little laser dots in their eyes? I refuse to use lasers because I don't know how to use them safely.

[bigjd]

I've just been using Chauvet Color strips on our sub poles since forever. Also throw a couple of the minis down to up light drummer

[abzurd]

That looks awesome, thanks! I searched a bit and found it spec'd at 90 degrees - I assume that is the horizontal so the vertical is maybe 60 degrees. A clever solution to the too tight coverage of these LEDs.

https://www.chauvetdj.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Wash_FX_UM_Rev1_WO-1.pdf

Looks like it normally functions with all six zones the same color but under DMX control you can "split" the zones into independent colors if you want to get fancy.

 

 

Yes. I'm using 23 channel DMX, which allows me to do spotlights. I "aim" the light with the spotlight scene for the guitar player. The overall coverage is fine. The keys player can be a little darker because he's to the side and in back where the coverage is the weakest. With back lighting though that helps. The auto functions are worthless though. They all look essentially the same and the slowest setting is way way too fast and looks like "flash and trash".

[Kalina2]

750 mW (3 colors) 3 beam does not have a common point, so the total capacity is not large and can not harm the retina of the eye (if you do not look directly into the lens at close range, at least 3 meters).

I use this laser for 3 years, until the claims were not, some videographers, worried about the matrix cameras, but the laser power is too low to burn matrix