Jump to content

Lighting "Rules of thumb".


kmok86

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Hi all,

I finally got myself into lighting up my band and grabbed a DMX controller and a few LED Pars. When i tried to look up some books about lighting, all i can find are ones that talk about big theatrical productions and nothing about smaller scale bar and club gigs.

Maybe some of you here can post some common do's and dont's that I, and many others can learn from.

One thing i know for sure is to light up the band before doing anything fancy.

What other tips do you guys have from your experiences?? (pictures and videos would be cool too)

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

You have rule # 1 already. Light the stage so the performers can be seen.

After that there are really no "rules" but perhaps a few concepts.

Lighting from more than one angle adds depth to the visual picture.

Colors can be either contrasting or complementary - both have a place.

Think of lighting as a series of pictures (scenes) These pictures should have a flow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

1. Lighting doesnt take the place of the music nor make up for poor music. Its an addon, a further turn on to the audiance/dancers.

2. Dont crash and burn. This most often happens thru poor syncing with the music beat/tempo. And/or thru getting too monotonous. If not syncing with the music, adjust. Vary things. Have some spontaneity. If gots a large rig, dont fire it up all at once and go start to finish with it. Build then sustain then mellow out then have final splurge if appropriate. Have a small ego, your not their to do anything other then further the dancers/audience enjoyment thru eye candy. Be aware of moods and atmosphere.

3. If its a band focussed performance then yes the stage is first. If a DJ, then the dancers and place as a whole is the focus. Be empathetic.

4. If useing eye safe lasers, strafe low, just above folks heads when they are standing. If its a place that allows smoking, utilize the created random smoke for your stuff eps if doing aerial lasers. If useing more powerful then class IIIa lasers never even think about strafing into peeps eye level or even just above their heads. Its not worth bumming a attendees night by blinding them even for a little while.

5. Be with the music and the people at the show/party. If your daydreaming about the laundry or something else you dont belong there.

6. If someone compliments you on your lightshow or obviously gets turned on spur of the moment during the event. Be glad yet remain humble. Getting swell head will cause you to crash and burn.

7. If doing psytrance or other stuff known to cause mindshifts for some, be sympathetic, encouraging, yet also easy going rather then all serious about it. The primary turn on is from fun and ecstacy.

8. Construct your rig for the type of places (size wise) you want it to serve. It makes no sense to have real powerfull stuff for small places. If ambience is the game, then also avoid real powerfull lights (illumination level wise). If doing venues where powerful illumination if expected or needed, then dont get lower light level stuff except for use when its reasonable to shift to low light. Vary the intensity, but dont overblast unless its part of a short peak. If doing raves and such, the glowstick dancers etc are as much a part of the light show as anything you might bring. Be with them not competing against them. Be out on the dance floor and around the perimeter regular or at least a few times if at all possible. Youll be more aware of stuff and better able to create welcome eye candy for all.

9. There is no such thing as a good all auto pilot show. Do some change ups and randomness/spontaneity. Your not entertaining robots nor drones.

10. Its been said before, but your not the focus of the event. The music is and the peeps themself doing their own thing and enjoying that they came is. There are two primary worlds music and lights wise. The band based one where the stage is the focus and many that came will be just sitting or standing about. And the rave and such type world where its mainly about the music and dancing and perhaps "tripping". Musicians and or DJ/s gets some lighting of course, but main focus is the dance arena and the places ambience. In this latter realm you may often be participating as a team with other eye candy creators. Some of these may be folks who brought projedctors or other light effects for the place, some of these will of course be dancers doing glowsticks etc.

There is a somewhat of a crossover world too. Where stage and dance floor are equal importance lights wise, livetronica for example. Psychedelic rock can be another such. Often this balance can be well got by concidering the stage area as part of the dance space. Though its lighting effects will often shift to another type deeper into the stage(For example this might be thru video projectors whereas theres more moveing gobos, aerial laser, etc thru dance area. Aerial lasers into stage should be picked for their ability to also create kewl wall and ceiling traces like abstract pics that also sync with the music.

If its not a music event, then lighting is all about atmospherics. Sync with that since you wont have a audio beat etc to sync with. Be empathetic & have fun as part of the fun the peeps coming to the event are there to have.
--------

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by Darkstorm View Post
Getting swell head will cause you to crash and burn.
Wow! I feel lucky just getting free beer smile.gif

Great stuff Darkstorm!

How about these...

Don't use strobe lights during slow acoustic songs.

Don't hurt the audience. There might be times where you want to put the lights in their faces but don't leave them there for more than a second or two. If people are looking away from the stage because the lights are too bright you are distracting from the music and not complimenting it.

Don't hurt the band. You want them to be seen but you don't need to blind them either. You also always want to have a least some light on the stage so they can see what they are doing and aren't tripping over cables in between songs.

Don't go overboard with the smoke. If you can't see the band anymore you are using too much.

Killing the lights at the end of a song is a visual cue for the audience that it is time to clap. It also reminds them how boring the stage would look if you weren't there with all your lights.

Nooch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by Nooch View Post
Don't hurt the band. You want them to be seen but you don't need to blind them either. You also always want to have a least some light on the stage so they can see what they are doing and aren't tripping over cables in between songs.

Nooch
I always had this problem with a sound/lighting guy in a bar i used to play in. He would make every show so flashy and stroby that I can't keep up with playing. I know i'm not the best guitar player around but that slow motion effect from strobes really mess things up.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Determine how you want to use strobes, if at all. Remember there's two functions for 'em at a band-focused show: to strobe the stage and to blind the audience. If you're playing at a bar where the band isn't the primary focus, and you use 'em as blinders, people will leave.

I remember going to see a band called Filter back about seven years ago. They played at a now-closed venue called the Boathose, held about 2,200 people. Right before they hit the stage, they must have kicked on four of the biggest foggers money can buy, filled the place up with such dense fog you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Killed every light in the building and walked on stage, as soon as the first song came on they hit eight of those rectangle Mega Strobes (1500W each from what I remember talking to the soundguy after the show). They literally blinded the crowd -- when the room is completely full of fog and you kick on a strobe, the entire house lights up! You couldn't get away from it, even turning around to face the opposite direction didn't help because the fog was just reflecting the strobes. People just left and went outside and missed the first part of their set. Don't think that was quite the intended goal. It was a madhouse for a while because you couldn't even tell what direction you were facing except for trying to use the speakers as a point of reference.

Cool idea in theory though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The sound was great, it was just the strobing that was insane. Filter was a pretty big band for their time and they had no problem selling out this venue. It was a really cool effect, and I'm sure when they were tossing the idea around it sounded awesome... but in reality it made it so there was no way to see the band or anything around you. Dangerous situation. Cool, ...but dangerous!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by Zeromus-X

View Post

Determine how you want to use strobes, if at all. Remember there's two functions for 'em at a band-focused show: to strobe the stage and to blind the audience. If you're playing at a bar where the band isn't the primary focus, and you use 'em as blinders, people will leave.

 

I try to have strobes setup so that noone gets direct in the face light from them and instead just get the ambient flashes through the haze and wall reflection etc.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The only thing that Behringer will ever manufacture that WON'T suck is a vacuum.

Back to lighting. First and most important rule is to light the FACES of the band. I've seen too many bands that use side lighting and nothing in front. It really didn't matter how "cool" the light show was because we, the audience, only saw shadows and silhouettes.

Light the band first and add eye candy after rule 1 is satisfied. I'd personally rather see a simple well lit stage with no FX than a lot of flashing and moving behind the performers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

See what I mean. Another sound guy who won't work with me because I own a Behringer guitar amp. It's better that my amp doesn't go to 11 anyways, it just makes your job that much easier without all that noise buzzing around on stage.

Anyways, what I've found out while running lights at our shows is that less is more. We've had the best effects while running just a couple of scanners with some LED washes. Don't ever use disco lights or effects made for the dance floor on the concert stage. It just makes everything look so tacky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Another thought to stick into this thread - does anyone mask off the bottom of over-crowd lasers for safety?

After hanging them - I attach a black plate over the bottom of the hole so that none in the crowd can see the laser emission point - this lets you run them at a lower angle to make place the crowd more inside the tunnels etc, but ensures that it will never actually sweep them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by jwlussow View Post
The only thing that Behringer will ever manufacture that WON'T suck is a vacuum.

Back to lighting. First and most important rule is to light the FACES of the band. I've seen too many bands that use side lighting and nothing in front. It really didn't matter how "cool" the light show was because we, the audience, only saw shadows and silhouettes.

Light the band first and add eye candy after rule 1 is satisfied. I'd personally rather see a simple well lit stage with no FX than a lot of flashing and moving behind the performers.
+1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by Khazul View Post
Another thought to stick into this thread - does anyone mask off the bottom of over-crowd lasers for safety?

After hanging them - I attach a black plate over the bottom of the hole so that none in the crowd can see the laser emission point - this lets you run them at a lower angle to make place the crowd more inside the tunnels etc, but ensures that it will never actually sweep them.
I occasionally do some projection work for company in London, Uk called Laser Creations. They know a lot about lasers. A good friend of mine is a qualified inspector for laser users at gigs and I spent some time with him checking through a programmed show in a large venue where he made the operator change almost everything he had programmed to ensure that nobody got it straight in the face, or even close to where their heads might be. Quite interesting stuff..

So. For the lighting Rules of Thumb. Never take a laser to a gig unless you know the rules. Not even just the rules of making it look nice, but what will cover your ass if someone ends up with a permanent life changing eye problem.. wink.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • Members

It never ceases to amaze me how "new" people to stage lighting try to turn the stage into some kind of a disco? Also, having lights auto sequence or sound trigger typically Always looks bad (IMO), unless it is manually triggered as an effect.
Why don't you just get a couple of "STATIC" lights of an enjoyable color and "LEAVE THEM THAT WAY?"
And If you actually have a lighting person, Just have them fade in some spots on the performers as they take their solos! (I'm amazed how many people ignore that!) Did these people "ever" go to a concert?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by Bonair777 View Post
It never ceases to amaze me how "new" people to stage lighting try to turn the stage into some kind of a disco? Also, having lights auto sequence or sound trigger typically Always looks bad (IMO), unless it is manually triggered as an effect.
Why don't you just get a couple of "STATIC" lights of an enjoyable color and "LEAVE THEM THAT WAY?"
And If you actually have a lighting person, Just have them fade in some spots on the performers as they take their solos! (I'm amazed how many people ignore that!) Did these people "ever" go to a concert?
I do agree a little. Many band's do WAY TOO MUCH with the lights and actually detract from the show. On the other hand...your way is BORING.

Why not just use an outdoor flood light and mount it to plywood and just point it at the band. That might work where you are but people expect more around here. I guess if I want to work for $150 a night your way might work but there is competition here between bands and DJs and DJs present an entire experience. Bands that actually make money around here do also.

I actually go to dozens of concerts a year and I haven't seen a static light show like you describe since sometime in the late 60's or early '70s. When was the last time you saw a concert?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by Bonair777 View Post
It never ceases to amaze me how "new" people to stage lighting try to turn the stage into some kind of a disco? Also, having lights auto sequence or sound trigger typically Always looks bad (IMO), unless it is manually triggered as an effect.
Why don't you just get a couple of "STATIC" lights of an enjoyable color and "LEAVE THEM THAT WAY?"
And If you actually have a lighting person, Just have them fade in some spots on the performers as they take their solos! (I'm amazed how many people ignore that!) Did these people "ever" go to a concert?
Generally, I would tend to agree with you. I think there is often too much emphasis put on constantly moving lights and colour changes in general.

Live music can be seen as theatre in many ways, or could be looked at from that point of view when trying to design a look for a band.. I'm not saying that lighting a theatre show or a band are the same, but many effective stage sets (big concerts are often looked at as stage sets, in my experience) are lit well by simply creating looks rather than trying to rev your engines with a bunch of contemporary lights zooming all over the place with nowhere creatively to go..

Theatre relies heavily on lighting areas of a stage for specific performance pieces throughout the show. Many people think about washing the stage as a whole when lighting a band. The best shows i've ever seen have been well lit stage sets. Simple but creative lighting without necessarily, the 'gear slut' attitude.

One of the best 'stages' i've ever seen lit was a small show on The Strand in London (name escapes me) which was lit with basic generic lighting faded very slowly over the period of the show. You hardly knew it was changing from well chosen pastel colour to the next. Lovely...!

That said, there is stuff like this smile.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Just had a thought.

One of my biggest recommendations for lighting a band (or stage in general) is to have a back drop to light. A lot of people will ignore this as they are too busy trying to light a the people and instruments in the band but the reality is often than a well lit band is lacking in the 3D space that they are in due to a perspective point behind them.

Back draping is usually quite cheap and sometimes free when there is a white wall behind the band.

Simply put. Take some time to light the wall (or drape or whatever) behind the band and include this in lighting cues as this can often make a good looking show.

Remember though. If you drag the sheets off your bed for the experience, that you fire ****** them. Not that expensive these days and as simple as either soaking the sheets in fire retardant or spraying on them before show..

Observing the back drop idea with some simple front white lighting (either tungsten lighting or with colour corrected for white light) then lighting your band is a very sensible way forward, IMO...

Rimmer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • Members

Know what your lighting power load is and how to get it SAFELY.
The typical 4 channel tree-mounted dimmer pack is 4 x 600 watts, or 2400 watts total. That's a dedicated 20 amp circuit. If you have 1 at stage left, 1 at stage right, and 1 for backlighting that's 3 separate 20 amp circuits.
Don't use crappy orange home depot extension cords.
In the 'real' world of stage lighting, extension cords are 12/3.

On another note, start simple and add on as you get more experience and get a better idea what your band's show should be.

Buy quality equipment. There's a reason some no-name PAR 38 can costs $5.00 while a UL-listed PAR 38 from a reputable manufacturer costs more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...