Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 Things have come a long ways for me. For the longest time I had home made lights: a 6" piece of stove pipe, a 6" stove pipe cap, a light socket mounted inside, a u bracket and a beam clamp. 100W colored floodlights, and a simple controller (on or off) and we were good to go. Ah the good old days. You got someone on the controller and it didn't look half bad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 When I started my sound company, I reinvested everything I made back into the rig until my sound system was where I wanted it to be. I didn't want to use my home made lights, I realized it was time to move to legit lights, LED & DMX. So I found a set of 4 Chauvet Intimidator 1.0's, a couple of Pinspot 360's and picked up an Obey70, a" DJ I-beam" truss and a small smoke machine. Had no real idea what I was doing. I had a basic understanding of the concept of DMX, and the scanners got me into the moving beam game... I was so proud of these scenes, that I had figured it out on my own. Ok. I needed more lights... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 So I researched. I picked up more Pinspot 360's. I had a vision. Original plan: 3 Chaivet 6 Spots on the top, the 4 intimidator 1.0's and 8 LED wash lights. There's were all sorts of patterns for the wash lights, star shape, a 3x3 grid, I decided on the Blizzard 3NX, since I liked how the lens arraignment was kind of a round shape. I altered the plan a bit, and decided to buy 4 more Pinspot 360's to give me some movement on the top truss. I bought an FCB1010 midi foot controller but just could NOT get it to work with the Obey70. I have a rudimentary understanding of MIDI. It was October and I wanted to debut the new light rig for NYE that year. I needed a solution, that worked on a Mac, and I needed it quick. After some research, I decided on DMXIS. Life was good! Oscillators, the FCB worked like a charm, I was off to the races, all ready for NYE!!! I knew I needed a better smoke machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 Picked up a new Chauvet hurricane flex, it put out a lot of smoke, and was awesome. Set up for NYE, pumped out some smoke for a quick sound/light check and that was it. The smoke machine died between sound check and the gig. FML so we did the gig without any smoke.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 I had to run the 3NX wash lights at about half brightness or so, because they would over power the intimidator scanners. So it was time to upgrade, and I found a great deal on 4 Martin Minimac Profile moving heads. Now we were talking!!! They easily held their own with the 3NX, and the moving heads looked great! 2 things though, 1: they totally overpowered the Pinspot 360's (see the video)and 2: there was a helluva lot of weight on that radio antenna style truss. I noticed some deflection on it, and the last thing I needed was to drop a loaded truss on a drummer. Other than that it looked great!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 Like I said it was really starting to come together. Here's a video from an 80's party my other band played at, kind of a "reunion" gig. It killed me to have that music stand on stage, but our singer hasn't really played much guitar in the 15 years since our last gig. This was an 80's themed party. They did some skits, then we played 6 songs, more skits. 6 songs, more skits then we finished with 2 full sets. There were about 120 people there, it was a great time. But I did realize the truss had to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 My girlfriend took the above video after the first set of skits. She's seen us a hundred times, so after she took a couple videos she went back to hang out with our bass players wife. So a new truss was the next order of business. I decided on 16' of 2" triangle aluminum truss. I just preferred it to the box truss. I was still looking for something to replace the pinspots. Blizzard came out with the Blade, loved the tight beam, but at $500 a head, 8 heads would be $4,000. So I kept looking. Having truss that would support over 2000lbs means 200lbs was a piece of cake. I also realized without smoke you might as well leave the movers at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members monthlymixcd Posted November 18, 2014 Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 Nice to see the evolution! Thanks so much for putting this thread together... keep it coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 Now the truss was in place so that gave me peace of mind. Proper tool for the job. I was still looking for something to replace the pinspots. Again, the Blades were nice but too expensive and the beams were too big. Well wouldn't you know it, Chauvet came out with a fixture called the Intimidator Spot Duo. It had 2 10W mixing heads with separate color wheels and gobos as well. I belong to a couple DJ board as well. Someone had a pair for sale as he wasn't fond of the internal programming. I don't let things run on sound activation, so I was able to buy 2 of them for a great price. Once I got them home and set up I knew I had found what I was looking for, unlike Bono lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members monthlymixcd Posted November 18, 2014 Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 Totally need lightsaber soundtrack for that spot duo video... more, more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 They were a perfect fit. Now I had to wait until they arrived in Canada. I bought another pair and now my setup is where I want it to be. Life is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members monthlymixcd Posted November 18, 2014 Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 Very nice rig! Just curious... what are the numbers? Total investment as your rig stands right now? Setup time? Strike time? Does the band help with that? Has the band invested in the lights... or has it been just your money/time/passion to get it to this point? Again, nice work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 Here's a basic breakdown. I can't do lists on mobile so it's a graphic. Some of the figures are a bit ballpark, and the price I paid 2 years ago, they could be cheaper today. The band helps with setup & strike. Normally we have the luxury of being able to set up the day before and tear down the day after. The time from dropping the tailgate, to getting the lights up is around 90 minutes. That's including unloading the whole trailer. The gear is all mine since I do lights/sound for various other bands, gigs, DJ'ing etc. It's easiest to use my full rig since I'm bringing my trailer anyway. I get an extra $100, more of a token amount. They all pitch in to help load, set up, tear down and load back up so there's definitely a dollar value in that. Setting it up all by myself takes a few hours that's for sure. But it all fits into my 5x12 trailer and that fits into my garage so I can leave it loaded beteeen gigs. I do around $20k - $25k a year with my modest side sound company, so that's pretty good. It's almost textbook, as I did "lose" money the first 2 years, basically reinvesting everything and then some, but now I'm starting to see a positive balance on the books so that's good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted November 18, 2014 Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 Normally we have the luxury of being able to set up the day before and tear down the day after. Not to get too far off topic, but that's not something I've usually considered a luxury. 9 times out of 10, when given the option to come back and tear down the next day, I've ended up regretting that we didn't just do it the night before and get it over with! "Let's just come back and load out tomorrow" is always one of those things that sounds good at the time, but feels completely different the next day. And you must have some unique gigs/venues. (Or maybe it's a Canadian thing??) I really don't know of very many places where setting up the day before and tearing down the day after is even an option! All that aside, nice system and nice description of your journey. Good stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2014 We are in a pretty small town, so whatever event usually gets the hall for the weekend. I know in the city you roll in that day and have to leave that night. We will set up the night before and get somewhat of a practice in. Nice long sound check, then we are ready to go the next day. After the gig we will get a lot of the gear down, all the cables put away and then ready to load out. Then we go home, have breakfast the next morning and it might take an hour to get everything out, plus the dummy check to see if we've missed anything. As for the journey, I had a vague idea of what I wanted and then made adjustments along the way. Not bad for a guy who had a vague notion of what was what. I still wouldn't call myself a light guy but I'm learning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundlight Posted November 19, 2014 Members Share Posted November 19, 2014 AND THIS, ladies & gentlemen, is how you make a lighting rig that makes a pro go "hey, this guy actually kinda knows what he's doing here." As I've said before, StratGuy, the rig looks great. You've done it all, and in the right order - get a stage wash first, then add spots, then add beams. Spots are the MiniMacs, beams are the Spot Duos. Nice job!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 19, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 19, 2014 Thanks, I love my light setup. It took a lot of hours programming, finding out what worked, what didn't. Once I had the idea or vision of what I wanted, it was something I slowly worked towards. Instead of getting a loan, I just slowly picked away at each piece. "This is the hazer gig" or "this is the truss gig" slow & steady. I program the lights in my basement. I got tired of hauling those damn stands up and down from the garage thru the house into the basement, so I bought a second truss setup (2 stands, 2 T-Bars, 2 8' sections) and I leave that permanently set up in my basement. Now I only have to move the actual lights up and down the stairs. I shouldn't forget mentioning the cases. I had 2 cases built to order, one for the wash lights, it holds 11-3NX and 9-Fab5's. unmade the dividers, similar to the dividers in an apple box or case of alcohol. Black would be more "rock n roll" but the white is easier to see in low light. The next case was originally supposed to be for my snake. It ended up a bit bigger than I expected (but was what I ordered.) but wouldn't you know it, the 4 Spot Duos fit perfectly!! The case for my Minimacs, I happened to find a pair on Craigslist, $500 for 2 of them. A guy used them for his drums, but is no longer on the road. Again, it's perfect for what I need. All the foam I bought at a foam store locally. They have 3 different densities and you tell them the density and dimensions that you want. Here's the cases loaded in my trailer. The only thing I need a case for is my hazer. I'll figure out the dimensions and order it up sometime. Probably cost around $250. No big deal, just another expense. Good to have everything properly cased and strapped in ready to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stevegarris Posted November 21, 2014 Members Share Posted November 21, 2014 Wow - great thread Stratguy! Your show looks excellent. I'm a sound guy / weekend warrior and wishing to improve my mini light show. I've received a lot of great advise from you and this forum. I really loved those Pinspot 360's when I first read about them, but by then they were long gone. The Spot Duo looks amazing, and when I do venture into "movers" that is the light I want. Thanks again for posting here and even though your happy with your current setup, please keep posting videos and info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted November 21, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 21, 2014 The pin spots were good, the things were this. They were only 3W, only moved on one axis. But they were still a decent fixture, got me into the game and held their own with the intimidator 1.0's The spot duos were perfect. Bigger beam, 10W, separate color wheel & gobo wheel. A lot of bang for the buck. I see sets of 4 heads on a bar but they just seem 2 close together, I dunno. In the future I might replace the Minimacs, but they're paid for and making money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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