Members wheresgrant3 Posted March 11, 2014 Members Share Posted March 11, 2014 Well, it took a few months to tweak and test but we finally have our video screens up and working flawlessly at our shows. We were really sidelined due to weather and some cancelled shows. We got most of the components in January and had a soft February in the gig calendar (we were off three weeks while a member was honeymooning). We worked with a welder to spot weld TV mounts on to our truss (we have a pair of individual stands that we can use as well if we can't accommodate the screens. In total we spent about $2600 on TV's, a case, software, cables, clips. We used the setup at other shows with previous software (AV Mixer Pro) and the results were disastrous. So we went with Resolume instead. What a difference. So last Saturday was our annual Mardi Gras show and really our first big reveal. This is a show we started doing way back in 2003... and it grew HUGE for the previous band. So I'm definitely please we had a good turn out on Saturday night. We hit in hard with some video teasers and FB promos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted March 11, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2014 Well I guess you can't post video or link twice in the same post. HOW IS THIS AN UPGRADE TO THE FORUM!!! I tried to link this video as well and instead it overwrote the first video link. Here's the same show in 2011... pretty much our height as a band. This was a regular Saturday night in March.,... and packed to the rafters like Thanksgiving Eve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 The video screens look great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 Is it possible to move the video displays forward maybe right above or to the side of the speakers? I think they're too small too far back to be effective visually for the cost of the investment. What size are they again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted March 12, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 Is it possible to move the video displays forward maybe right above or to the side of the speakers? I think they're too small too far back to be effective visually for the cost of the investment. What size are they again? Yes we have that option and some rooms and stage setups that makes sense. This room it does not. The performance area is like a long rectangle. I thought maybe the screens would seem small but in the room they are fine. The TV's were a steal 47" and $399 each. The case to transport them was $550 up to 48". Honestly we had these side by side next to a 55" and there wasn't much difference b/c of the aspect ratio. The real visual jump is 60"... and two is close to $2K... the case is another $1000. This will hold us for a long time. It's for extra bling... it's not intended to be 'the show'. Honestly we have great performers on stage... why try to upstage them with a blazing video display. There's a touring over band that has a 72" display and half of the stages they play they either have to cram it sideways or just not use it. And remember if you have BIG screens you'd better have someone running it and content worth displaying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vort Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 Thanks for posting the update! After our previous discussions, and after playing with a couple different programs, I too decided on Resolume. Once I got used to the concept of layering video rather than mixing it, the features of the program made sense. I may be using it for the first time at a gig this weekend. I like how it came out for you. Are you looping a video with the text or are you using an effect within Resolume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 I don't think they look too small for the purpose you're using them for---to just add some "pop" to the visuals behind the band. At least not in that room. They might get lost on a bigger stage, but then bigger screens would be unusable in smaller rooms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted March 12, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 I don't think they look too small for the purpose you're using them for---to just add some "pop" to the visuals behind the band. At least not in that room. They might get lost on a bigger stage, but then bigger screens would be unusable in smaller rooms. This is one of the biggest rooms we currently play. I stood in the back of the room a good 50 feet back and the displays did exactly was intended. I was with Sven... I initially thought the TV's wouldn't be big enough. Around Black Friday I found a pair of 55 inch TV's for $600 each but again the touring case was prohibitive. Over $850. We had so many other things we needed to spend on so we kept it to a strict budget. The other thing about having the displays on the sides of the stage is it draws attention away from the center. Remember you want to draw the audience in... not have them stand in the back of the room and watch. You don't want to be in competition with the displays. So placing them behind the band assures everyone will be looking at the stage instead of elsewhere. The other issue is running cabling... having the screens together in the back is a bit easier to organize and centralize the cabling. When you have an hour between load in and showtime you really want to have an easy setup. We've already discussed if we find this successful we can upgrade the displays next Fall. Or get a Large 60" and center it on the truss and have the two 47" flanking out front. However that comes with it's own complications (splitting HDMI bandwidth three ways). We'll due it again next November (sell these TV's off as a package) but this room was the real test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 yep. upgrades are always an option! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted March 14, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2014 Not sure why... but the forum mysteriously removed my video link... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LittleWiggler Posted March 15, 2014 Members Share Posted March 15, 2014 Looks good. The monitors look like they were worth it. I hope to have new video tomorrow night. It will be using the club's lighting however (not as robust as my rig). I picked up the VIXIA HD G20 like you recommended - getting good footage. It will probably stationary at the soundboard with a GoPro locked on the view from the stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted March 15, 2014 Members Share Posted March 15, 2014 Well I went looking at TVs myself and those 70 inch TVs look like the deal if you want one centered on your truss behind you. I guess it's everyone's different perspective but investing a few grand in video visuals doesn't seem like a lot of money to me to really stand out but I guess it depends on your market. And maybe I'm lucky because I live in Nashville but I also checked on getting a custom road case made for a 70 inch TV and it's going to be around $500. The guy checked with said eight tool 70 or dual 60 would only be a bit more. Depending on how I wanted it to open etc... Again very doable I think no? Grant how are you hanging those TVs now could you describe your system stands etc.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted March 15, 2014 Members Share Posted March 15, 2014 Well I went looking at TVs myself and those 70 inch TVs look like the deal if you want one centered on your truss behind you. Depends on personal taste and the effect one is trying to achieve, but personally I think the look of 2 or more smaller screens behind the band and around the stage is more "tech" than a single screen centered behind the band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted March 17, 2014 Members Share Posted March 17, 2014 Depends on personal taste and the effect one is trying to achieve, but personally I think the look of 2 or more smaller screens behind the band and around the stage is more "tech" than a single screen centered behind the band. What do mean by that? Tech? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted March 17, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2014 Well I went looking at TVs myself and those 70 inch TVs look like the deal if you want one centered on your truss behind you. I guess it's everyone's different perspective but investing a few grand in video visuals doesn't seem like a lot of money to me to really stand out but I guess it depends on your market. And maybe I'm lucky because I live in Nashville but I also checked on getting a custom road case made for a 70 inch TV and it's going to be around $500. The guy checked with said eight tool 70 or dual 60 would only be a bit more. Depending on how I wanted it to open etc... Again very doable I think no? Grant how are you hanging those TVs now could you describe your system stands etc.? A single 70" display is quite the investment but again it comes with it's own set of headaches. The common denominator in making a decision for displays is: what sized rooms do you book. In my market it can be anywhere from small to mid-sized civic arena's (for one off events) to small bars, to banquet rooms. We have a drummer on an 18" riser. To clear him with a screen (why would you invest in the screen if you have him block it constantly) we would need to raise the screen beyond 7 ft. Some rooms that's possible... other's it's not. We also have two singers often performing on 'ego' boxes... 12" in the air. So anything central will get blocked. With the club market as bad as it is in NY, NJ, and CT the thought of spending $2000 versus $4000 (we would need to replace or reinforce our truss with a 70" display hanging from it). $2K is the smartest choice. If you don't mind me asking.... not knowing much about the Nashville market... are there a plethora of money gigs waiting in the wings to make a large monetary investment? In the Northeast the gig landscape is cratered... everything is consolidated and compressed. The ceiling on pay is coming down and large bands are having to play smaller rooms. It just puts pressure on the entire food chain. TV's don't make a lick of difference. They get you noticed but they won't get you hired. I don't see us needing an ultimate visual solution to stand apart from the other bands on the market. We already do that with the talent and music presentation. So many bands are using pre-recorded tracks that they all blur together. I think we are probably the only rock band fronted by two amazing black singers in a 5 state radius... lol. So the displays are for flair. I consider them part of the lighting presentation. There are bands heavily invested in the visuals, cuing up tracks and video. But I don't see them getting any more work than the established bands on the scene who have a display and just show a slide show of pictures behind them. Flair will get you noticed but it won't help you keep the gig. We spray painted the truss black and then spot welded the TV holder braces. The mounts are removable....and we carry the truss (prewired) from the trailer) all in one piece. We're a 7 piece band and we have 3 helpers. It takes two guys to set up the video and lights... but we can arrive at a venue and the whole band can be set up and sound checked within an hour. Here's the venue we played on Friday night... a good example why a 70" display in the center wouldn't work well for us.The video is crap... I was just taking it for reference and the single sub we used still vibrated the crap out of the tripod. This is a medium sized bar that houses us in a separate dining room from two other bars. Again we can frequently be asked to play rooms like this. No lights, no sound, 7ft ceiling trying to accomodate a 7 person band. We want the displays to accentuate the performance, not hinder it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted March 17, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2014 Looks good. The monitors look like they were worth it. I hope to have new video tomorrow night. It will be using the club's lighting however (not as robust as my rig). I picked up the VIXIA HD G20 like you recommended - getting good footage. It will probably stationary at the soundboard with a GoPro locked on the view from the stage. Terrific camera right??? It's a little bit of coin (I've seen them as low as $899) but they really manage low light and in camera audio better than any camera I've found under $1000. I actually returned mine and for the same price picked up two G10's refurbished by Canon. So I have at least two camera's at every show recording for either reference or promos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted March 17, 2014 Members Share Posted March 17, 2014 What do mean by that? Tech? I mean the look of multiple screens around the stage puts off more an appearance of the stage looking "hi-tech" than does a single screen in the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vort Posted March 17, 2014 Members Share Posted March 17, 2014 Not to hijack, but since we're on topic of video displays, I was able to run a setup at a gig this past Sat. Small place, but I was able to get a projector on a stand out front. The video was projected onto black umbra cloth hanging off the truss. Didn't add any back lighting, because of the small setup. Unfortunately no video, I don't think the pic's do it justice. I'll try to get some video at our gig this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted March 17, 2014 Members Share Posted March 17, 2014 Not to hijack, but since we're on topic of video displays, I was able to run a setup at a gig this past Sat. Small place, but I was able to get a projector on a stand out front. The video was projected onto black umbra cloth hanging off the truss. Didn't add any back lighting, because of the small setup. Unfortunately no video, I don't think the pic's do it justice. I'll try to get some video at our gig this weekend. Nice. Where did you put the projector? Across the room? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vort Posted March 17, 2014 Members Share Posted March 17, 2014 Thanks. The projector was mounted to a T stand placed next to the mains. I don't have a pic the the mount, but I'll try to get some more this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 17, 2014 Members Share Posted March 17, 2014 Which instrument do you play Grant? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted March 17, 2014 Members Share Posted March 17, 2014 Projected onto a black cloth? How does that work? Some kind of scrim? The aesthetic is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted March 17, 2014 Members Share Posted March 17, 2014 A single 70" display is quite the investment but again it comes with it's own set of headaches. The common denominator in making a decision for displays is: what sized rooms do you book. In my market it can be anywhere from small to mid-sized civic arena's (for one off events) to small bars, to banquet rooms. We have a drummer on an 18" riser. To clear him with a screen (why would you invest in the screen if you have him block it constantly) we would need to raise the screen beyond 7 ft. Some rooms that's possible... other's it's not. We also have two singers often performing on 'ego' boxes... 12" in the air. So anything central will get blocked. With the club market as bad as it is in NY, NJ, and CT the thought of spending $2000 versus $4000 (we would need to replace or reinforce our truss with a 70" display hanging from it). $2K is the smartest choice. If you don't mind me asking.... not knowing much about the Nashville market... are there a plethora of money gigs waiting in the wings to make a large monetary investment? In the Northeast the gig landscape is cratered... everything is consolidated and compressed. The ceiling on pay is coming down and large bands are having to play smaller rooms. It just puts pressure on the entire food chain. TV's don't make a lick of difference. They get you noticed but they won't get you hired. I don't see us needing an ultimate visual solution to stand apart from the other bands on the market. We already do that with the talent and music presentation. So many bands are using pre-recorded tracks that they all blur together. I think we are probably the only rock band fronted by two amazing black singers in a 5 state radius... lol. So the displays are for flair. I consider them part of the lighting presentation. There are bands heavily invested in the visuals, cuing up tracks and video. But I don't see them getting any more work than the established bands on the scene who have a display and just show a slide show of pictures behind them. Flair will get you noticed but it won't help you keep the gig. We spray painted the truss black and then spot welded the TV holder braces. The mounts are removable....and we carry the truss (prewired) from the trailer) all in one piece. We're a 7 piece band and we have 3 helpers. It takes two guys to set up the video and lights... but we can arrive at a venue and the whole band can be set up and sound checked within an hour. Here's the venue we played on Friday night... a good example why a 70" display in the center wouldn't work well for us.The video is crap... I was just taking it for reference and the single sub we used still vibrated the crap out of the tripod. This is a medium sized bar that houses us in a separate dining room from two other bars. Again we can frequently be asked to play rooms like this. No lights, no sound, 7ft ceiling trying to accomodate a 7 person band. We want the displays to accentuate the performance, not hinder it. I understand what's involved in setting the video stuff up. That's a given. I think you are right about one screen behind the drummer being a nogo in some venues due to height. I think we'll probably do 2 screens. One on each side in back figuring out a system to mount them that makes sense Is another matter on . We rarely play club dates and the ones we do, are a minimum of $2500. We're mostly a private event/High end Wedding band. We're more rock and less shlock and everyone has played with major artists or has the chops to do so. 5 piece, 5 lead singers, sick Harmony. Honestly, we're better than most famous bands. We DO augment with tracks when necessary to fill the tunes up and we need those elements like Dance etc...So our market is different and the next echelon for us is the full pro-presentation and that includes video. Our light show is killer..Moving heads, haze, etc etc..Everything goes with each tune etc. Dan our leader used to program light shows for Journey and a slew of other big bands...Anyway, it's practical for us to get a very professional video show happening and as far as I can tell 2, 70" TV's looks like the best, most affordable way to get it happening. Those LED curtains are still WAY WAY out of hand in costs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vort Posted March 19, 2014 Members Share Posted March 19, 2014 Projected onto a black cloth? How does that work? Some kind of scrim? The aesthetic is awesome. I was surprised that it reflected projections as well as it does. The cloth is a fire rated black polyester from OnlineEEI.com called Umbra Cloth (link attached). The projector itself is only a 2000 lumin DLP. Eventually I'll upgrade to a 3000 or more lumin, but it's working for now. As a bonus, the Umbra cloth has sound absorption so it really helps to cut down on reflections from the monitors amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted March 19, 2014 Members Share Posted March 19, 2014 Most projectors have settings to adjust for the different colors of what you might be shooting on. Shooting on black is a nice idea if it works well. I never really thought of trying that. But having a black screen behind the band between sets or before the show would be better than a white one, IMO. Although I usually try to make sure it's showing our logo between sets. But that isn't always possible nor does it always look appropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.