Members wheresgrant3 Posted August 5, 2009 Members Share Posted August 5, 2009 I posted this in the light forum and realized... I'll get alot of great professionally oriented answers , but few from band members themselves. So I'm posting this in here. Although some clubs we play have house lights and sound, about 50% of the local rooms we play are all DIY. We have a reputation for having a high energy sound and a great stage show. Unfortunately for several years we've been limping along with an inadequate lighting system. We're looking to make some sensible purchases that will compliment the lighting gear that we already have, without busting our budget or adding tremendous setup time or management to the mix. Our lights as they are now are 'set-and forget'. We have no dmx controllers, and everything is set to sound activations. We have Our lights are as follows4- 200B Color Splash mounted on two poles. These are placed on our FOH speakers and face down and in toward the band.2-176 LED Color Splash units-usually mounted on the drum, illuminating the kit, Drummer and a small portion backdrop/banner1-LED Par 36 can (wherever makes sense)1 Moonflower effect usually pointed into the audience. What we lack is any backlighting whatsoever. I have an example of the lighting and what it illuminates in this sample video. This was filmed in a large banquet hall with no lights or PA. http://www.vimeo.com/3829686 (apologies on the sloppiness... we were all pretty drunk that night) As you can see we need some help. We need to stick with the LED route because many rooms we play don't have independent circuits to plug into. One of the reasons we stopped investing in regular Par lighting was because we would trip breakers in half the rooms we play. Our PA draw some substantial wattage and well... we play pretty loud. I've based this on 4 criteria... #1- weight #2- Watts- Trying to stay all LED thus low wattage#3-Stay away from moving parts... they break#4 easy of setup and control-we need 15-20mins max setup (including the banner) We have $1500 to spend! We're looking at truss system and crank stands.LED color strips or AM DJ Fusion FX Bars (multiple FX in one unit)LED Strobe and blindersPossible a laser We're staying away from Scanners and intelligents... moving parts break. What are you currently using for your setup... especially backlighting... and how long does it take to setup and tear down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members newmaxnew Posted August 5, 2009 Members Share Posted August 5, 2009 Chauvet Colorstrips make great back lighting. Max Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ckcondon Posted August 5, 2009 Members Share Posted August 5, 2009 Big fan of colorstrips on a truss for backlighting. Relatively inexpensive, lightweight, low power draw and compact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members maltomario Posted August 5, 2009 Members Share Posted August 5, 2009 +1 on the colorstrips here's a few vids of my band's setup. [YOUTUBE]ZaDgnRuzkEU[/YOUTUBE][YOUTUBE]HsUKsSc82BY[/YOUTUBE][YOUTUBE]FQlb_YTGXZ4[/YOUTUBE] those first few were on fairly crowded stages that were oddly shaped..here's one on a more open stage (sorry this one is {censored}ty quality cell cam)[YOUTUBE]bMkPZacyIpQ[/YOUTUBE] we have a I-beam lighting truss ($90) which contains: 3 colorstrips ($160 each)4 MBT Par 56 LEDs (~ $90 each)2 American DJ Pearl Whites ($120 each)2 American DJ P36 LED ($60 each) for drumset /keyboards on the front speaker stands i have another pair of MBT par 56's and also a third ADJ P36 LED aimed at bass drum to show our logo the whole thing would come within your budget. and really puts out a good amount of light. lightweight, easy to breakdown (my entire truss is wired up, zip tied so its all quick setup/breakdown the entire system is DMX capable, so eventually we will buy a dmx controller (or more likely, buy the software and bring a laptop) to program lights / scenes. right now we just run it on auto/sound mode to keep it simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted August 5, 2009 Author Members Share Posted August 5, 2009 I've been hot on colorstrips all along... and then these caught my attention. [YOUTUBE]sOk8YVSXB8M[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]-_vxqTZ-m9U[/YOUTUBE] 2 FX Fusion#2 bars on each end and a FX Fusion #3 bar in the middle and you get Four moonflowers, 2 RGB washes, 4 pinspots, and 3 strobes all in only three lighting units. All for $700. Sound good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ned911 Posted August 6, 2009 Members Share Posted August 6, 2009 We use 3 colorstrips, 2 LED P36 cans a Pearl White and sometimes 4 SCX500 scanners all on box truss and crank stands. For smaller stages we use 1 stick of the box vertically. www.youtube.com/romanholidayband Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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