People in my area are stupid. They'll pay a ton for lights, but won't pay crap for sound. The bands hire me thinking I get a cut, and I say "no, I'm guaranteed my pay". I'm bringing top end gear, while the others are bringing in beat to hell stuff that barely operates.
The scene here sucks as well too. That's not to say there aren't some decent bands. I've been on a project before my big event this weekend, and I've managed to render out over 46 hours of video, and some of the bands were pretty good. Those that weren't OR I didn't have a decent recording, didn't make the cut, or at least not for now. 2 acts I wanted to include aren't in this batch because I don't have the time to edit the performances(thanks to Sony Vegas 10 taking a crap all the time on me, which they appear to have resolved in 10C release today).
My advantage is 28 years of audio, 16 years of which mixing FOH and monitors(at the same time on the same desk, usually). Once I got the mix dialed in, I can focus SOME attention to lighting. This is where MyDMX comes in really good, because of the ease of use once you do the up front work. I'm now working on learning Compu Show, which can be but usually isn't quite as efficient for live, but can be a very power package once I get used to it.
Here's what a scene is:
A scene is a collection of stuff. In MyDMX, it's everything.
In MyDMX, a scene can be 1 step(only one setting step happens) or multiple steps. For example, a scene can have 1 step, but IN that one step, you can set up where your movers point(wherever those points may be) and all colors and dimmings of all lights. But if you program a circle, that circle may be 20 steps, but all within the same scene. It will make more sense when you start using it.
In Compu Show, a scene can be restricted to types of lights(say, just my eight 64 LED Pros), or it can be global. The options are significantly deeper, which really takes getting used to things before really being able to exploit the software to it's best potential. But, we're talking a product that costs like 8-9 times as much as well, so that's something to take into consideration.
One of the first things you do is learn through observation. What you showed in those photos was not a great example of how to do things, so you learn that "hey, that ain't good, don't do that". You also must be NOT afraid to fail, and NOT afraid to try. Trying can lead ot success OR failure. The only way failure is truly failure is if you fail to learn from it, success OR failure. I fail a lot, but I keep trying and learning. I'm not a lighting expect. I guess I'm maybe experienced enough to make some smart choices and educated trials, but I'm by no means an expert. I used to work WITH lighting guys, but again, it's two worlds that have to work together. But it was never an ordeal, it was usually quite fun. We specialize to maximize potential.
Right now, I gotta do mains and monitors, plus do a board mix recording(to a DVD, which is also tracking video) and a live mix(2 mics high then bussed to a subgroup and then onto a matrix and then on it's way to a CD-R deck) all through the same desk. The video: I sometimes have to monitor 3 cameras actively, and then a 4th in a safe wide shot, and then have to switch on the fly. Add lighting to that, and well, I can get overloaded sometimes. Not easy.
Plus, now I gotta deal with post production of the stuff, putting the CD audio back with the DVD audio, and because the CD is at 44.1K and the DVD is at 48K, I got a sampling rate problem. This next show, I'm going to also record to ProTools if I can, but I'll also convert the CD to 48K post recording to see if I can resolve alignment problems as the different sampling rates will cause drift. I find I have to adjust things at least once between songs for bands, but once a minute or less for comics.
So, even when you've got it down, when you're small, DO NOT BE AFRAID TO FAIL. Failure is always an option. It's not always an acceptable option, but it is an option. Learn, improve and try again and again and again. I listen to what my critics tell me, and fortunately one of the ones I work with frequently has no problem telling me what he things was right or wrong. I even experiment with 5.1 mixes and other production aspects. I still mess with the lighting design. I push myself on audio hard, which is why I record. The live mics give me the room and audience and speakers, while the board mix is the board. I can truly judge what I'm doing and sometimes I'm on(usually) but sometimes I'm off. But some times i just have to mix to the environment, not what necessarily is the bst through the desk.
You got ideas. Download MyDMX(it's free that way, you only have to pay when you want the hardware). Design your show, example stages and you'll learn TONS going that route. Plus, you'll get into computer control. Doesn't matter if you have the fixtures or not, it's all virtual The Demo Mode is what I do most of my work in anyways, and then I save it. When it's show time, I plug in the hardware, run MyDMX and it's show time with the real stuff ready to go.