Future Upgrades?

I would consider adding in a nice strobe and depending on your budget, I would consider adding more intelligents (moving heads could be a nice touch).

I'm not sure how you utilize your pars, but if you don't have a front rig, I would start one. Also, if you use gels for every can in your back rig, either consider revising color use, or add at least two more cans (preferably not par 56 or 64, use somthing slightly smaller and more focused) soley for the use of white light (no gel). White light is your friend when you need to accent big hits/punches in the music. Plus, it works very well with all colors.

Also, for a band, you should seriously consider a bank of 4 cans (say par 42) and make them ACL's (Aircraft Landing Lights). This creates 4 very nice, bright, and powerful beams of white light. If you top mount the lights on trussing over the band, you get 4 fingers/beams of light that fan out over everyone's head to the floor to really fill out the stage. The best part is, the bulbs (ACL bulbs) are super bright and only run at 250 watts each, which makes the entire effect 1000watts altogether (because they should be wires in series).

I would strongly suggest moving heads and a nice dmx controllable laser machine...

just my 2 watts though

-Mike

My setup was very similar to yours a short while ago. One move that I made that I think might give you the most flexibility you can get for the $$$ is grab 2 RGB style (cyc) washes for the front of the stage. Elation makes one, but other vendors make them too, and you get get them for about $200 each. They are 3 bulbs (red, green,blue) at 500 watts each (as in bulb, all on at once is 1500 watts and white in color). You just blend them for whatever color you want. Now 500 watts on a flood isnt as bright as a 500 watt par 64 because it diffused more, but I cover the front half of the stage w/ just 2 of these, and I save a lot of watts for other things, and I have every color up front. I got sick of having only 3-4 pars on each person so I couldn't get the color combos that I wanted. You might also consider the Dura Truss as well if you have room on your stage. Put it above the drummer and mount all of your moveable lights there (as well as what LighTech was saying about some smaller lights for effects... Im using a TracPod 30, its 8 LED lights in 1 strip, I can get any color on any of the 8 pods I want, and it lights the drummer up pretty well. Its not the brightest light in the world, but at 100watts draw it gives such great flexibility that combined w/ the washes I can put any color anywhere, and with smooth transitions/chases between colors as well. Ever seen a cuddlefish change colors? (You wouldn't believe that a creature could ripple and strobe different colors at about 10 strobes a second in nature) My wife calls them my cuddlefish lights heehee. Also how are you set w/ fog? Im going to try the Hazer route hoping that I can just turn it on and forget it. I hate the reheat cycle that the foggers do, and to get one that doesn't have one your talking about 1000watts, and I need the lowest wattage one I can find. I tried lasers in the past but unless you turn out the pars you usually cant see a 5mW laser very well. If you are lucky and have a black background that helps a lot.

--Kevin

As for the fog/haze route, I would say that a hazer would be the best option. I've had dozens of conversations with band members and other lighting directors about the topic and the hazer has always come out on top. There is no smell, taste, and no film left on gear. Haze last longer, looks better, and is just more of a pleasant medium to deal with.

Although if you play in many clubs and bars, there is plenty of smoke in the air regardless (unless new laws have been put into effect).

I've never seen much success with lasers in a live stage show either (unless it is ridiculously large, bright, and very expensive).

Just try to create as many options for yourself with what you get. That's why intelligents are so nice, but a rock-solid par rig with some extra effects is still a trustworthy way to go as well.

But remember, you have to set it up and tear it down. So the easier it is the better. The rig I use takes me somewhere between 1.5-2 hours for initial set-up depending on venue requirements, granted it is a very large and complicated rig (20' of truss, 34+ cans (some simplified banks), 4 intelligents, strobe and about 300-500 feet of cabling (simplified), but that's just what the performances require). What can create issues is trying to set up the light show as well as all of the other stage gear at the same time. It creates stage convergence issues.So all in all, the quicker the light show can be assembled and sent up, the better. Programming time comes after all of that. So, when you expand a system, just try to think about things you can simplify for the future.

Also when you expand, make sure you can feasibly transport the new gear safely. Getting more stuff sounds cool until the logistics kick in and you have new problems to deal with outside of the show itself. Just an extra tidbit I'd figure worth mentioning.

Best,
-Tech

Im shooting for 1/2 hour to set my stuff up. The truss takes about 2 minutes to set up, and I was going to have all of the cabeling already ziptied inplace (along w/ the powerstrip). So after locking the truss pieces together, placing them on the stands, then I have to attach the fixtures, their safety cables (dont want to kill the drummer), and plug in the cables that are already mounted on the truss. I have the fixtures already labeled too, for each position, its channel number, and if it has a dipswitch, what the binary number is (001011001) so I dont have to figure it out on a dark stage later on. I might label the cables too, but XLR kind of tells you whats in and out. I also have 2 stands w/ the washes, and I will probably mount all 4 even though there are only 2 being used. The other 2 will be counter weights and spares. I can live w/out the truss but not the main lights. The drumkit is electric, so Im hoping while Im setting up they can build the set a few feet from where it needs to be and I can help move it into place after I jack up the truss. I still dont know if everything will fit in my jeep or not heheee. Thats a test I still need to do before April (first gig w/ new equipment).

I could only wish it took a half-hour to set up my show. We even have the dimmer packs simplified in a rather interesting way. All of the dimmer packs for the pars are located inside a custom rolling rack with all of the regular dimmers mounted inside. Then the outputs of the dimmers are wired to multi-pin connectors that allow me to send the hot and neutral for 4 cans each. The cables plug into the front of the rack and then run out to the truss. What we also did was add a range-plug connection to the front so the unit can act as the power center for the stage show (although being on the same circuit as the band is never a great idea, but unfortunately necessary sometimes... ie. - when a venue fails to read the riders in the contract).

I've begun work on simplifying the wiring even more, but it proves to be difficult. See, some shows require us using 20 feet of trussing, whereas others I can only fit 10', and can only use half of the regular trussing. This means I cannot permanently install cables into the trussing because they need to be located at different places on the truss depending on the size of the show. Plus, what can I do with 60-80 feet of extra (and medium thickness) cable hanging from the end on the truss? (meaning not to get damaged in the truck).

I think I have it licked, but here's the snag. It'll cost around $700 to upgrade. Go figure.

But at any rate, any steps to simplify a show, especially one on the road with a band, is one of the smartest things to do. Plus, if you think of the entire show, and not just the lights (although they're probably the most important part ) it can really help you make the judgement calls on what to set-up, what not to set-up and what to buy for the future and what not to by for the future.

Just keep it reasonable, tasteful, logical, and as always, SAFE.

Best,
-Tech