Question about par cans

welcome to the board. The size depends on the wattage/brightness you want, which also needs to take into account the distance you will set up the lights from the band.
Go to Prod dj they have a great primer on lighting. Here's the link http://dju.prodj.com/courses/lighting/c1.html

ive used my par 38's with gels for bands.. theyre a little weak the the beam isnt very direct .. more for all around lighting.. i have 8 total with gels on my control .. great cheap effect for the $ .. and you cant go wrong (bulbs are pennies at home depot)easy to set up too

Isn't the Par36 a pinspot?

I've got 6 Par38's and they work great. No gels or anything. I'm not that advanced yet!

I use these cans for lighting the stage area. I have 2 T-stands and a truss. I have the T's 90-degrees to the truss. The back two Par38's on each side are sufficient to light the "band" and main part of the stage. The most front spot on the T-stands I use for the Par36 pinspots that I point at the mirror ball. The innter one on the front I use to light up the front part of the stage for the vocalist.

I'm nearing the point where I need both more AC power and maybe another part of T-stands only with a few more lights, or else I might get some of those bars to add on and stick more lights on those.

The 38's seem to work great in a close environment, but kind of suck at a distance. I use 150-watt bulbs, same as what ADJ recommends. Granted, it's not blinding, but the band says it is more than sufficient and the guests seem to like it, saying it's not too bright and not too dark. Of course, small stages. I think if I have room, another couple of Par38's hanging from the truss to give more middle-stage lighting.

Right now I'm contemplating another centerpiece and another effects light to offset the Electra.

56's Man all the way.

Par 38's are great for the lamp cost, but for larger stages you are going to find that a Par 56 would be better. I started out with 16 (home made) Par 38 cans, they were great, I used them for years. When my gig's grew I noticed that the 150 watt Par 38 cans weren't bright enough for larger productions, I was out of luck if I needed to gel the lights (deeper colors, red, blue, etc) and still needed large output.


I really really suggest the 56's man. Start small with 300 watt lamps, maybe later on you're needs will change and you can upgrade to 500 watt lamps or DYS kits. Some things to consider before purchasing your par cans:

>Lamp Life: The life span of your par lamps will decrease if you are chasing or bumping your lights often. To that degree a 38 will be better because of the cost per lamp compared to the 56.

>Lamp cost: You can get a Par 38 lamp for less than five dollars, the cost for a 56 lamp starts at $15.

>Control: Figure out how you are going to get power to your cans. For stage shows with 38's I used a nice home made controller with 8 rotary dimmers that you can get from a hardware store. I also had about a million feet of extension cords which got really annoying really fast after tear down.
When I finally went with 56's I went DMX with a set of four DP-DMX 20L dimmer packs and a DMX operator controller. My set-up and tear down's go much much faster. Only one heavy BLACK 12/3 extension cord needs to go to the power source instead of 8-16 individual neon orange cords going to my DIY board.

>Power: You're 56's are going to need a lot more power than a set of 38's. I need four separate 20 Amp outlets to run 16 500 watt 56's. The par 38 setup was much easier on the electricity. Sometimes its annoying to have to run and find separate GROUNDED outlets. I am going to invest in a nice power distro soon.

>Fixture cost. Do some hard core online price shopping. You will find in some cases less than a $10 price difference between a par 56 and a 38. You can get a set of four 56's for $100. Ebay always has sets of six new for around $100!

Bottom line: Since I went to the larger light show with 12 56's, 4 46's (with DYS kits), and 4 64's I can no do larger (higher paying) gigs. If you do your pricing right, a nice Par 56/64 rig will pay for itself. You will be rockin' man!

This might be more detail than you want, but I've run a mobile sound and light company for years, and this is the bottom line on a budget.

1. Job one is illumination, not effects.
2. You have to allocate electricity in watts, not just money. Get one light system that won't blow a 15 amp (1800 watts of bulbs and controller) breaker.
3. You need two trees and 6-8 cans (depending on the number of people), par 46 or par 56 spots, not floods.
4. Take non-flash pictures of the band at random points during the gig to see what it looks like- brace yourself! Take photos from the middle of the hall and the back.

Illumination detail: The band should be the star of the show, and be lit up accordingly. I did sound for one band who had their own lights, and the pool tables were lit better. If there are other bands in your area with high dollar light shows that are working 30 gigs a year, then think about it, but a couple of hundred dollar effects are not going to impress anyone, and they get boring fast! Avoid these 3 lighting mistakes:
A. The brightest thing on most band stages in the lead vocalist's white sweat towel. Look at the pictures- am I right?! Go to K-mart, to Linens, (whatsa matter, you chicken?) look for the Martha Stewart Collection (you're sweating now aren't you), and get a couple of black hand towels.
B. The second brightest thing on stage is the guitar player's red plastic cup. Get a dark plastic glass and put it in a black can Kooler. Now the brightest thing on stage is the white bass drumhead- good place to put the name of the band. White sneakers- well, at least they're on the floor!
C. Lighting up human faces with deep rich colors. This might work if you have some reason to look cadaverous, creepy, or alien. If it's part of your image, then go for it. See Gels for what color to use normally.

Electricity detail: Fifteen amps equals 1800 watts (in US with 120V) you can spend on your bulbs. Buy bulbs with a specific purpose in mind. Your front (wo)men should get more light and be lit from both sides. If you chose four 250 watt bulbs and four 150 watt bulbs you�ve got 1600 watts, and you can light up most bands as described here.

Cans and Gels detail: Let�s light up a five piece band with three people in front and two people in back. Look at the stage from the audience�s perspective, and list the people and number the 8 cans from left to right (not stage left and right.) Front men: Guitar, Vocalist, Bass; Back row: Keyboard, Drums. One tree in each front corner of the stage. Your lights should be as high up as possible. You need ten foot stands; you�ll bang into the ceiling often, and good luck getting the legs all the way out without falling off the stage. You want small shadows on the upper eye sockets, nostrils, and under-jaw to give good feature definition to the performers. This lighting angle provides better contrast for the audience in the middle and rear of the hall. This angle also minimizes lighting up the wall behind the band which you probably don�t want. The lower the angle, the more the band will squint and complain about not being able to see the audience.

Cans and Gels: Cans 3, 4, 5, & 6 are 150 watt bulbs, and will be used to light up the front men by projecting a cone of light that covers their face to their waist. 4 and 5 are for the Vocalist, and should cover the whole area that he wanders about in. The Vocalist should stay within this cone and not cruise through the audience until there is a follow spot on him. When the highest visibility performer is in the dark, he is lost to almost all of the audience, and it gives an unprofessional performance. Look at your pictures!

Gels: Gels are the thin square sheets of plastic that color the lights. You buy a sheet and then cut out a few squares, fitting them into the front of the can. They may ripple a little with the heat, but it�s no big deal. Cans 3 through 6 should have a gel called ******* Amber (that�s b.a.s.t.a.r.d). Don�t ask me what the �*******� thing is all about, but it�s a pale orange with a little pink that makes you look healthy. A better name would be �healthy Caucasian.� Omit this gel for black performers and Kiss tribute bands. The spillover from these four lights can be adjusted to hit the seated KB and Drummer faces.

In a small venue, where the audience can see your faces clearly, wear a shirt that�s darker than your skin, easy on the logos. Wear pants that are very dark. Wear shorts if you�re a Punk/Grunge band or you�re a total clod. In a larger venue, let your clothes increase performer visibility (at least until you get a huge videoscreen above you).

Use the four outside cans, 1, 2, 7, & 8, with 250 watt bulbs to add color to the set. These brighter bulbs will have darker gels, resulting in a good balance. Use gels Booster Blue on 1 and 2 and Neon Pink on 7 and 8. Aim the lights at the lower half of the front men, and on the keyboard and drum set. These two colors are only medium deep, and you may choose to put two or three gels of the same color in the holder. But one sheet of neon pink only lets 33% of the light through. The really deep rich gel colors only let 5% of the light through, and will give you 12 watts worth of light! (250 watts x 5%) A more tech discussion would be tossing about lumens and foot-candles, but you already got it, right? Some more notes about gels: a frost gel will spread out the beam; a brushed gel will widen it along one axis; don�t buy a pre-cut gel �pack�- you�ll get colors that are way too dark.

If 2 and 7 need to be used with amber gels to light up more people in a bigger band, then aim 1 and 8 somewhere low that is not awash in white so that the color shows up distinctly.

Now that you�ve got the gels in and the lights up, there�s only one more thing to do. Aim the lights on the job. If you ask a band member to stand at the various positions while you use a pole with a nail into the far end to jiggle the lights into position, he will be far too busy. So ask a member of the audience (pick whomever you want to talk to later) to go up on stage, stand behind the various mikes, and let you aim the lights, one by one. If you choose wisely, well, you know.

Using your lights. Option 1: With all the lights off, have the band take the stage. Turn the lights on. Announce the band, and play the first song right away. Option 2: If the Band is popular at the venue, turn the lights on and announce the band. The crowd cheers the band as they walk up to the stage. The front man greets the audience and counts off the first song. During the breaks, and for five minutes after the last song, turn on the red and blue lights only, if you have a controller.