Hello, we are looking to purchase 4 intelligent lights for use in a band. We want to quit lugging in par 56's and 64's for back lighting. Please give us some input on what to purchase!!!
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accuspot 250
accuwash 250
accuwash 250
How much money do you want to spend?
What kind of stages do u play on? (small/large)
Do you want to be programing the shows or do u want a it all pre-programed?
What kind of intelligent light are you looking for? (Moving heads/moving mirrors/color changers ect.... you should proly go with moving heads, they look best on stages
sorry for the questions, just got to narrow it down so we can help you out.
What kind of stages do u play on? (small/large)
Do you want to be programing the shows or do u want a it all pre-programed?
What kind of intelligent light are you looking for? (Moving heads/moving mirrors/color changers ect.... you should proly go with moving heads, they look best on stages
sorry for the questions, just got to narrow it down so we can help you out.
From my experience. I've done shows with 24 pars behind the band and shows with just 4 nice scanners behind the band. Scanners without fill looks really bla in my opinion.
You may want to consider buying some color changers. You can get some nice 250watt color changers for around $150 each these days. In some cases you can get two color changers for the price of one scanner. Eight color changers can rock a small stage. Put two on tripod stands on each corner of the stage for front and back light. If you get some more cash, put some scanners on floor stands left and right of the drums.
Maybe four color changers and two scanners. Use the changers for color fill and the scanners for specials or sweeps.
Another question
Setup time? I work at a concert venue that hosts 4-5 bands per night. Each band has 10 minutes between sets to get their gear on stage and a 5 minute line check. If you are the second band in a 4 band lineup, do you have enough time to setup multiple stands and reprogram your lights? Back to the color changers - you can mount them on mic stand bases and place them behind your musicians. Ultra fast setup/teardown.
Programming:
Will you have someone operating your lights at each of your gigs or will you be operating the lights while you are playing? Intelligent lights in "sound acive" mode look really silly in a band setting, especially when you are doing an acoustic song and your intels are strobing yellow dots around the room.
You may want to consider buying some color changers. You can get some nice 250watt color changers for around $150 each these days. In some cases you can get two color changers for the price of one scanner. Eight color changers can rock a small stage. Put two on tripod stands on each corner of the stage for front and back light. If you get some more cash, put some scanners on floor stands left and right of the drums.
Maybe four color changers and two scanners. Use the changers for color fill and the scanners for specials or sweeps.
Another question
Setup time? I work at a concert venue that hosts 4-5 bands per night. Each band has 10 minutes between sets to get their gear on stage and a 5 minute line check. If you are the second band in a 4 band lineup, do you have enough time to setup multiple stands and reprogram your lights? Back to the color changers - you can mount them on mic stand bases and place them behind your musicians. Ultra fast setup/teardown.
Programming:
Will you have someone operating your lights at each of your gigs or will you be operating the lights while you are playing? Intelligent lights in "sound acive" mode look really silly in a band setting, especially when you are doing an acoustic song and your intels are strobing yellow dots around the room.
I agree that if your getting rid of pars you will need something to fill in, unless you have a LOT of scanners/moving heads. Another option other than color changers are color washes. Just 2-4 can fill most stages, and since they blend colors, you can get any shade you want at any brightness, also no flipping through 6 colors to get to the color you selected using a color wheel. AmericanDj/Elation make one called the Stage Color, but there are others that are 1500watts - 3 500 watt bulbs - that you blend red/green/blue for about $200. Im not sure why ADJ haven't made a cheaper version of that fixture yet, I think there's a great market for them. When I was running 8 par cans (4 on each side) it was pretty bad trying to figure out who got each can, so the bassist might only get green and some blue from the other side of the stage, drummer in 2 colors, etc... Here I can throw any color anywhere. Pars are awesome in number though, but its hard to find space for all of them sometimes.
--Kevin
--Kevin
Thanks for the input and here are some answers to your questions. Hopefully it will help you answer mine.
We play a variety of sizes of venues, however most have a stage that is between 20 and 40 feet wide. The rooms hold between 250 and 1,000 people. We do a variety of music everything from disco to modern top 40. We don't usually do multiple band shows and we have at least 2 hours for setup. The average show nowadays consist of between 8 and 24 pars(56 or 64) in the back and usually 4 to 8(56's) in the front. We are looking to spend in the area of $1,500 and we do have someone who runs our lights at everyshow. We are currently using an NSI controller and NSI 4600 power packs. I hope this helps with some of the questions. We are really looking forward to getting some bang for the buck especially when we play the smaller clubs that don't have the power requirements for us being able to tap in with our power distro and use back lighting.
We play a variety of sizes of venues, however most have a stage that is between 20 and 40 feet wide. The rooms hold between 250 and 1,000 people. We do a variety of music everything from disco to modern top 40. We don't usually do multiple band shows and we have at least 2 hours for setup. The average show nowadays consist of between 8 and 24 pars(56 or 64) in the back and usually 4 to 8(56's) in the front. We are looking to spend in the area of $1,500 and we do have someone who runs our lights at everyshow. We are currently using an NSI controller and NSI 4600 power packs. I hope this helps with some of the questions. We are really looking forward to getting some bang for the buck especially when we play the smaller clubs that don't have the power requirements for us being able to tap in with our power distro and use back lighting.
1500$ isnt much for intelligent lighting, you should go with the color changers, here are some choices:
color 250d- 200$ea 250watt lamp http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=1...Intelligent_Lighting
Color 150 DMX 180$ea 150watt lamp http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=7...Intelligent_Lighting
concept: color 350$ea 250 watt lamp http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=1...Intelligent_Lighting
if you really wanted to buy some scanners, you could get some djscan 250s- 200$ each, but the movement is choppy- you get your moneys worth. You could make them look decent if u put one on each side of the drummer on floor stands.
http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=1...Intelligent_Lighting
You should buy a fog or haze machine to, it makes the lights look a hell of alot better.
color 250d- 200$ea 250watt lamp http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=1...Intelligent_Lighting
Color 150 DMX 180$ea 150watt lamp http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=7...Intelligent_Lighting
concept: color 350$ea 250 watt lamp http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=1...Intelligent_Lighting
if you really wanted to buy some scanners, you could get some djscan 250s- 200$ each, but the movement is choppy- you get your moneys worth. You could make them look decent if u put one on each side of the drummer on floor stands.
http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=1...Intelligent_Lighting
You should buy a fog or haze machine to, it makes the lights look a hell of alot better.