Transporting Lighting Gear

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rhythmgj

rhythmgj

DJ Extraordinaire (Hey, Everybody's Doing It!)
Nov 10, 2013
1,190
1,648
Buffalo, NY
No, not "Which fixtures to achieve the 'Star Trek' transporter effect?"

I'm talking about how y'all physically move your lighting and trees or trussing safely from place to place, in an organized, hopefully space-conscious (i.e., not taking-up too much room in the van) way...

I bought all of these lights, then realized I'm only going to use 1/3 of them, due to space restrictions and the pita it is to set-up/plug-in/tear-down the light show from gig to gig. And don't get me started on packing; there must be a better way!

If you guys have any tips on storage, transportation, and anything that will make set-up and tear-down faster and more efficient, let me know. The van is loaded from top to bottom with sound gear and lights as it is, and it takes a long time to set-up; if I brought everything I have, I'd need a second truck. So what are your secrets? Less lighting? Pre-mounted? What do you transport your fixtures in? How do you get them to the gig and back?

GJ
 
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Well I keep everything in the trailer. But here are some pics.


My set up has changed since these pics so now I load up the "speaker" bags pictured with the bags of lights shown on the shelves and then roll in to the venue.

The truss is hard wired with power, DMX, and the par cans. It hangs in the trailer on two o-clamps.
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I've gone away from the pre-loaded t-bars and have minimized dance lighting to 2 really good barrel scanners (Martin Acrobats). Those go into a rolling Turk bag. For larger jobs I'll add 4 flat mirror scanners and those live in stackable, plastic bins. All my uplighting goes into stackable, 17-gallon boxes.

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Each box holds 10 slimpar56 fixtures, along with enough cords to do a 10-fixture uplighting job. This makes it simple when I need to send 10 or 20 fixtures along with one of my other crews. I also use these same bins for my audio cables and projectors. They stack 3 or 4 high in the van and it's easy to just wheel them in with a dolly.
 
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I leave all the lighting on the top of the truss hard-wired and mounted. I made a set of wheels that quickly mount on one end and then I can just roll it out. Setup is just three pins on each end. Having said that, it takes up ten feet of the floor of my trailer. First thing out, last thing in. It is held down by straps to the d-rings in the floor.
 
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Don't you mean last thing out, first thing in? Imo, it would be kind of hard to pack things if it was first in / last out.
 
Pre wired truss, and I leaves the o clamps on the fixtures. I keep them in the stackable totes as well. I just pull them out and clamp them on and they are ready to go


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
a chauvet fourplay, stand (in a bag - 1/2 is the stand 1/2 is my pvc facade), a tote with 2 pars (for scrims or wall wash), mini galaxian (o clamp), mini kinta (o clamp) and all the cords for power and dmx and my latptop stand.
So that's 3 things to move for lighting.
I have another tote with the mixer, mic, power, etc.
speakers, amp case, bag with 2 speaker stands.
All but the 2 stand cases fit on my rolling cart (which goes to gigs on a bike rack on the back of the car) so it's 2 trips, or one with a helper, into the gig.
 
Everything is in road cases. Roll in and out of the trailer. A little slower on the setup & teardown but much safer for the gear itself.
 
I have arriba cases for a some of my lights, chauvet has bags that came with my ezpar64 rgba upligths, and my dance floor lights go into a big rubber tub packed in the shipping foam that came in the box they came from. I used to use all rubber tubs but I felt the bags were easier to carry because they had handles.
 
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Robare, welcome aboard. I see you are a Yorkville fan (LS800P or LS801P? Are the tops also Yorkville (3-way)? Nice collection of lights, too.
Please take time and introduce yourself? What state are you located?

Uplighting, Blizzard Puck3/NX, are packed in totes w/the same Styrofoam that came when shipped. I place the s-foam squares on the bottom and between each light--can get 6 units in each tote. Dance floor lighting (Flat Par Pro) are hung from two T-bar (4 on bottom of each). They lay flat in the back of my highlander and are carried into the facility. Everything else is in the 5x8 Express Line Trailer w/ramp door.

All speakers have padded covers (canvas/velour) to include the Yorkville LS801PB.
 
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Real basic on this end because I don't like too many light detracting from my main thing which is Music Videos (mostly HD) on LED TV Monitors. Still at the T-bar stand phase with everything breaking down into a padded square Golf Club Case - the perfect case for my light stand. I also can bring a tub full of uplights if need be but I don't push them as I hate frigging around with them and wires - am not going wireless for reason 1 above. I also have a bunch of LED effect lights which round out a pretty impressive light show without taking away from the main attraction - the vid screens.

Posted this elsewhere here and will have another this coming soon after this weekend but here is a typical light setup for me (look at the light stand and you can see my case holding all the wires and light box - not the greatest but would rather have the bag than a snake of wires and switch box)):
View: https://youtu.be/HjI7dpPtnH4

Update - added the following weekend giglog below:
View: https://youtu.be/cNvmQD9e1-8
 
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Navydiver said:
Real basic on this end because I don't like too many light detracting from my main thing which is Music Videos (mostly HD) on LED TV Monitors. Still at the T-bar stand phase with everything breaking down into a padded square Golf Club Case - the perfect case for my light stand. I also can bring a tub full of uplights if need be but I don't push them as I hate frigging around with them and wires - am not going wireless for reason 1 above. I also have a bunch of LED effect lights which round out a pretty impressive light show without taking away from the main attraction - the vid screens.

Posted this elsewhere here and will have another this coming soon after this weekend but here is a typical light setup for me (look at the light stand and you can see my case holding all the wires and light box - not the greatest but would rather have the bag than a snake of wires and switch box)):
View: https://youtu.be/HjI7dpPtnH4
Click to expand...
What is the color changing case around your mixer? Is this homemade?
 
The case is a gator slant case that is 2U on the bottom and 10U (I think) on top. It is super light. I bought it second hand to hold my DEQ, Power panel and Mackie 12fx pro mixer which fits nicely on a rearward facing 2U shelf unit mounted on the back for the mixer to sit on. I cut out a panel of translucent panel board (same as what I use on my DIY facade) and ran velcro tape underneath to hold the panel on and to hold on LED strip lighting I ran underneath. I order the lights cheap from China on ebay or Amazon. I can make it any one colour, chase or beat to the music. It serves a double purpose of being able to help see the mixer controls better as well...
 
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