Lighting set up opinions

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Albatross said:
It sounds like you're early enough in the process that you may not need to buy that much gear yet. It's easier to justify the purchases if you already have bookings.

Put together a couple packages of what you want to offer. You can send prospective clients the manufacturers videos of what you plan to purchase when you're pitching your services. Buy them once you've sold and booked them out. Or potentially just rent early on. There isn't anything wrong with renting until you see what your demand is.

I'm personally partnering with another company for production elements on a gig I'm doing in the spring. I could afford to buy the gear if I wanted, but I don't think I'll book it out enough times to make that choice profitable. So instead I'm going with a company that does a lot of that work - but I'll still make money on the gig.

That way you're not guessing at what your initial clients want.
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I had seriously considered renting gear early on but the nearest Guitar Center, or anything that I can find, that rents gear is almost three hours away! Not really cost effective to have to travel six hours round trip every time to rent gear! [emoji853]

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djtaso said:
I'm not sure which chauvet lights we're referencing but even if I find the cheapest one (and in no way am I promoting this one), it has a beam angle of 17 degrees which is definitely on the larger end of the spectrum.

Chauvet DJ Intimidator Spot 155 Bright Compact LED Moving Head

this ones slightly cheaper... slightly brighter... and a 16 degree beam angle American DJ Focus Spot One High Powered 35W LED Moving Head with Motorized Focus

if we wanna step it up, this marq fixture has a 75 w bulb (double everything else above), and a 13 degree beam angle. Its listed for 649 each but idjnow has a 15% off sale on it so bout $100 off... Marq Lighting Gesture Spot 400 75W LED Motorized Focus Spotlight
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I got my Chauvet Intimidator 255 movers for $450 each. I'd rather have them than the Marq units. Almost went for the 355 (like yours) but thought they were a bit too bulky for my taste. I'm pretty convinced that 50-watt is the minimum brightness I'd accept.
 
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I understand not having much money to work with. IMO all you need is some basic color wash fixtures to get started. They cover a lot of area and are versatile - slow fade-fast blinking, dimmable etc. Sometimes I point two at the ceiling and two on the dancefloor. How many people want bright lights in their eyes anyway?

You can get scanners or moving heads later on when you get gigs that pretty much require them or when your budget increases. Also, I use freestyler which is free DMX software and I use a dongle that was around $75. Freestyler's website has a list of dongles that will work.

I also agree that effect lighting isn't necessary. Most of it looks bad in photos IMO. Usually when I buy new fixtures, I buy two at a time. You can always buy two more if you like them. When you decide to get moving heads, prices get insane, but you don't want to go cheap.

To sum it up, it looks like you should go cheap on lights at this point and save up for better PA equipment in the future before spending very much on lighting.
 
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Jas said:
I understand not having much money to work with. IMO all you need is some basic color wash fixtures to get started.
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On second thought, Jas makes a really good point. You're starting out and your spouse is already on your case for spending money. If I were you, I'd buy a pair of Chauvet colorstrips ($130/each), then mount them on top of your speakers. I wouldn't fool with that bulky contraption mentioned in an earlier post, I'd simply mount (or even tape) them to the top of each speaker. This gives a lot of coverage and is a nice visual, without having all the colored dots of the lower-end fixtures. For direction, I'd tell you to put them at a 45 degree angle, going up. The floor still will get plenty of light, it won't interfere with photography and it doesn't shine into the eyes of the guests. Highly effective. When you build up your cash come back and get a pair (or 4) of high quality movers. For DMX, I'd recommend the Donner dongles and ADJ myDMX 3.0 software (not the little buddy unit) for controlling. With that wireless DMX, you can put the fixtures surrounding the dance floor (have to be careful to place them out of traffic patterns). That surround pattern is also highly effective.
 
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Please don't cheap out on any lighting that has moving parts.
Not to say that higher end fixtures won't fail at some point, but odds are they will last much longer.
Fixtures with moving parts are the perfect example of why you should "buy once, cry once", imo.
The same applies to wash lighting. Cheaper wash Led's tend to produce more white light than they do colour and also have a tendency to have flickering show up in video.

I think the Chauvet 255 irc moving head led spot is the best bang for your buck right now.
 
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DJ TJ said:
I think the Chauvet 255 irc moving head led spot is the best bang for your buck right now.
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Agreed. I've had mine a couple of months. They're small, great optics, and put out a lot of light.
 
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steve149 said:
As a starting spot, I would get a simple all-in-one tree like the Chauvet Gigbars
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AGREE 100%.
I have the American DJ Dotz Tpar system...
and I can say that these "bar" fixtures offer a nice variety of action and wash.
They are easy to setup and carry...and ONE fixture can fill a large room when needed.
Most of them don't NEED to use DMX, but they can if you so desire.
And, they are affordable!
Which is perfect for a guy starting out, especially if his wife is keeping an eye on "the purse".
 
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Ausumm said:
AGREE 100%.
I have the American DJ Dotz Tpar system...
and I can say that these "bar" fixtures offer a nice variety of action and wash.
They are easy to setup and carry...and ONE fixture can fill a large room when needed.
Most of them don't NEED to use DMX, but they can if you so desire.
And, they are affordable!
Which is perfect for a guy starting out, especially if his wife is keeping an eye on "the purse".
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^^^^ Excellent advice!.[emoji4] I have that same ADJ Dotz T-Par system, and it's really nice. I mount two Chauvet Mini-Kintas on top, and I mount two Chauvet DJ Colorbanks, one one each speaker pole. When I first started, I didn't have a clue about lights, and I was not aware of DJ forums where I could get good advice/information. I bought a bunch of effect lights that all looked cool individually, but when combined, just created a hot mess.[emoji1] Other than the Mini-Kintas, I don't use ANY of those original lights. I used to mount the Colorbanks on top of my speakers, and they looked really cool, but after replacing my speakers with RCF EVOX-8's, there's no way to do that.
One thing I would strongly recommend, though... keep it simple. I do all my loading/unloading and setup/teardown myself... no assistant. Every little extra thing takes up space, adds weight and setup time... it adds up![emoji4]


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Ausumm said:
AGREE 100%.
I have the American DJ Dotz Tpar system...
and I can say that these "bar" fixtures offer a nice variety of action and wash.
They are easy to setup and carry...and ONE fixture can fill a large room when needed.
Most of them don't NEED to use DMX, but they can if you so desire.
And, they are affordable!
Which is perfect for a guy starting out, especially if his wife is keeping an eye on "the purse".
Click to expand...


She has definitely been keeping an eye on the purse as she knows I can get carried away when I get excited! lol She has no idea that my shopping cart currently totals a little over $1700!! So if I disappear in the next couple weeks, yall will know why!! lol

I have been looking at the ADJ Dotz Tpar system and I kinda like it. I am leaning towards going with that and a pair of Mini Kintas to start out and see where it goes from there. If business picks up and gigs start becoming a regular thing, then maybe I will invest in some quality moving heads.
 
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TinyTim said:
She has definitely been keeping an eye on the purse as she knows I can get carried away when I get excited! lol She has no idea that my shopping cart currently totals a little over $1700!! So if I disappear in the next couple weeks, yall will know why!!
I have been looking at the ADJ Dotz Tpar system and I kinda like it. I am leaning towards going with that and a pair of Mini Kintas to start out and see where it goes from there. If business picks up and gigs start becoming a regular thing, then maybe I will invest in some quality moving heads.
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I've come to the realization that my wife keeping an eye on the money is a GOOD thing.
If cash flow is an issue, don't ruin your marriage over DJ lights.
Waiting till you get more gigs is not only financially smart....
it increases your chances of living longer.
:laugh:
 
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Ausumm said:
I've come to the realization that my wife keeping an eye on the money is a GOOD thing.
If cash flow is an issue, don't ruin your marriage over DJ lights.
Waiting till you get more gigs is not only financially smart....
it increases your chances of living longer.
:laugh:
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I definitely wont let it go that far! After all, it IS cheaper to keep her! :laugh:
 
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TinyTim said:
All three of those lights are amazing but idk if I am going to be able to convince the wife that I need to drop the better part of a grand on two lights!!!
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Start slow. Don’t jump into too much gear too soon. Moving heads are expensive and are not recommended for limited price points!

There are a lot of other choices for lighting that are entry level friendly!
 
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DJKLEEN said:
Start slow. Don’t jump into too much gear too soon. Moving heads are expensive and are not recommended for limited price points!

There are a lot of other choices for lighting that are entry level friendly!
Click to expand...
I think I am pretty much set on the American DJ Dotz Tpar system and a pair of Chauvet Mini Kintas. I am going to mount the mini Kintas on top of the bar for the ADJ Dotz Tpar and Daisy chain it all to a Chauvet Obey 40.

That should have me a decent light set up for under $700.

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TinyTim said:
I think I am pretty much set on the American DJ Dotz Tpar system and a pair of Chauvet Mini Kintas. I am going to mount the mini Kintas on top of the bar for the ADJ Dotz Tpar and Daisy chain it all to a Chauvet Obey 40...
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Sounds good to me.[emoji4]... HEY, WAIT!... That's what I do. No wonder it sounds good to me.[emoji1]

I will offer something to think about. The case that comes with the Dotz TPar is not real sturdy. I tore mine along the zipper trying to zip it up. I was thinking about having a custom cover made that would allow the Mini Kintas to remain mounted on the bar with the wash lights, so I wouldn't have to do anything except set up the stand, mount the Tbar with all lights pre-mounted, then run the electrical and DMX. It would cut several minutes from my setup/tear down time.
 
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DJ Bobcat said:
Sounds good to me.[emoji4]... HEY, WAIT!... That's what I do. No wonder it sounds good to me.[emoji1]

I will offer something to think about. The case that comes with the Dotz TPar is not real sturdy. I tore mine along the zipper trying to zip it up. I was thinking about having a custom cover made that would allow the Mini Kintas to remain mounted on the bar with the wash lights, so I wouldn't have to do anything except set up the stand, mount the Tbar with all lights pre-mounted, then run the electrical and DMX. It would cut several minutes from my setup/tear down time.
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BobCat,

Do you happen to have a video of your light set up? I would love to see what I will be working with soon!
 
TinyTim said:
BobCat,

Do you happen to have a video of your light set up? I would love to see what I will be working with soon!
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Sorry, no... I don't have video's OR even stills of it. My daughter was supposed to take some pics at my last gig in December, but got caught up in the socializing and didn't take any pics except for a few of me setting up. Not too useful. Someone else on this forum is running the same setup. Maybe they have a video?[emoji4]


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DJ Bobcat said:
Sorry, no... I don't have video's OR even stills of it. My daughter was supposed to take some pics at my last gig in December, but got caught up in the socializing and didn't take any pics except for a few of me setting up. Not too useful. Someone else on this forum is running the same setup. Maybe they have a video?[emoji4]


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Good to go brother. I appreciate the input anyway! I will have to survey the interwebs and see what I can find! :hiding:
 
I'd be interested in seeing video or photos of what the mini kinta looks like on the dance floor and on dancers. I don't see any on youtube or elsewhere. I'm not a fan of red, blue and green dots on people's faces.
 
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Jas said:
I'd be interested in seeing video or photos of what the mini kinta looks like on the dance floor and on dancers. I don't see any on youtube or elsewhere. I'm not a fan of red, blue and green dots on people's faces.
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Well... can't say they make dots... more like large splotches. I usually point one at the ceiling and the other toward the dance floor.
 
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