New light show

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!

prodjay

DJ Extraordinaire
Dec 13, 2009
1,103
560
Bossier, Louisiana
I am building a new light show this fall and will be using the lights on both a T stand and 10' truss.

So these light will need to DMX, light in weight, and draw as little power as possible.

I will be getting some type of moving heads and just need some other lights to go with them.

With all this in mind what do you suggest??????
 
If having the right moving heads you really don't need much more. As I was mentioning, heads with a wash/frost effect can cover an entire dancefloor for those times where more light is needed (oldies, disco, slow songs, etc), and faster movements with momentary dark areas on the dancefloor for top 40 or hip hop and house music. I only use moving heads and never needed other lights with exception to uplighting if the client adds it on.

Heres a wedding with just 2 moving heads and nothing else. You can see how I mix between moving patterns and colors, to wash effects that cover the whole floor.

I guess if you get moving heads that dont have that frost/wash effect, then you can get one-two wash effects to cover the rest of the floor with light.
 
Maybe you should go with truss totems instead of a horizontal truss. I'd keep away from cheap effect lights. Just add 2-4 flat par color changers. You could even put them on the floor aiming at the ceiling or use a T-bar. Or maybe a barrel scanner?
 
Not sure I'd mix the two .. maybe make a small system on the T-bar and a larger one on the truss independent ...

Personally I would stick with a simple 4Bar or GigBar (or the ADJ/Blizzard equivalent) for a small system and concentrate the DMX work on the larger one with probably a pair of movers, maybe 4 PARs, and 1-2 effect lights (strobes/moonflowers/etc)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ausumm and dashadow
If having the right moving heads you really don't need much more. As I was mentioning, heads with a wash/frost effect can cover an entire dancefloor for those times where more light is needed (oldies, disco, slow songs, etc), and faster movements with momentary dark areas on the dancefloor for top 40 or hip hop and house music. I only use moving heads and never needed other lights with exception to uplighting if the client adds it on.

Heres a wedding with just 2 moving heads and nothing else. You can see how I mix between moving patterns and colors, to wash effects that cover the whole floor.

I guess if you get moving heads that dont have that frost/wash effect, then you can get one-two wash effects to cover the rest of the floor with light.
I have two smaller moving heads and have always used ADJ's MyDMX to program them but I never could master the art of controlling their movement and keeping it moving from my DJ booth outward. It seemed like they always wanted to pan around behind me. I even tried doing just a simple figure eight searchlight pattern in the sky and got frustrated. I then tried Chauvet's showxpress and was not impressed at all with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Bobcat
I use the blizzard eclipse program. It has premade shapes for most major moving heads and from there just pick the colors and gobos, etc. The program allows you to limit the range of the pan and tilt. My programs are all facing outward towards the dancefloor to maximize effectiveness.
 
I use the blizzard eclipse program. It has premade shapes for most major moving heads and from there just pick the colors and gobos, etc. The program allows you to limit the range of the pan and tilt. My programs are all facing outward towards the dancefloor to maximize effectiveness.

1. What dongle do you use with eclipse?

2.In order for the premade programs to work where do the lights have to be (behind the DJ)? Will it work with them off to the side?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ittigger
I use the blizzard eclipse program. It has premade shapes for most major moving heads and from there just pick the colors and gobos, etc. The program allows you to limit the range of the pan and tilt. My programs are all facing outward towards the dancefloor to maximize effectiveness.
Being an all apple business, eclipse is only offered on windows computers and therefore not compatible on my end. I may either keep looking or buy a cheap windows laptop to use just for lighting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ittigger
Being an all apple business, eclipse is only offered on windows computers and therefore not compatible on my end. I may either keep looking or buy a cheap windows laptop to use just for lighting.
I don't know why this "windows only" is a deal breaker for many. I have all macs in my system as well.. however for lighting, I bought a cheap $400 touchscreen laptop just for this (actually have two for backup).

I can place my heads anywhere I want. The programs I've created never have the heads going backwards. In some parties I have 2 on my side, and 2 on the other side of the dancefloor. They're not premade "programs" they have premade shapes, that you can scale down the range of movement, so that if you don't want it to go behind the dj or in the ceiling, you can limit that. You still have to create every program, but not worrying about setting the actual positions is a big time saver. You have to use the blizzard eclipse dongle for the software to work. It's around $350.
 
I don't know why this "windows only" is a deal breaker for many. I have all macs in my system as well.. however for lighting, I bought a cheap $400 touchscreen laptop just for this (actually have two for backup).

I can place my heads anywhere I want. The programs I've created never have the heads going backwards. In some parties I have 2 on my side, and 2 on the other side of the dancefloor. They're not premade "programs" they have premade shapes, that you can scale down the range of movement, so that if you don't want it to go behind the dj or in the ceiling, you can limit that. You still have to create every program, but not worrying about setting the actual positions is a big time saver. You have to use the blizzard eclipse dongle for the software to work. It's around $350.
when you say "cheap touchscreen laptop? what brand is it?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ittigger
when you say "cheap touchscreen laptop? what brand is it?
I have two (since lighting is so big for me I make sure to have a backup laptop and eclipseUSB dongle. I have one asus w an I3 processor and 4gb of memory and another toshiba w an i3 processor and 4gb of memory. As long as I have those two components and a touchscreen it's all I need.
 
Not sure I'd mix the two .. maybe make a small system on the T-bar and a larger one on the truss independent ... Personally I would stick with a simple 4Bar or GigBar (or the ADJ/Blizzard equivalent) for a small system and concentrate the DMX work on the larger one with probably a pair of movers, maybe 4 PARs, and 1-2 effect lights (strobes/moonflowers/etc)

+1

If you play different sized rooms, you will really enjoy not having to mix-n-match pieces of gear for every event.
Have a big truss system with moving heads for the big rooms.
And get one of the "bar" systems (I use the ADJ Dotz) for smaller rooms.
Kinda silly to bring in a HUGE light show for a small, intimate event...
and you could always use BOTH systems for a big event.
 
+1

If you play different sized rooms, you will really enjoy not having to mix-n-match pieces of gear for every event.
Have a big truss system with moving heads for the big rooms.
And get one of the "bar" systems (I use the ADJ Dotz) for smaller rooms.
Kinda silly to bring in a HUGE light show for a small, intimate event...
and you could always use BOTH systems for a big event.
I think the clothiers call that "layering" ... :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: ittigger
+1

If you play different sized rooms, you will really enjoy not having to mix-n-match pieces of gear for every event.
Have a big truss system with moving heads for the big rooms.
And get one of the "bar" systems (I use the ADJ Dotz) for smaller rooms.
Kinda silly to bring in a HUGE light show for a small, intimate event...
and you could always use BOTH systems for a big event.

I understand not wanting to switch lights for every event but, I just want to have a nice light show for higher end events but no room for truss events.

I already have another T-bar stand (with lights) for events that don't require something as nice as moving heads, so I have that covered.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ausumm