Live concert lighting with conventionals and an ETC Express
- Thread starterEriksrocks
- Start date
Eriksrocks
Member
Ok, so it actually went pretty well. Because I'm obviously in school during the day and the space was being used for an orchestra concert this week (sound shells up), we only got a bit of time to tech after school on Wednesday.
So today I had to work furiously to finish focusing/gelling/circuiting everything, giving me only about a half an hour to 45 minutes to program everything before the house opened for the first of two shows. So all I ended up with is around 20 subs filled with different groups of lights. All I could really do was fade between them and maybe bump the specials once in a while. The first show kind of sucked due to this, poor stage management by the student club/organization that was running the show, and bad bands (all the good performers were assigned to the second show).
However during the break between shows I had enough time to build 4 sets of cues that chased through both backlight colors and banks of backlight ellipsoidals. I used these to great effect in the second show. For faster songs I usually used one of these chases, with one hand bumping the Go button to the beat, combined with my other hand randomly fading submasters or bumping them as I see fit. This worked ok, and running the chase allowed me to bump other submasters more frequently without it seeming out of place. If I felt like a certain chase was getting stale, I would cover the end of the chase by pulling up an appropriate submaster, then clear the cue stack and start a new one. However by the end of the second show, having been at the board for nearly 7 hours, I was pretty tired and kind of gave up on trying to keep up with the song and making it complex.
I wish I could have gotten time to record more cue sets - the lighting was still rather simple as I only had a limited amount of looks that I could create and I was limited by my lack of confidence to move through different submasters or bump things quickly. Unfortunately things did get kind of repetitive - but there's not a whole lot you can do when you have over 30 different groups in one show and have to busk the thing.
However I was happy with how it turned out (actually better than expected!) and even the static looks looked a whole **** lot better than anything that's been done at this school while I've been here. Still not sure if it was worth the time put into it (not a paid job), but it was still fun none-the-less.
The advice here certainly helped, even if I didn't use all of it! Thank you!
I'll see if I can find any pics or video, even if it's a crappy cellphone video I stole from Faceboook...
So today I had to work furiously to finish focusing/gelling/circuiting everything, giving me only about a half an hour to 45 minutes to program everything before the house opened for the first of two shows. So all I ended up with is around 20 subs filled with different groups of lights. All I could really do was fade between them and maybe bump the specials once in a while. The first show kind of sucked due to this, poor stage management by the student club/organization that was running the show, and bad bands (all the good performers were assigned to the second show).
However during the break between shows I had enough time to build 4 sets of cues that chased through both backlight colors and banks of backlight ellipsoidals. I used these to great effect in the second show. For faster songs I usually used one of these chases, with one hand bumping the Go button to the beat, combined with my other hand randomly fading submasters or bumping them as I see fit. This worked ok, and running the chase allowed me to bump other submasters more frequently without it seeming out of place. If I felt like a certain chase was getting stale, I would cover the end of the chase by pulling up an appropriate submaster, then clear the cue stack and start a new one. However by the end of the second show, having been at the board for nearly 7 hours, I was pretty tired and kind of gave up on trying to keep up with the song and making it complex.
I wish I could have gotten time to record more cue sets - the lighting was still rather simple as I only had a limited amount of looks that I could create and I was limited by my lack of confidence to move through different submasters or bump things quickly. Unfortunately things did get kind of repetitive - but there's not a whole lot you can do when you have over 30 different groups in one show and have to busk the thing.
However I was happy with how it turned out (actually better than expected!) and even the static looks looked a whole **** lot better than anything that's been done at this school while I've been here. Still not sure if it was worth the time put into it (not a paid job), but it was still fun none-the-less.
The advice here certainly helped, even if I didn't use all of it! Thank you!
I'll see if I can find any pics or video, even if it's a crappy cellphone video I stole from Faceboook...
Last edited:
bishopthomas
Well-Known Member
If you had fun and learned something then it was worth it. Good job on getting through the show.
I'll see if I can find any pics or video, even if it's a crappy cellphone video I stole from Faceboook...
Best thing about Facebook...being friends with actors who post pictures of EVERYTHING!
Holy ass weasels, you busked for 7 hours?! I start getting board and repetitive after 3! The fact that you got through the show without leaving anyone in the dark (we'll assume) or wanting to stab yourself with a sharpie makes the show a rousing success in my book.
BLAM. That was you hitting the nail on the head. The one thing that I still struggle with today, more than anything gear related, is having the courage and the confidence to really throw my balls out there and go for it. Flash 'n trashing a show can be terrifying; it's like taking that embarrassing car dance you do to your favorite song, putting it in light form, and putting it on display live for thousands of people. It's very easy to mess up, especially when you don't know the music, and the moves that are really effective and have the biggest impact (those KA-BOOM moments!) are usually the ones involving the most risk and make you look like the biggest jackass if you screw them up. But at some point you just gotta...go for it. It gets easier with practice, but there will always be an element of risk whenever you're busking live for a band you don't know. It's just kinda the nature of the gig.
Congratulations on a successful show and a great learning experience!
Eriksrocks
Member
Yeah, but I'm sure what I was doing was much, much more simple than what you can accomplish.
Pretty much this. I basically came out with a conclusion of, "the only way to do this better is to practice and do it often."
Anyway here's a photo from the show, hopefully I'll have video soon (once I can get some from the TV studio).
Funny story about this photo, my friend is the one playing the violin at center and he asked me to turn all the fog and haze to max for his song...
Looked awesome until I heard that it was leaking out the doors and into the backstage hallway. Apparently the hallway was filled with fog/haze. Would have set off the fire alarms had the entire building not been in test mode...
Last edited:
Eriksrocks
Member
Just curious, how large is your stage? According to the building plans we have a 81' wide x 35' deep x 50' high stage area with a 46' x 24' proscenium opening.
And yeah, it is large. Sometimes way too large.
bishopthomas
Well-Known Member
Nice overhead stand. Also, I like the crotch mic DSC. Oh, wait, this is the lighting forum... Good job!
The proscenium is 40' wide, and the stage is a total of 36' deep including the apron, which is 7' from the proscenium. What we lack is height. Our teaser is about 15' high. Even then, we only get enough room to have our legs about 7' tall. Sadly...
They would have installed a full fly, but that was an extra ~$500,000.
Eriksrocks
Member
Ah - I'm very thankful we have a full fly system. Lighting like this wouldn't work too well otherwise. Flying both electrics up to nearly the top of the proscenium and then loading them with ellipsoidals really gave it that 'concert' look.
toastcfh
Member
a decade later and I found this thread incredibly usefulAh - I'm very thankful we have a full fly system. Lighting like this wouldn't work too well otherwise. Flying both electrics up to nearly the top of the proscenium and then loading them with ellipsoidals really gave it that 'concert' look.
Make sure you drop on over to the new member board and introduce yourself.a decade later and I found this thread incredibly useful
And welcome!
Jay Ashworth
Well-Known Member
And you win the Internet for Monday, with Erik for the assist.
Similar threads
Control/Dimming
Strand 200 / CD80 - adding DMX LED lights
