New to everything, driven to learn

[iammagicmike]

My friends are starting to DJ electronic music shows and because I'm mute if a visual person I volunteered to fill the role for lighting and visuals.

I'm not sure what titles that would cover but we are small now and hoping to grow our organization/label. I've been called production manager because I can get stuff done.

I've found that having a long term vision is the key to success. I'm pushing everyone to answer this question "if we were successful for several years, how would you like to grow as an artist?"

I've answered this question myself and the more I think about it the more interested I am in being involved with the visuals. This would included programming lights lasers and projectors.

It's a lot to handle at once but we're all starting small. We have a decent audience right now. Our first produced slow will be October 2014 at a Venue in Detroit with 200 person capacity.

We expect to sell out. So this is a good goal to work towards. I'm planning on purchasing some basic lights to practice with and learn by experience.

So I'm here for guidance, I have very little experience but I hope that's going to change soon. I'm interested in lighting production and design and projection mapping.

I'm 29 years old, have a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, and work full time. I've been inspired by shores like pretty lights, bassnectar, deadmau5, excision.

 

[soundlight]

Welcome to the Booth! Don't be afraid to ask plenty of questions, and definitely search for topics you're interested in. There are a lot of very in depth threads here on all sorts of things. If you're looking to get inexpensive but useful lights, I've done lots of research in to what's good and what isn't at the low end.

 

[iammagicmike]

Welcome to the Booth! Don't be afraid to ask plenty of questions, and definitely search for topics you're interested in. There are a lot of very in depth threads here on all sorts of things. If you're looking to get inexpensive but useful lights, I've done lots of research in to what's good and what isn't at the low end.

Thanks I'd love to hear what you recommend! I'm looking for some starter lights that I can practice with in my basement. I'd like to get comfortable using lights that I can also use at these EDM shows that we're producing.

Plenty of people have recommended that I rent for a while to get used to the different lights. I plan to do this but I wish to have some basic lights to learn the controller and to get the basics down.

Any suggestions for lights or controllers would be much welcomed.

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[soundlight]

There's a chance that someone will snip this and move it to lighting (or you could start a new thread in lighting yourself), but I'll go ahead and reply here.

For control, definitely start out with a PC solution. A touchscreen all-in-one PC (get a refurb one from a manufacturer's online outlet, like Lenovo or Dell or HP) can be a great console, and you can learn software that way and upgrade to a wing, small console, or large console later. You can also program your show on the computer and then rent a console for the show if you need the faders/buttons, and you can load the same showfile from the computer program in to the console.

I would recommend Martin's M-PC software very strongly. It's very easy to learn, it has a very graphical layout compared to many other software programs, and you can use it with the Enttec USB-DMX Pro and get one universe out without purchasing any license.

For fixtures, I'm a fan of Chauvet DJ's Intimidator LED line (specifically the 300s and 350s) for lower-end movers. They're very bright and full-featured for the price. The Intimidator Spot LED 350 can hold its own in some pretty sizeable rooms, so it's definitely bright enough for your application. How much would you be looking to spend on lights?

 

[iammagicmike]

I hoped to spend around $2,000 to start.

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[iammagicmike]

I'm looking at the enttec usb dmx pro. Is there a benefit to the 5 pin cable vs the 3 pin xlr? I'm only asking because I already have a TON of the 3 pin xlr cables.

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[iammagicmike]

There's a chance that someone will snip this and move it to lighting (or you could start a new thread in lighting yourself), but I'll go ahead and reply here.

For control, definitely start out with a PC solution. A touchscreen all-in-one PC (get a refurb one from a manufacturer's online outlet, like Lenovo or Dell or HP) can be a great console, and you can learn software that way and upgrade to a wing, small console, or large console later. You can also program your show on the computer and then rent a console for the show if you need the faders/buttons, and you can load the same showfile from the computer program in to the console.

I would recommend Martin's M-PC software very strongly. It's very easy to learn, it has a very graphical layout compared to many other software programs, and you can use it with the Enttec USB-DMX Pro and get one universe out without purchasing any license.

For fixtures, I'm a fan of Chauvet DJ's Intimidator LED line (specifically the 300s and 350s) for lower-end movers. They're very bright and full-featured for the price. The Intimidator Spot LED 350 can hold its own in some pretty sizeable rooms, so it's definitely bright enough for your application. How much would you be looking to spend on lights?

Starting with the pc. Do you think this GATEWAY be a good choice? I'm very talented with computers, so that should certainly help me.

Would it be safe to assume that I don't need a super powerful pc for this application? I know gateways suck but for simple operations they can get the job done. Let me know if you think I should get a beefier machine.



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[soundlight]

RE: 5 pin vs. 3 pin DMX:
It doesn't matter which connector it has but it must be DMX data cable. You should be using shielded 120 ohm impedance DMX data cable, and whether you have 3pin or 5pin connectors on the end is up to you. They sell DMX cable with both types. (This being said, I can't tell you how many times I've had to use audio XLR for DMX runs. I've also had problems with audio XLR being used for DMX on more than one occasion. Lower end fixtures are pickier about cable, too.)

RE: Gateway PC:
That looks like it should work. I'd swap the HDD out for an SSD if possible, even a 128GB would be more than fine for this application. That would provide better reliability, especially with going to/from shows and working in loud environments. That can be an issue for spinning platters, especially at an angle like with a touchscreen all-in-one. You're going to want to uninstall everything unnecessary from the computer. Make it just a lighting machine. Don't have it connected to the internet, especially not during shows. This should be considered a lighting console, not a PC.

 

[TuckerD]

@soundlight and I are going to disagree on this one, however, he is not wrong. I believe that Five pin is always better, even if the cable is just cat 5 (although, I prefer cat 6). I am a big stick in the mud about the standards surrounding control protocols (mostly because I am a computer programmer).

One of the big differences between the three pin connectors and the five pin connectors is that equipment with three pin is often hooked up with mic cable. Mic cables have way larger tolerances for impedance and capacitance, both of which can affect your DMX network. In small networks it usually doesn't matter, but I have solved a lot of problems by switching to cables approved by the standards. Technically DMX can run over barbed wire (and there are people who have done so just to prove it)

It is a topic that it hotly debated and one that I could get much much more into. My signature actually comes from this debate.

If you ever wanted to build cables I think you can do it for a lot cheaper than buying them. If you have trouble finding supplies, let me know.

 

[iammagicmike]

Thanks guys, I didn't realize that Mic cables and dmx are different. I'll make sure to get some quality cables.

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[TuckerD]

I still think it might be cheaper to make your own cables if you are going to end up needing a lot. Plus then you know that the cable meets the requirements specified by PLASA. (PLASA is a big organization, one of the things they do is write standards)

 

[iammagicmike]

I still think it might be cheaper to make your own cables if you are going to end up needing a lot. Plus then you know that the cable meets the requirements specified by PLASA. (PLASA is a big organization, one of the things they do is write standards)

Fair enough. I'll look for a quick guide. Thanks for the tip.

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