Lighting for battle of the bands series at small church

I am a youth pastor at a small church where we use the sanctuary (35 ft. X 45 ft. with vaulted ceilings up about 16 ft.) to host a battle of the bands competition (We'd also like to use it for worship time too). We have never had good lighting, Just a couple of flood lights on the walls that point at the stage.

I have about $1200 to spend on lighting (I know its a very small amount but its all I have). I went to guitar center and the guy suggested 2 Venue PAR64 LEDS, a chauvet colorpalette, a moonflower (ADJ Jellyfish), a laser, fog machine, and an Obey4 dmx.

Does this sound good? How would you spend the money to get the most out of the little amount of money we have?

Thanks!
 
I am a youth pastor at a small church where we use the sanctuary (35 ft. X 45 ft. with vaulted ceilings up about 16 ft.) to host a battle of the bands competition (We'd also like to use it for worship time too). We have never had good lighting, Just a couple of flood lights on the walls that point at the stage.

I have about $1200 to spend on lighting (I know its a very small amount but its all I have). I went to guitar center and the guy suggested 2 Venue PAR64 LEDS, a chauvet colorpalette, a moonflower (ADJ Jellyfish), a laser, fog machine, and an Obey4 dmx.

Does this sound good? How would you spend the money to get the most out of the little amount of money we have?

Thanks!

Have you looked at renting? You could probably get 12-16 led pars with a controller for under $100. I would pass on the fog machine, laser, moonflower, and color palette. It sounds to me like the guy thinks your really a DJ, or he's trying to get rid of inventory in his shop.
 
I would stay away from Banjo Center, for the exact thing that you experienced. Techieman, I assume you left off a zero from your rental price, right? Ken, do you have the infrastructure in place to support this new lighting or are we dealing with bare walls/ceiling, no cables run, etc?
 
Have you looked at renting? You could probably get 12-16 led pars with a controller for under $100. I would pass on the fog machine, laser, moonflower, and color palette. It sounds to me like the guy thinks your really a DJ, or he's trying to get rid of inventory in his shop.

Thanks for the thoughts. I would like to have something permanent because we want to to use it for weekly worship too. He knew that I was doing it for bands. Should I focus more on the PAR lighting?
 
I would stay away from Banjo Center, for the exact thing that you experienced. Techieman, I assume you left off a zero from your rental price, right? Ken, do you have the infrastructure in place to support this new lighting or are we dealing with bare walls/ceiling, no cables run, etc?

Yeah, we are pretty bare. we have wood beams that run across the ceiling where I was figuring I can attach a metal bar for the PAR lights. That's how we installed our projector and then ran the cables along where the ceiling meets the beam and into the attack space back to the control booth.
 
No "0" left off, my local rental company does 8 low end ADJ led pars, on 2 stands, a controller, and all the cable needed for $40 a day.
 
I think RGBA LEDs are the way to go for your space, along with a little controller to run them.
 
No "0" left off, my local rental company does 8 low end ADJ led pars, on 2 stands, a controller, and all the cable needed for $40 a day.

Yep. A local shop here does the same thing, but for $80 and three days. (So events on Friday/Saturday/Sunday can only rent for effectively one day at one price)

Ah midwest prices, I remember finding a guy who would rent me 120K for $300/d...

The same place has a Jands Hog 1K for $100/3days and StudioSpot 250's for $150/3days.

Sadly, beyond that there isn't much else as far as larger consoles or fixtures.
 
I went to guitar center and the guy suggested 2 Venue PAR64 LEDS, a chauvet colorpalette, a moonflower (ADJ Jellyfish), a laser, fog machine, and an Obey4 dmx.

Lasers for a sanctuary?! Any salesman who suggests that has no idea what you need. As others have said, go with LEDs for your color. Make sure you don't rely on the colored LEDs for your white light, though, especially if you ever use that room for anything other than youth group.

Don't buy motorized lights of any kind until you get a much bigger budget -- either for quality gear or repairs on the cheap stuff. If you want to get any of the fun rock show stuff, fog/haze is the way to go, but don't make it a priority. It may be worth spending a bit on a backdrop or a few set pieces instead of DJ gadgets if you want your stage to look super cool. Check out http://churchstagedesignides.com for some pretty neat low-budget concepts.
 

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