Design Warm LED DMX Lighting for Spin Studio

Hi,

Have lurked here for a while, but never posted. Really great forum with some excellent contributors. Couldn't find anything by searching on this specific topic.

I'm the owner of a fitness studio in California. Our current spin studio lighting consists of six chauvet colorstrip LED lights on a DMX controller. We have 8 scenes programmed and the instructor will switch lighting scenes throughout the spin class to reflect the mood of the music and intensity of the workout. This has worked really well for higher energy portions of the class, but we've struggled with creating scenes for the more relaxing "zone out" portions of the class.

We're considering adding some additional fixtures to create a really warm, dimmer scene (thinking sunset, or candle lit room). Haven't been able to pull anything off with the current lights. We're thinking about doing uplighting behind a couple of stages to wash the walls with warm light.

I've attached a picture showing the layout with proposed new up lighting.



Would really appreciate any feedback you can give me, and any suggestions you may have on what lights we can use to create the dimmer warmer scene. We'd like to use DMX controllable so that we can integrate into our existing control system. Budget is flexible.

Thanks so much in advance!

Rob

Hi Rob, this is Rob. Welcome to CB, and I'm glad you're finally posting. I have a couple of paths that you could take.

The first path is exactly what you asked for, purchasing new fixtures. Due to the natural color temperature of LEDs, most LED fixtures are going to have a cooler tone to them instead of the warm that you are looking for. That's not to say that they aren't out there. I've recently been testing some of the LED fixtures produced by ETC, and they have managed to get some of theirs quite warm. However, I will tell you that the price difference between what you currently have and the fixtures I am referring to is pretty significant. Since you did say that budget is flexible, it might be an option that you might want to look into. There definitely are LED fixtures out there with warmer color temperatures if you have the budget for them. If I were you and this was the path that I decided to take, I would call your local dealers and see if you can get a demo of their fixtures so that you can get a feel for which ones are going to have the look that you are going for before you purchase them.

The second path that I would offer is to play around with color mixing on your existing fixtures. From the photo that you provided, it appeared that it was using the basic cyan that it comes with. It is possible with an RGB fixture like that to create most (but admittedly not all) colors. If I were in your shoes, I would play around with mixing color on them a bit to see if you can get the feel that you are looking for before purchasing new fixtures. There are resources out there that can help you by providing the RGB values for pretty much any color that you might want. I personally use an iOS app from Wybron called the Wybron Gel Swatch Library when I'm working with RGB fixtures. It provides you with the RGB values for any gel from any of the major gel companies. It really is a great resource. It can be found at this link: http://www.wybron.com/stage-lighting-accessories/iOS-apps/gel-swatch-library-iphone-app.html Like I said, it might be worth playing around with this before purchasing additional fixtures.

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask any additional questions if would like clarification on anything.

Rob

Just about any fixture that is RGBA (Red, Green, Blue, and Amber LEDs) or RGBAW (Includes Amber and White) will do a better job than your current RGB colorstrips. RGB is great for creating lots of color but not very good at creating warm soft colors and pastels. There are many manufacturers out there with RGBA and RGBAW options.

If you have the budget, the ETC Selador Lustr or Vivid fixtures will do everything you can dream of (They actually 7 colors of LEDs in their fixtures) but you pay a premium price for a premium fixture. They are 3 or 4 times the price of many other options. You might be able to accomplish what you are hoping for just by adding a couple of ETC Selador Vivid Fire Fixtures to your existing setup. Fire and Ice is a product line with two types of LED fixtures that split the warm colors (Red, orange Amber) away from the cool colors (Blue, green indigo). Fire is the Warm color fixture. A few fire fixtures scattered around your existing system would really add a lot of orange/amber/red punch to your existing setup.

Call your local theater dealers and ask for demos. Any decent dealer will be happy to show you what can do, hopefully bringing the product to you or loaning it to you so you can try it out in house. If you need help finding a dealer let us know where you are and I'm sure someone can make some suggestions.

Thanks Rob and gafftaper for your replies. Very helpful.

I downloaded the wybron app and will try out a few different colors. Much easier to be able to find a color we like and then get the RGB value instead of playing with the values to get the desired color.

I think the lack of A&W in the current strips is one of the main problems. In addition the chauvet colorstips block the colors (instead of intermixing them) which results in poor overall color mixing.

Regarding local dealers: I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area (Palo Alto). If anyone has a good recommendation for a dealer out here I'd love to hear it.

Thanks,

Rob

This is a list of dealers whom Controlbooth members have recommended. At the start you will see a list of many great national dealers, Production Advantage (Cb Advertiser), Barbizon (CB advertiser) Full Compass, BMI Supply, Mainstage, and others are large national dealers. The only dealer listed in the bay area on our list is Stagecraft Industries. Stagecraft is really more of a complete system installation place, not a kind of place you shop for a couple of light fixtures. Hopefully someone else will come along with a better local suggestion.

You could also start private conversations with CB members @BillESC and @Esoteric. Even though they are not in your area, both are good guys running a local dealership who would be happy to help you and can be trusted.

There's nothing wrong with those colorstrips, they just aren't really designed to do what you want them to do. They are more suitable for situations where you want to see those blocks of color for artistic reasons. If you want advice choosing a different Chauvet product that will fit your needs better, start a private conversation with CB member @Ford who works for Chauvet.

Another Rob here, so i feel compelled to jump in! I recently bought one HushPar InfiniWhite 100 from Blizzard for evaluation. I have not tried it in a show yet, but I'm intrigued. It is a very small 21W fanless fixture that has amber, warm white, and cool white LEDs. Many different color temperatures of white can be obtained, and the amber is quite warm. The 300 has much more power if needed.

I'm considering it for the small gigs where a little front light is needed to warm the face and i don't feel like lugging the S4JrZoom or S4Par and dimmer gear. Up to 15' might work, but will never blast through like an S4. But in situations where 20% of the S4 is sufficient, 21W of LED might just do it.

Maybe this type of fixture would give you the whites you are looking for. When I get a chance to do a side by side comparison, i'll post something here.

Rob

Thanks gafftaper and Rob.

I think I've narrowed it down to four options:

1. Hushpar Infiniwhite 100 - 7 x 3 watt - 3 in 1 ACW LEDs - aprox $250 - looks like the best option for a wide range of whites
2. Puck Fab5 - 15 x 5 watt - 5 in 1 RBGAW LEDs - aprox $250 - added advantage of being able to do colors as well as the whites. Have read about some reliability issues online.
3. Puck RGBAW - 198 x 0.5 watt individual color LEDs - aprox $150 - cheapest option that will probably work, but not sure if color mixing will be sufficient
4. ETC Luster - 40 x 2.5 watt - 7 in 1 LEDs - aprox $1k - perfect, but is it worth the money?

If I can find a good local rep, I'll try to do a demo. But if not, any final recommendations based on the above?

Thanks,

Rob