Backstage lights ideas

I wonder if you wouldn't want to control the worklight LED strip separately from the light board for the sake of redundancy. Something like this would let you control the strip's color and intensity, but could be turned on and off by a stage manager without the board needing to be on, and would stay on even if the board operator accidentally unparks the channel or goes to blackout, or you lose DMX signal from the board.

You obviously lose the ability to control the works from the booth, but I think that tradeoff would be worth it for me.
 
Your concerns about the temperature of the blue color have been in my brain. I currently have some LED bulbs in "pie pan" work lights back stage and they are just perfect. I need to find a spectrograph and find out what the actual wavelength range is and try to duplicate it. It is just slightly on the violet side of blue. Enough to make teeth, eyes, and highlighter glow, but not enough to be "blacklight."

My other thought is that I should just do RGBW strips. It's rare that I need reds backstage, but I do like to keep it within the basic palette of the show. If the audience is seeing really warm colors and their rods and cones get spent seeing orange on stage, they're less likely to see red bleed from backstage. I almost always just stay blue backstage and it's rarely a problem, but RGBW might be nice to have the option instead of cornering myself with blue. One strip, any color, DMX encoder, done. Yes?

That's a "very Disney" thing you're suggesting - changing back stage colors to better blend with stage illumination. DON'T TELL THE MOUSE! :naughty:
 
I wonder if you wouldn't want to control the worklight LED strip separately from the light board for the sake of redundancy. Something like this would let you control the strip's color and intensity, but could be turned on and off by a stage manager without the board needing to be on, and would stay on even if the board operator accidentally unparks the channel or goes to blackout, or you lose DMX signal from the board.

You obviously lose the ability to control the works from the booth, but I think that tradeoff would be worth it for me.
Hi Benjamin - The RGB controller you linked to looks great. As I am another complete newbie with this stuff, can you tell me what else I would need to order from that store in order to have everything I need to set this up backstage? (As in, what kind of LED tape, power supply, etc.) Thank you.
 
Basically you need a power supply, a controller, and LED tape. A kit like this will have everything you need, but is controlled using a cheapo remote and receiver. The remote looks like it has a number of color presets and an intensity control, as well as direct controls for the individual RGB channels, so it's probably got all the functionality you would need.

I don't know that the controller I linked earlier is any better, but I'm a simple man and like physical controls. If you wanted to use the rotary controller, I think you should be able to take off the 12v plug from this power supply and hook the bare wires up to the V+/V- inputs on the controller. Hopefully someone with more experience and knowledge than I have can come through and confirm.

Otherwise, you could source a power supply, controller, and tape separately. There's a wide selection of options for each depending on your needs, but if you just need a single 16' section of tape, a plug-and-play kit like this one will probably be simplest. If you want to get more in depth, here is an article that goes into more detail about how to select the different components you need.
 
I wonder if you wouldn't want to control the worklight LED strip separately from the light board for the sake of redundancy. Something like this would let you control the strip's color and intensity, but could be turned on and off by a stage manager without the board needing to be on, and would stay on even if the board operator accidentally unparks the channel or goes to blackout, or you lose DMX signal from the board.

You obviously lose the ability to control the works from the booth, but I think that tradeoff would be worth it for me.

I would imagine I could cobble something that does both. I could wire up a DMX trigger (not sure if that's the right word) near the strip. I imagine I could also tap into the wire after the DMX on the ground and wht circuits, so someone backstage could always flip a switch and power up the white regardless of what the DMX box is sending.
 
Something like this, although depending on how the DMX encoder works internally, I might need a diode to prevent back feeding and might need a secondary ground if the box cuts ground as well.

1645065501250.png
 
This has me picturing the lighting equivalent of a monitor engineer: mixing your run lights' color & intensity to track the stage scene-by-scene. Part of me likes the idea...

But yeah, RGB or RGBW tape, a matching DMX decoder, and power supply (usually separate) are all you need.
Not sure if I'd go that far, but it's possible. I can just imagine an actor backstage running to make an entrance and suddenly the lights go from blue to red. I might kill actors that way, and that means paperwork. TDs hate paperwork.
 
The way cheapo LED dimmers like This one usually work is they switch the -ve with a MOSFET and the +ve rail is commoned (you can see on the tape - RGBW has V+ R- B- G- W-). To add an override on white , you just bypass the MOSFET by connecting the white output to the -ve input, not positive. But always trace the circuit first to be sure. I did something similar where I had an Arduino which monitored incoming DMX and bypassed the dimmer MOSFET on loss of DMX, because the dimmer's behaviour was to go to off on loss of DMX, the opposite of what I wanted.
 
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We moved away from using LED tape backstage (though there are still remnants in some stairwells and the booth) and instead use cheap remote control puck lights: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MFH7X2P/?tag=controlbooth-20

They dim and color change. No DMX but we have our ASM in control of them with the remote. We recharge the batteries after every weekend of shows. And since I installed 3M's velcro strip on the back they can be mounted just about anywhere regardless of the set, or even because of the set.
 
I would imagine I could cobble something that does both. I could wire up a DMX trigger (not sure if that's the right word) near the strip. I imagine I could also tap into the wire after the DMX on the ground and wht circuits, so someone backstage could always flip a switch and power up the white regardless of what the DMX box is sending.
Feel free to disregard this reply if you want to jump down the rabbit hole on this one. (Especially since the ability to dive deep on projects like this is a far better perk of the job than the paycheck) If you do chase this down, make sure you let us know what you figure out and how it works for you.

As the system gets more complicated and you're building in bypass systems around the DMX controller rather than just having a dumber system fully controlled manually, I wonder how much value the DMX control is adding. Do you foresee changing the color/intensity of the lights during the show and/or are your other worklights and backstage lights already controlled by DMX? Or would you just be setting the crossover lights to a single color and intensity per performance and having your run crew turn the other running lights and worklights on? You'll obviously need to make that decision based on your particular use case and cost/benefit analysis, and how much time and effort you want to put in.

If you do move forward on this project, something like this set of four rocker switches might be a neat way to go for the bypass. You can wire them up to control each channel of the LED, so you could easily throw on any combination of the channels for rehearsals, worklight, or small one-offs. Since the LEDs run off of 12v, there's all kinds of options out there for truckers and RVers that you can find.
 
Feel free to disregard this reply if you want to jump down the rabbit hole on this one. (Especially since the ability to dive deep on projects like this is a far better perk of the job than the paycheck)
You get me. You really get me :) Sometime ask me about my $25 DMX-operated pneumatic vomit machine.

For now, it won't be DMX. I'll probably get an RGBW strip and whatever remote/box/power supply that comes with it. I have many reasons I want to automate it. 1) it's a nice perk. At the large proscenium where we're in residency is all DMX including works, index, blues, etc. Once the desk is powered up and in the preshow cue, works go out and blues come on. Having that automation is something I can replicate at our black box for $25 so it is yet another way to emulate a "pro" house. 2) being a community theater with everyone backstage and on stage as volunteers, it's surprising how many times the crew forgets to turn off things, or a newbie in training doesn't like blue and doesn't understand the concept that light bleed is bad. 3) having the white override (just like at the proscenium) gives crew the ability to have light if they encounter an emergency. If an actor gets a leg cut off, the last thing I'm worried about is light bleed.

At this point we don't even have coms. Once the SM is in the booth, they have no way of communicating. I did rig up a two way signal light that goes backstage/booth, but being such an intimate setting with an exposed tech booth means coms are kinda pointless once the audience is quiet. Giving the booth more automation is a win.
 
You get me. You really get me :) Sometime ask me about my $25 DMX-operated pneumatic vomit machine.

For now, it won't be DMX. I'll probably get an RGBW strip and whatever remote/box/power supply that comes with it. I have many reasons I want to automate it. 1) it's a nice perk. At the large proscenium where we're in residency is all DMX including works, index, blues, etc. Once the desk is powered up and in the preshow cue, works go out and blues come on. Having that automation is something I can replicate at our black box for $25 so it is yet another way to emulate a "pro" house. 2) being a community theater with everyone backstage and on stage as volunteers, it's surprising how many times the crew forgets to turn off things, or a newbie in training doesn't like blue and doesn't understand the concept that light bleed is bad. 3) having the white override (just like at the proscenium) gives crew the ability to have light if they encounter an emergency. If an actor gets a leg cut off, the last thing I'm worried about is light bleed.

At this point we don't even have coms. Once the SM is in the booth, they have no way of communicating. I did rig up a two way signal light that goes backstage/booth, but being such an intimate setting with an exposed tech booth means coms are kinda pointless once the audience is quiet. Giving the booth more automation is a win.
@curtis73 How many DMX addresses does your pneumatic vomit machine utilize?
I gather you're suggesting leg bleed wins over light bleed.
One of many amateur peeves: The over eager FOH Manager who opens the lobby doors the split second act one goes to black allowing lobby light to flood in and reveal the dead body sprinting off stage in the planned momentary black out before the house was brought up.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
Do you foresee changing the color/intensity of the lights during the show and/or are your other worklights and backstage lights already controlled by DMX? Or would you just be setting the crossover lights to a single color and intensity per performance and having your run crew turn the other running lights and worklights on? You'll obviously need to make that decision based on your particular use case and cost/benefit analysis, and how much time and effort you want to put in.

If you do move forward on this project, something like this set of four rocker switches might be a neat way to go for the bypass. You can wire them up to control each channel of the LED, so you could easily throw on any combination of the channels for rehearsals, worklight, or small one-offs. Since the LEDs run off of 12v, there's all kinds of options out there for truckers and RVers that you can find.

Nothing backstage is DMX currently. No need to change intensity or color backstage during the performance, just before/after. It's a long story, but I've only had a light console of any kind for 3 years. The longer story is that 20 years ago our proscenium was turned into a production/rehearsal center and we did shows at another house. That was a poor choice so 10 years ago we decided to paint the inside of the production center black, hang a bunch of Sch40 pipe from the ceiling, and do shows there with halogen work lights hardwired to a bunch of residential dimmers mounted on a table. When I took over 7 years ago, there was basically no infrastructure. I had 10 westinghouse slide dimmers in a table, a crusty audio desk that probably had vacuum tubes in it (not really, but we joked that everyone who was amped through that desk suddenly had a trans-atlantic accent), and a black-painted room full of pallet racks of props and furniture. It's been a long road.

So my work lights backstage are two floor torchieres and my backstage blues are the cheap aluminum scoops with blue bulbs

1645295370331.png
 
@curtis73 How many DMX addresses does your pneumatic vomit machine utilize?
I gather you're suggesting leg bleed wins over light bleed.
One of many amateur peeves: The over eager FOH Manager who opens the lobby doors the split second act one goes to black allowing lobby light to flood in and reveal the dead body sprinting off stage in the planned momentary black out before the house was brought up.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
Just one actually. Edison dimmer set to non-dim that sent power to a solenoid valve... which sent low pressure air to a tank filled with water and liquid coffee creamer (to give some opacity)... to a vinyl hose up through a couch... which was connected discreetly via a push-fit o-ring fitting to a hose sewn into the actors costume.

And yes, leg bleed always wins. Mopping up blood is so time consuming. The quicker they can stop the bleeding, the less I have to clean up :D

I had one SM at the black box who always turned on the overheads before the audience was out because she couldn't be bothered to wait 2 minutes. I finally turned off the breaker. When she found the breaker I had to put a lock on the breaker panel door. She hasn't worked again in this town. Any time that I explain to someone that we're trying to offer the million dollar show so we can get the million dollar payday and they respond with something like "it's just community theater," I'm quick to show them the "community theater door."
 
Its slightly too long to be legal, but here it is in action in the second video. Notice how the man in the brown jacket is trying to make her comfortable by arranging the pillows on the couch. He's actually connecting the hose to her costume. The first video is the inaugural test
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Its slightly too long to be legal, but here it is in action in the second video. Notice how the man in the brown jacket is trying to make her comfortable by arranging the pillows on the couch. He's actually connecting the hose to her costume. The first video is the inaugural test
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You know you've succeeded doing this show when someone in the audience throws up.
 
For LED rope light, I’ve had good luck with CBConcepts. I worked on an outdoor holiday event/disaster, and the rope lights worked almost flawlessly. They took a lot of abuse, being outdoors and bent over a frame. There are splicing parts available, if a section dies. They’re darn bright, though I don’t know if they dim or if they’re available in RGB.

Just putting this out there, the best/cheapest/easiest work light safety I’ve seen was just outdoor weather tight covers over the switches. Duh, it never occurred to me until I saw it in the wild. There are switch and outlet ones that can take a tiny padlock, if folks keep touching things they oughtn't.
 

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