Coffee House lighing

[Kevin Essiambre]

Hi there, I'm new to this site so forgive me if I post in the wrong section by accident. I had a teacher ask me today what we should do for a coffee house. She wants a small stage with lighting and sound. I recommended that we rent some Chauvet Colorados, and put 4 on each Tee top with 2 light trees. My question is, are 8 Colorados too many? The teacher never told me how big she plans the stage to be and it's going to be in a cafeteria if that helps any. Your help would be appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[Ben Dickmann]

It depends...
Size of the stage and throw distance are the key factors. Most "coffee house" applications it would probably be overkill for, and potentially too narrow a beam angle depending on which model COLORado you can rent. I'm happy to help once we know exactly what we need to light.

Ben Dickmann
Product Manager - Chauvet Professional

 

[Kevin Essiambre]

So after a discussion with the Teacher in charge, she said that we have no budget for the coffee house, which of course means no money to spend on rental Equipment. Nevertheless, I will tell you how much it was going to be with a discount for all the equipment for the show for lighting.

The stage I was planning to have probably a 10' deep X 15' wide. Might be overkill but meh, Bigger is always better!

It is unfortunate that we could not rent the equipment. It still will be helpful to know if it would be overkill. And I'll still appreciate your input.

1-Chauvet Obey 40 DMX controller
1-Chauvet Obey 40 Power supply
2-MOBIL-TECH 13ft LIFT SP2TA
2-Mobil-Tech TB3 T-bar (2"OD)
8-CHAUVET COLORadol Tour LED
8-Quick Trigger Clamp Slimline
8-Safety Chain
8-Powercon - Uground Ac Cable
8-Powercon - Pem.Uground Adapter
1-8 Way Short Case

Subtotal $225.00
Tax(13%) $29.26
Total $254.26

 

[MarshallPope]

In my opinion, "coffee house" events are where you can have fun breaking the traditional stage lighting norms. When I do these type of things, I like to go for warmth and intimacy. For example, an idea that I have used a few times has been to stack wooden cubes in an organic horseshoe around the back perimeter of the stage to varying heights and put lots of table lamps randomly interspersed on these. I then just used a couple of pars as front/sides for face light. I've also seen designs that used wooden ladders and stacked pallets in a similar configuration, draped in clear C9 Christmas lights.

Basically, I personally like to use these events to kind of get outside of the box and play with something that may not work scale-wise in a full-size auditorium. Have fun with it.

 

[Ford]

So after a discussion with the Teacher in charge, she said that we have no budget for the coffee house, which of course means no money to spend on rental Equipment. Nevertheless, I will tell you how much it was going to be with a discount for all the equipment for the show for lighting.

The stage I was planning to have probably a 10' deep X 15' wide. Might be overkill but meh, Bigger is always better!
...

Hi Kevin,
I tend to agree with Marshall, and would have gone with a smaller "more intimate" system.
Something along the lines of 2 or 4 total units from diagonal front (either 1 a side, or 2 per side, one a near shot, the other a far shot, depending on how large your performance area is), and 1 or 2 for Back/ Top light.
And rather than a 13' lift, you could get away with a couple of tripod stands with T-bars in front, and 1 for the Back/Top.

The use of Top/Back light allows you to put the performers in silhouette, which really helps them pop out from the background. I would also have gone with either the Colorado 1 Tri tour, or the COLORDash Par Hex 12 or Quad 18. These units have a nice wide beam angle, so can be a little closer to your stage (nice for setting on a tree in a cafeteria), and a very wide color pallet. Also, the available dimming curves make sure that you can do nice slow transitions (which can be very nice in an intimate performance venue). Also, all of the units have power linking. So you would only need 1 Edison outlet for each stand, and the entire rig can run off of 1 or 2 15amp circuits.

This makes it fast to setup, even for a relatively inexperienced crew (of 1 or 2 people), and less complicated to program. Even so, there are plenty of color options, and a lot of opportunity for your lighting designer to experiment.

 

[len]

and put 4 on each Tee top with 2 light trees. ... The teacher never told me how big she plans the stage to be and it's going to be in a cafeteria if that helps any. Your help would be appreciated.

Cheers.

A. if the stage is permanent suggest you find a way to make the lighting permanent also.

2. Since you don't know the stage dimensions, no one can make lighting/sound recommendations with any certainty. A coffeehouse stage likely isn't that big, so I'd say you're on the right track.

d. I would agree that LED products are the way to go. Except that you will need a controller for them if you want to be able to change colors. A controller with 8 - 12 channels can be had for under $200.

 

[lwinters630]

Are we talking a 60's style coffee house. And you said it is in a school cafeteria. Schools have overhead projectors. Get a bunch from the AV storage closet. Put a clear pyrex tray on it, filled with colored oil and water. Hang white sheets and swirl the water to the mood. Lay gel paper on others pointed at ceiling for ambiance. Add haze because smoking ain't allowed in school. Hang a few pars, then some led candles on the tables. Some poetry and blues to complete the might. All for 100 bucks. Love retro.

 

[Tex]

Schools have overhead projectors.

Great idea, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find an overhead in most schools these days. Everybody's gone to projectors. I saved one several years ago when they were all being gathered for storage or auction. You never know...

 

[wolfman005]

At my school they filled on of the sections underneath the stage with old overhead projectors and CRT monitors.

 

[Kevin Essiambre]

Hey guys, thanks for all your great ideas! Some of these I would not have thought of! We have no money to spend but there's no shortage of overhead projectors in my school. And we have basically no money to spend on equipment so renting anything is out of the question. I was thinking of getting them to buy us some LED lights for the auditorium and we could use them elsewhere as well. I appreciate all your input on the subject!

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