I busk music alot on my
Ion - more jazz/blues than pop/rock, but I use the same techniques for both. I agree that
effect and
intensity master subs will be your friend, as well as presets. Do you have a
fader wing? For doing a big-ish show on the fly, I make full use of my 40
fader wing. The first 10 subs are houselights,
conventional area washes for wandering musicians (and they will!) and bow/general washes. The next 10 are pretty conventionals - gobos, tip and back colours. The next 10 are movers - at least one
intensity only and
effect and
intensity masters. The next 10 are specials as well as a few carefully chosen inhibitive subs - ie band
face and
stage. That's my general starting
point.
The movers I have are vl 1000s and 2500s. Lets say a pop-ish song starts, and I decide to put my
wash fixtures as back light on the band and the song sounds orange. I'll use a
preset for focus and diffusion, a colour pallette for orange, and a sub where I only have their
intensity to bring them on. All my colour palettes are
cmy for the smoothest live changes using
sneak. The song kicks off a
bit, so I'll hit the
bump button on an
effect sub that has a pan tilt
effect and run it up at a
point when it makes sense and looks good. A
bit later it sounds like I should hit and run up an
effect sub that has an
intensity or
strobe chase on it. Then they really rev up so I'll hit the
bump button that has my 1000s doing a
fly out look, which is a pan/tilt
effect, a rotating
gobo and a colour, (all effects absolute made from palettes) and run up its
intensity. Then towards the end of the song things calm down so I run down the 1000s sub and hit the
button to
release them, bring down the
wash intensity effect sub, and the
wash pan/tilt sub so they stop moving,
release them, then as the band leaves I'll use the inhibitive sub to take their
face light out, then bring up an area
wash as the MC comes out to introduce next and gently take the orange away.
ETC has some great pre-made effects in the 900s - square, triangle and circle are great ones to copy to a new
effect number and alter to suit you, and there are some colour and
intensity effects I've made good use of as well. I've tried using
cue stacks, but in my situation I don't know the music generally before I hear it on show, and I've found subs and presets are quicker to find things. And there are always some unexpected changes or improvisations, and I've found this way more adaptable to those "oh by the way" moments. ETCs user forums are also a great place for info and advice.
Have fun!
