notsteve
New Member
Please forgive if this is too basic a question. We're a touring band, and people have suggested software to automate our lights. I don't see how this is realistic except for large venues. (We play medium-sized shows of 1,000 - 4,000 sized, and sometimes festivals at 8K+.) Currently, we usually travel with a dedicated lighting designer, and wouldn't trade him for the world. I can see programming specific cues, and adapting them for each show - but not automating the whole show. As with sound, even with the best tech, every show is different, and skilled designers continually adapt their design to performance, band and audience, tweaking everything in real-time.
Logistically, there seem to be problems with full automation, too…
Coffee Shops (0-30)
No lights.
Pubs (30-100 people)
There’s often only a handful of lights, and wide disparity in terms of what you get. Support for external lighting controllers isn’t consistent.
Mini Venues (100-500)
Pretty much limited to what they have, and they may not be set up for external lighting controllers. You don’t have the budget to request the lights in your rider, and you’re probably not bringing your own backline.
Small Venues (500-1000)
Similar situation to mini venues.
Medium Venues (1,000 - 4,000)
You could ask for the lights you need on the rider - that’s expensive. Then, of course, you need a skilled lighting designer to design, configure, hang and focus those lights before the show - and I think you really need to bring your own person to do that. At that point, you’ve hired a lighting designer to take on the road with you, so you would ostensibly want a dedicated lighting control system software package and interface hardware. You’d still probably want a skilled lighting designer to run the show, even if some of the cues are automated - there’s still too much variation for complete automation - the lighting design (if automation is used) needs to be tweaked for every venue, and you’ll still want to run stuff like follow-spots manually.
Larger Venues (4,000 - 8,000)
Your rider specifics the lights you need, and they are there when you arrive at the venue. One person can set them up, but your own lighting will need the help of the house tech(s) to get everything set up in time (hopefully for soundcheck). If you’re running any automation, it still needs to be adapted every night.
Large Venues (8,000 +)
You bring your own backline, and a large crew assembles them. At this point, sure, you can automate a lot. (Though when we've played shows like this, it's festivals, and the last thing we want to do is start messing with hanging lights - these are one-off shows. Our designer will run with whatever is set up.)
Logistically, there seem to be problems with full automation, too…
Coffee Shops (0-30)
No lights.
Pubs (30-100 people)
There’s often only a handful of lights, and wide disparity in terms of what you get. Support for external lighting controllers isn’t consistent.
Mini Venues (100-500)
Pretty much limited to what they have, and they may not be set up for external lighting controllers. You don’t have the budget to request the lights in your rider, and you’re probably not bringing your own backline.
Small Venues (500-1000)
Similar situation to mini venues.
Medium Venues (1,000 - 4,000)
You could ask for the lights you need on the rider - that’s expensive. Then, of course, you need a skilled lighting designer to design, configure, hang and focus those lights before the show - and I think you really need to bring your own person to do that. At that point, you’ve hired a lighting designer to take on the road with you, so you would ostensibly want a dedicated lighting control system software package and interface hardware. You’d still probably want a skilled lighting designer to run the show, even if some of the cues are automated - there’s still too much variation for complete automation - the lighting design (if automation is used) needs to be tweaked for every venue, and you’ll still want to run stuff like follow-spots manually.
Larger Venues (4,000 - 8,000)
Your rider specifics the lights you need, and they are there when you arrive at the venue. One person can set them up, but your own lighting will need the help of the house tech(s) to get everything set up in time (hopefully for soundcheck). If you’re running any automation, it still needs to be adapted every night.
Large Venues (8,000 +)
You bring your own backline, and a large crew assembles them. At this point, sure, you can automate a lot. (Though when we've played shows like this, it's festivals, and the last thing we want to do is start messing with hanging lights - these are one-off shows. Our designer will run with whatever is set up.)