I am thinking of investing in some moving head lights and would like to know more about them - I have someone who specifically works on the lights and sound for my show, however he is away for the rest of the month and I am looking into them myself.

To answer your question, yes - I do have a show that requires lights (I just know someone's question will be "Do you even need lights")

I travel with a nice Par can rig but am looking for information about what is required to operate these lights.

What kind of lighting board is needed (can you provide a sample link) - I assume my standard DMX lighting board would not be good for these.

Also, I would ask that you explain these in 'english'...lol - something that I can understand.

Thanks all!

Look at this link, and the related links, for information on all sorts of lighting issues:

http://www.onstagelighting.co.uk/intelli......ng-head/

Also, Kevin of Living Illusions is a great Café resource.

Movers are a big investment...that is not stated to turn you off, just the facts. You will need the movers themselves starting at $1000 for a low end unit, to $2200-$3500 for a midrange unit, to $7000-12,000 for a high end(no pun intended) unit.

You will also need power cords, DMX cable, cases, a controller, hanging hardware and of course a PD(Power Distribution). You might get away without a PD for now if you are only running a couple of movers. Lighting and chain motors eat up power faster than anything else. If you need one you will need to decide single or three phase. You will also need feeder cable...and right now copper goes up in price sometimes twice a day. You will need a set of 400 amp cams to tie in your PD to the house power. You should also carry another set of cams that have tails(bare ends) on them, in case you need to tie in that way. You should be carrying 100' of feeder cable.

Brands of lights are Martin, High End, Elation, Vari Lite, Robe & Coemar. Those cover most the brands and levels, both feature wise & price wise.

Controller wise you would be looking at hard console or software based...and even with software based you still could use a playback wing or use it for sliders.

Controller units to look at are: Whole Hog-both console or Hog PC, Martin Maxxyz, Avo Pearl, Elation's or Sunlite's CompuWare Pro, Martin's Light Jockey. Plenty of options here...and can cost more than someone's entire show. They run from $1200-$30,000.

Elation's CompuWare will allow you to synch all music, video, lighting & special effects together. One step further using Wireless Wizrdry's Ultra Tech will then give you complete control over all this right from your hip if you desire.

Back to the movers themselves...you need to decide if you would like the light to have a color wheel or be CMY...which allows you unlimited colors and the ability to fade from one color to the next. You need to decide if you need profiles or washes or both. Profiles are like spots...washes are like floods. Some lights have a combination of both. Most wash fixtures will NOT have a gobo wheel. Other options are gobo wheels, most have two these days, iris control, focus, speed, etc.

The main option will be power and how bright you need it to be. Standard wattage these days on movers are: 250, 575, 700, 1000, 1200 & 1400. Optics today have come a long ways. A 250 watt today is just about as bright as a 575 five years ago. A 250 wash unit might cut it for you if you have good control of your pars and don't overly wash the area. A 250 spot would not and I would personally recommend that anyone be at 575 watt fixtures at a minimum. 700 watt and above is probably more than you need to spend at this time, not to mention a PD will absolutely be a requirement.

That's the cliff notes version of movers. Not to makes this a sales pitch, but we are dealers for movers, controllers, hardware, truss, rigging, etc. Let me know if we can help.

Steven Kline, also a member here on the Café will probably drop in and add his experiences and expertise.

Hope that helps,
Kevin

Thanks for the plug Kevin,
I am actually just stopping in to see new posts - I fly out @ 6 am for a mini run in Texas.
MB - shoot me an email - I do have a bit of experience with this:)
I am gearing up for a 16 week tour - the rig we will be flying consists of 72 K conventional fixtures and 8 mac 2K fixtures in addition to 12 colorblasts and 4 strobes.
I'd be more than happy to answer any questions.
Unfortuinately, I do not have a great deal of time for the Café, however emails can be done while flying and driving
steven@stevenkline.com.