I've poked around the Internet and gone to a few local music stores, but without having any real experience setting up/actually using a lot of different lights in a show, I was wondering what anyone thought the "ideal" setup would be for an indoor show of 100-400ish people, where you turn off all lights except for your own.

By "ideal," I'm talking about what equipment you would need to be sure that:

-everyone will clearly be able to see what you are doing
-the chances of blowing any fuses is fairly small
-you have at least limited control over them (not necessarily have to do complicated scenes, etc., but can control colour, on/off/dimness, and have decent stage cover)
-everything is fairly easy to transport and set up and does not take up a ton of space
-the most worthwhile equipment, dollar-wise
-and most importantly, your show looks very professional

Thanks!

You describe an ideal set up, and we do not live in an ideal world, UNLESS price is not an object. I think all of us who have been lighting shows AND have been on the road have looked for standards as you have put forth for years -- and have developed many routes to them.

1. Portability -- depends on what you want to do. If your show can be done in full light wash - the question is easier to answer than if you want to highlight areas with spots or have a spot follow you.

2. DMX 512 instruments and controllers are great (Martin in particular), but scalable moving lights for various stage areas???? They are a potential solution, but the technology has not caught up to the idea.

3. Blowing fuses? The math of the physics determines this -- unless you bring your own power source or rig to pick up power at a box, you will always run into under-powered venues. John Kaplan travels with a rider in his contracts that gives him access to high-powered circuitry, and brings his own "splitter" box for setting up lights, popcorn machines, sound, etc.

4. For everyone to clearly see, you are going to need a platform to handle flat floor venues. That means using light jacks to get height, unless you want a flashlight under your chin effect from floor lights.

If money is NO object, hire a lighting designer who knows portable stage lighting. He/she will probably cost more than the rig, but will be able to assure you meet your specs with minimum hassle. Remember, you MUST concentrate on your magic and routines -- and I have sadly learned that the more tech I add myself, the less I can work on great (not just good) magic.


5. Books on lighting design commonly available are NOT up to date on technology, and generally are written from a set stage point of view.

I'm not an expert on lighting, but for portable flood lighting where the venue does not have its own lighting rig installed, I use 4 Spectres by NJD. Each head contains 3x 500w Halogens (red, green, and blue), and the three bulbs work together to create a never ending mix of colours. I run these through a small DMX controller and programme scenes beforehand.

Here's a link to the Spectres...
http://www.njd.co.uk/maindir/Products/Dm......ctre.htm

I've never had any major problems with them, apart from the odd bulb blowing, but each bulb is independently fused so the whole lot won't blow.

With all bulbs on full whack, you get a bright white. And when I say bright, I mean 6000w bright.

Mark