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GMC Forum _ CHILL OUT _ Light Show Software

Posted by: g-forcelover Jun 11 2009, 09:27 PM

this may seem kinda stupid, but what do pro's use to creat light shows for concerts? if its some kind of somputer software, where can i get it? (or at least a smaller version for free)

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 11 2009, 09:48 PM

Light Shows? If you are talking about regular stage lightning, my brother is in the business and I've analyzed some gear for both clubs and stages. It's an expensive sport cause for a good lightning you need to have some sort of a minimum stuff. Pro stage lightning systems are ultra expensive, and they are usually rented for concerts. They just cost too much.
Today lightnin is transferring fast to LED technology cause it doesn't warm up that much, requires less power and it is more durable

Here are some examples of most often used lightning components:

Par 36 Short, RGB (LED)

Black PAR can for 500 W or 1000 W PAR 64 lamp. (halogen)

example of LED scanner

and very often used and very expensive:

Moving Head Light

Here's a very basic DMX mixer:

Some light components operate using normal faders. These faders are similar to those as you can find on walls of rooms, they are directly connected to current.
Other more advanced (smart) components operate using DMX signals. DMX is a protocol for communicating with (most often) light devices. For example you can send commands to moving head to pan/tilt/rotate etc. DMX is somewhat similar to MIDI, but different, just giving a long shot comparation.

Posted by: g-forcelover Jun 11 2009, 10:00 PM

thanks man, but dont band have certain light shows for each song? cause in the videos ive seen its the same for every song at different gigs, so do they have like a little chip or disc that goes into the mixer? and if they do, how did they create the thing?

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 11 2009, 10:29 PM

As I said, the lightning tech usually has everything pre-programmed on the light mixing console. Usually they make a general rehearsal before starting with tours/gigs, and they programm the lightning system so that it executes exactly what is needed, and the lightning guy just pushes couple of buttons here and there. This can vary of course, but you can see how it goes.
The audio tech usually has similar job. He has everything pre-programmed and the mixer has motorized faders that go into specific program for each song. Then their job is just to make small corrections and basically manually operate the parts of the system that isn't handled via automated software.

Posted by: g-forcelover Jun 11 2009, 10:32 PM

ohhhhh ok that helps thanks