The Learn Stage Lighting Podcast

On this week’s episode, we are going to discuss how to choose the right lighting console or software for your setup. This is a very important piece and the “brain” of your operation, so this is a very important decision. If you are new here and haven’t check this out yet, be sure to check out the Learn Stage Lighting Quiz. This will ask you just a couple of questions and you will send you the best guide for your lighting situation. SJVogt via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 07/19/19 “Found this podcast awhile back. It is an awesome source of real world information and not just a sales pitch from a vendor. It has taught me so much about lighting design and fundamentals and doesn’t just focus on how to get geeky with a console. I love that I just asked my first question and to be honest didn’t know if I would get a response. I got a quick response with exactly the answer I was looking for. Thank you David for this great podcast! I can tell you really care about your audience and what you do. I’m hoping to join the lab soon!” If you haven’t left a review yet I would love for you to share your testimony and you can do so here, Review the Podcast! Main Segment (16:55) A couple of days ago I was listening to the Geezer of Gear Podcast and they had a guest, Eric from Elation who said it very well: Lighting consoles are very a personal decision because once you choose, work, and program with that console it’s difficult to program differently. This is most likely why most of the professional-grade consoles have the same program feel to them. But if you have to choose the right lighting console for you, but how do you approach this? On a side note, I am considering creating a quiz on choosing the right console for you. If this sounds like something you may like be sure to let me know, Contact Us. Things to Consider I’ve seen so many people list what they are working with, what they do, and asking which console is best for them. When asking others they are most likely going to recommend the console they are using which isn’t always the right console for you. Instead, when working with Learn Stage Lighting Labs members I go in deeper by getting to know the individual and about how they want to run their show. The reason why I take this approach is that generally consoles are already designed to work with a certain profile or methodology. Going into this you want to know how you want to program your show. Will you be doing this or will you have others programming the show? Another angle to consider is will you have someone manually controlling the lights or do you need a more automated approach? The next step is knowing how many lights and what types of lights are you wanting to have control over? Something to keep in mind is that the older consoles are designed to more work with conventional lights. So, if you are planning to work with more new units you want to go with a console that has the capability to handle it. Another avenue to consider is that while you may be working with certain units now, what will you be working with from a year to 5 years from now? Finally, is the toughest one I struggle explaining to othe...

This week on the podcast we’re answering questions from our listeners and we’re excited to dive in! We’ll cover various topics as well as the par resting in peace. Before we get started just wanted to share an update about the Learn Stage Lighting Patreon. We will be having 2 podcast episodes a month until we are able to reach our goal on the Patreon of $150. Once we reach this goal it allows me to be able to produce more episodes and help bring a better experience to the listeners of the podcast. As much as I love being able to everything with the podcast, videos, and such the costs of the programs, equipment, and production does add up. This is why I did start the Learn Stage Lighting Patreon so that this will help cover the costs that go into these projects. Lighting News (2:09) I was reading an article from Lighting & Sound America that goes into the history of the par and how it affected our industry. Par stands for parabolic aluminized reflector. At the end of the original technology for the par is no longer needed in today’s world. LED pars have come a long way and are starting to take over. Most manufacturers have announced that they will no longer be producing these units. Main Segment (8:36): Questions are submitted through the contact form on Learn Stage Lighting. If you have a question you would like to share be sure to submit it here, Contact Form. Taz – Patreon! (8:55): Hi David, several years ago our band experienced significant ground loop interference on our PA rig. The issue was sorted when an experienced and well-respected tech advised us to minimize the number of wall outlets we used to connect our gear. (We are a small-sized outfit and didn’t have a lot of gear to concern us with overloading a ring circuit.) Since then we have typically daisy-chained our power supplies from a limited number of sockets. Two questions. We do not want to overload any circuits and ideally want to remain within 80% of the load rating for any circuit. 1. How do we calculate the load we are putting on a circuit and 2. Should we run our lights on completely different circuits to avoid interference ( or does it even matter). Thanks, Taz ( PS I understand you are not a qualified electrician but was just interested in your perspective.) The first question, how do we calculate a load we’re putting on a circuit? It’s actually very simple and power is generally measured the same no matter where you are in the world. Power is made up of three attributes watts, volts, and amps. The quick way to calculate these attributes are watts divided by volts equals your amps and how much power your unit will take at a maximum. You can normally find the information on how much a unit can handle on the label. Once you have all of the information and your total of amps of the equipment you are using you’ll be able to know how much power you’ll b drawing. In the US our modern circuit can handle anywhere between 15 – 20 amps. Electricians have the 80% load rule of not running it at the full amps so that you don’t overload your power supply. In the lighting industry, it’s a little different because you most likely will not always be running your lights at full. Remember, if you’re not sure always be sure to check with an electrician or someone who is familiar with the field.

This week on the podcast I have a special guest, Seth Shoemaker to discuss how to manage the installation of lights. I’m excited to share this because it does help those that are working with a temporary or permanent install. We have officially launched the Learn Stage Lighting Patreon. As I mentioned earlier this Patreon was launched to help fund the production of this podcast as well as the YouTube Channel. I would love to continue doing 4 podcast episodes a month but I need your support with the Patreon to keep that going. Main Segment (2:00) David: I had first met Seth as a volunteer at the church and we were both very new to lighting. When did you first start working with stage lighting? My first experience in stage lighting was back in high school actually. We had 8 lights, all conventional, with dimmers, and a preset console which was pretty awesome for us. That was pretty much my lighting experience until I became a tech director here at the church. David: I’m always talking to those who are new to lighting. The simplicity and the number of things you can do with a preset console are very impressive. You can get started with a preset console with no experience and in no time do extraordinary things with it. That’s how I felt when I got started with a preset console. I knew nothing going into it and as I started picking it up I could easily set up as many looks as I wanted to. It was very easy to use. David: I want to dive into permanent installations. You actually own your own company, Spire AVL, that does installations. Do you primarily work with churches or is it a mix? We’re mostly churches but we have worked with schools and theatres as well. SpireAVL.com David: One of the things I noticed after moving to Nashville I had joined a tour with an illusionist and four comedians. This meant I was running audio and setting up the lights. When it comes to permanent installation I’ve noticed there are so many places that actually get it wrong. So that’s what I was hoping to focus on today because I’m sure you see so many things done wrong. You see churches that have a need but are sold something totally different. Why does that happen? Well, the number one reason this can happen is not knowing what your goals are for doing an install. So, we encourage the client to know what they want to do with the system. But not just for today but for the future, five years to 10 years from now. We can offer you the best equipment to fit your needs today but what about 2 years from now? It can be a huge investment and you want to get the most out of it for as long as possible. David: Obviously, it’s a business but you want to make sure the customer that is happy with the service and the products. Absolutely, we had a client that had pushed a certain direction that we didn’t think was the best set up for their needs. Right before we went to install everything that Tech Director left and the new director came in and was not happy with what was being brought in. You definitely need to make sure that everyone that needs to be involved is involved with the decision making. I’ve often seen those that actually work with the equipment do get left out in the decision making and will be forced to work with equipment they are not familiar with.

This week on the podcast we have our Q+A Tuesday where we answer questions from listeners just like you! Today, we cover DMXis, Onyx, and other great topics. In last week’s episode, we announced the official launch of the Learn Stage Lighting Patreon. As I mentioned earlier this patreon was launched to help fund the production of this podcast as well as the YouTube Channel. Main Segment (3:17) Questions are submitted through the contact form on Learn Stage Lighting. If you have a question you would like to share be sure to submit it here, Contact Form. Franciso (3:43): One question about how to start creating light in theatre.During the next month, I am able to create the lighting of a theatre play, and I have the text days ago. I think that ideas of angles and projectors will come when the rehearsals start, but they are asking me now if I have ideas to start. Any tip for how to start creating a light scene with the text and without the representation? I just finished a recent Introduction to Theatre Lighting inside of Learn Stage Lighting Labs. What I have learned over the years is to take a look at the script. You want to look for specific scenes that may need to be highlighted and where the director may want to do something with the lights to bring attention to the scene. You want to begin charting out notes for scenes that may need a daylight or evening look. But also, be sure to note any scenes that state you need to lighten or darken the stage. At the same time, you want to note about the different parts of the stage that will need to lighten during parts of the stage. You can find some other great resources that discuss theatre lighting here: Theatre Lighting. Leonel (6:43): Well I have a question. I’m the lighting designer for a band and I work with DMXIS in small and medium venues, but my question is this… Can I work and use my DMXis show in a BIG SHOW like a festival, can I work with it? I know that Dmxis its only 1 universe, if I get to that show and I find they are working with more universes, can I move thing around and make it all work with what I have? Unfortunately, in this situation, there’s not a lot you can do going over 1 DMX Universe. If you are getting to that level where you need more than one universe you may want to start looking into getting a more involved console. For the mid-range professional grade consoles, you may want to look into ENTTEC’S D-Pro or Lightshark. Or you may want to go full-on professional approach such as Onyx. I mention Onyx because bringing in an existing show setup and use a “cloning” feature that really makes the transition so much easier. DMXis is really designed for smaller shows and as shows get bigger it really does get harder to manage. Eric (9:21): I’ve been following you for a while and appreciate your platform as it allows for all price levels. Since my band can’t afford to pay a lighting tech, we’ve decided to go the route where we time code everything and used a dmxis vst plugin for ableton. We just purchased a Chinese led curtain for a backdrop and we’d like to include it in the ableton process. Do you have suggestions on making this happen?  You are on the right track using the VST Plugin for Ableton. Your first question about the curtain is what type of signal is it looking to connect with?

This week on the podcast I’m excited to discuss moving lights. Not only how you can use them today but also talk about how far moving lights have come. I am excited to announce that we have officially launched the Learn Stage Lighting Patreon. My goal is to continue putting out tutorials, videos, and other great free stuff that my followers can use, The patreon is a great way for others to pitch in and help work towards those goals. It does have different tiers starting at $3 a month and with each tier brings different benefits. If you’re interested be sure to check it out! Learn Stage Lighting Patreon Main Segment (4:08): With those in the lighting industry as well as most people, in general, they think of moving lights as just something that makes a flash and can do crazy things. But that’s not the case with moving lights. History of Moving Lights About 11 years I started my career in the lighting industry and before that, I did a lot of volunteer work. When I started I began by working with more low budget equipment. So that meant on the moving lights I worked with the older moving lights. But now, 11 years later, I am blown away by what these newer moving lights are capable of and what you can do with them. Not to mention moving lights don’t always need to be moving and I go more into that with this article: When Moving Lights DON’T Move Different Types of Moving Lights There are different types of moving lights and many different things that you can use moving lights for. It’s not limited to just movement. With moving lights it’s not if you need moving lights it’s more of what kind of moving lights do you need and how can you use it in your show. There are different types of moving lights such as wash, spot, beam, and hybrid. Wash Moving Light These are generally the least expensive lights and a little brighter than the others. Depending on which one you get they can move, change colors, and some even zoom. But that’s it. In my personal opinion if you want a moving light wash you want to get the zoom. These types of moving lights are great for front lighting people and these are also good for lighting upward such as a backdrop. Spot Moving Light The spot moving light is also at times known as the profile moving light. These are unique because with most units that have a white LED. These types of moving lights generally are not as bright as the wash moving lights. Spot fixtures are great because some have prisms included and you can have different patterns you can use on the stage. For the most part a spot moving light can do anything a wash moving light can except zoom. Which isn’t normally a feature that is offered. The downside to spot moving lights is that you don’t want to use it as a front light or lighting upward. But that’s when mixing spot and wash moving lights is really a great thing to have. Beam Moving Light The next one is the beam moving light that has a sharp beam to it as well as sharp edges. Some units do come with colors and gobos but that’s not always their strong point. Beams are great when using moving lights to project lights into the air and ...

This week on the podcast is our Q+A Tuesday and we will be answering your questions! We’ll be covering a variety of topics today such as the Dylos, LED’s, and the $1000 lighting rig challenge! Lighting News! (0:52) I was excited to see the new Obsidian pixel mapper, Dylos in action. It is scheduled to come out later this year and there’s been some great anticipation for this new product. What I do like about Obsidian is that they don’t rush things, they make sure it’s a quality product. I was able to test and create effects with little direction in Dylos. With Dylos you can have video and animations which is what people were wanting. The past few weeks I’ve mentioned the podcast and YouTube videos going a different direction. I have officially launched the Learn Stage Lighting Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/learnstagelighting My goal for Learn Stage Lighting is to continue creating great content and tutorials to those who want to make great lighting. While I do offer Learn Stage Lighting Labs I’ve discovered that it’s not for everyone. So, with this patreon it allows those who want to help Learn Stage Lighting grow and continue to keep focused on helping others learn how to make great stage lighting. Main Segment (10:15) A couple of weeks ago I was at a trade show and I was able to see the new Dylos in action. Some people had mentioned how great it was that I get to see manufacturer’s demos in person. In the beginning stages of my career, I wasn’t always able to go to trade shows as I do now. But what I did learn was building relationships with local dealers of my preferred brand of equipment. If you are wanting to catch demos I highly recommend getting in touch with local dealers that carry the brands your interested in and let them know that you would be interested in seeing any new demos from certain brands. More than likely the dealers will be more than happy to share with you when manufacturers send over to them. Now how do you watch manufacturer’s demo videos and not get carried away? A couple of things I want you to remember. First, always remember that the manufacturer is going to be in control of the environment. Meaning, if they are showcasing new lights they may be using haze to help the lights stand out more. But do you use haze on your stage? What are your capabilities? Another thing to think about is what is the brightness of the room? Some manufacturers will show the lights in an extremely dark room to have the lights seem brighter. But what does your space look like? What is the environment you would be working in? Lastly, consider the quality control. What is the warranty on the item? Be sure to consider the quality and the reviews for the product. Terry Follow-Up (21:29): I had a question for you, is it possible to run LED strips, tape or even pixel tape wireless thru DMXIS/Abelton Live. We would like to be able to eliminate any main wires going to each light but do not know if it is even possible. We know you can do it with LED bars/pars and other lighting but not if you can with LED strips etc. If you can what is the best way to accomplish this and what equipment would you need? We appreciate your feedback and input, thank you so much! The best thing you can do is to purchase a product that is designed to do this. An inexpensive piece is from Chauvet that is cheaper but it looks okay:

This week on the podcast is our Q+A Tuesday and we will be answering your questions! Today, we have a little bit of everything from DMX Basics to ONYX, and much more! If you have a question you would like to share be sure to submit it here: Contact Form and there will be an option to allow you to leave your voice message. This week I am on my way to Gearfest 2019 which is a cool trade show that focuses on the music industry as well as lighting. I’ll be heading up there to hang out with the crew from ENTTEC. Main Segment (1:30) Mike (1:32): I’m a retired old codger who wants to set up his living room like a disco, at least a bit! I’ve bought a mirror ball, a motor, and a DMX light, but I don’t know whether the light is right for it. I was thinking of something smaller, but the shop didn’t have anything else. What I think I need to know is:1. What DMX controller should I buy?2. Will microphone cables do to hook up the light?3. What’s a good position to set up the light so it strikes the mirror ball? All of these answers really depends on how you want your lights to look and what you want to do. With a DMX Controller, I think you really just need something simple that can handle a couple of lights and change colors. For that I recommend this CHAUVET DJ LED Lighting (OBEY4). For the light you have, it looks like you have a 3 channel LED Par which will work with the controller I mentioned. What you’re looking for is more of a pin spotlight. I recommend looking at this ADJ Pinspot Unit. You were wondering about the microphone cables. I highly recommend going with DMX cables instead but if you’re just looking to hook up one or two lights then the microphone cables may work. For the position of light I would suggest positioning the point of the light right at the ball to light up the ceiling. If you’re looking for more of a floor coverage then just tilt the down a bit to shift if to the floor. Axel (7:02): I’m working on setting up onyx on my laptop with all the patches and cuelists of my work computer which is MPC still, the transition has been flawless. except when I try and set up some fixtures on the 2d viewer I can’t seem to place any fixture it just gets stuck on draw a line to place fixtures, yet no matter what I do I can’t seem to place any fixtures at all. What I would recommend with most issues with ONYX on a PC is to make sure your Windows is completely up to date. Then, I would re-install the latest version of ONYX on your computer and see if that will do it. If that doesn’t work then there is a program or an app that is conflicting with the ONYX program. In that case, back up your computer first and then go to the Windows 10 center and reset the PC have it wipe everything and start with a clean slate. Worla (10:00): Hi there, thanks so much for answering my last question. I just have a quick follow up question, please. In the video, you made mention of using a DMX splitter which can make a console take more fixtures than it’s capacity. I want to know the numbers, for example, a 512dmx console can take 32 fixtures.

Today on the podcast we’re taking your questions! For this week’s round we touch base on a little bit of everything. If you have a question you would like to share be sure to submit it here: Contact Form and there will be an option to allow you to leave your voice message. Podcast News! (0:48) If you’ve been listening to the show the past few weeks you most likely heard me opening up and asking my listeners for their thoughts on the future of the podcast. One of my thoughts was offering Patreon or some other type of show sponsorship. As I think of the future of Learn Stage Lighting I want to keep this going for a very long time. While I’ve had Learn Stage Lighting Labs sponsor the show I realize that if I want to keep this growing I need to consider other options to help pay for the videos and the podcast. I am still working on the details but according to a lot of the responses received I will being doing a patreon and also working with brands to sponsors podcast episodes. These sponsorships will be reviewed and approved before I bring them on and it will only be with brands and products that I trust. Now that I have more of an idea of the direction I want to take things for June and July I am going to reduce to only 2 Podcast Episodes a month. Then, in August, we can kick off the episodes with the new framework in place. With that, I just want to thank everyone who wrote in, thank you to those that continue to support Learn Stage Lighting, and this couldn’t be possible without you! Main Segment (9:15) Ivan (9:22): I’m a very experienced musician finally learning about lights! I think I have sorted what lights to buy for our stage setup, thanks to your videos. I would like to use my iPad and the DMXIS to control the lights via DMX. I am pretty sure I have a good understanding of this now too. What I would like to do is create scenes and then flick between them with some type of pedal. Can I do this somehow? When it comes to lighting software that can run off of tablets there’s just not much out there. But when working with a PC there a lot more options available, so that’s normally the direction I will point people too. Now, DMXIS will not run completely without a PC or Mac. You won’t be able to run DMXIS on an iPad but you can run it with a foot pedal. You can use an app called Touch OSC that will be able to run some of the basic commands. If you’re determined to run your show with an iPad then there are a couple of options. One of the apps you can use is called Luminaire and there’s another one called Vibrio. As I mentioned earlier I’m just not a big fan of these but they are lighting apps you can run on your iPad. You can read more about DMXIS and how it works here: How to Program With DMXIS. Jay (13:26): I’m helping my church by updating the old DMX system (Daslight 1 on Windows 7

Today on the podcast I am excited to bring in Wesley Dietz, whom I grew up with back in my hometown. We’re both excited to catch up and talk about his position as a Church Lighting Director and the challenges that come with it. Main Segment (1:27) I’m really excited to share this interview with you and I hope you do get some great ideas from it. Wesley and I go into lighting, consoles, and so much more. So let’s get started! David – What are you working with at the moment with your church? Sure! Right now we’re working with a Hog for PC system with just 1 universe so nothing crazy. We also have 2 Rogue washes which I love. When I started with the church (2500 members) I was the first lighting director they had ever had. They did have a faculty director that was handling everything before I came on board. As I got started they had no color lights for their stage so I’ve been slowly introducing color to the stage and adding new lights to help with this. I also started working with stage design and prepping for our Easter events. We used LED tape this year to help with the colors and stage design. David – So you and I had discussed either going with pixels or LED tape so you decided to go with LEDs. I’m just curious how did you set up the control for these? Well, setting it all up was a lot easier than I thought it would be, to be honest. I just went with a 10 channel decoder. I order over 200 feed of LEDs through Amazon and just connected it all. David – Let’s talk about your new building, is it in progress yet? This church has been around for about 20 years and they had an original building they started with and throughout the years they’ve been slowly adding on to it. So technically, it’s always in progress but the latest venture that we’re working on is having a 1500 seating sanctuary added on. It’s a slow progress. David – Well that’s exciting! So let’s dive into Pixel Mapping. What do you think about it and what ideas do you have for the future? I’ve been working the LED (dumb) tape and didn’t want to invest too much with this stage design. I currently don’t have much experience it but I do want to work with it in the future. David – The cool thing about pixels is once you get the tech part behind you they are easy to work with. A pixel only has 3 wires, data, power, and a ground wire. With LED’s you power it at the beginning and then you risk not having enough power for it to work consistently through the rest of the LED tape. But with pixel tape, you don’t have to worry about it because at any point you can just add more power as needed. You had a question about this new addition being built and what I thought about possibly using the Hog to run your pixels or running it on a separate system. Do you know how big your stage will be in this new addition? I want to say the stage should be 80 feet wide and 40 feet deep. David – Okay, my thoughts are that you don’t want to run your pixels on the Hog and here’s why. First, the RoadHog 4 has 8 universes of output unless you want to get more then you would need to upgrade. At that point with only 8 universes and that many pixels, you will quickly run out of output. The built-in mapper on the Hog is good but you can only bring in the media and play that media...

This week on the podcast we will be answering your questions! Today, most of the questions will revolve around ONYX. If you have a question you would like to share be sure to submit it here: Contact Form and there will be an option to allow you to leave your voice message. I’ve been considering some ideas on how to fund the podcast for the long haul. It’s my goal to continue producing high quality content for my followers. Last week I mention and pitched the idea of patreon and maybe even scaling back to two episodes a month. Or even bringing on advertisers. I would love to hear what you think and your thoughts on this. You can contact me here: Contact Form Main Segment (3:18) Jeff (3:26): Does M-PC use a lot of processor bandwidth? I run my whole show on my pc and use Ableton live and play a lot of VSTi instruments live so I have to be careful not to tax the processor too much that it would affect the show quality. This is one of those questions that it depends on how many lights you have set up and how many cues you have firing off. The biggest thing that I noticed is that ONYX uses the hardware very well. But it does require a good hard drive. I can tell you that ONYX runs well but be sure to have a good hard drive and it should be okay. For the processor it’s hard to say so I would recommend start setting up your show. There is a window in ONYX called Hardware Monitor and I would keep that open as you set up your show. Then, just watch it as you go and you may see certain parts of the show that really effect the hard drive. Clinton (8:21): I am wondering if you have made a video about the unassigned channels detected window that pops up. I had Ofer Bram make a profile for a laser, but this window keeps coming up and I’m not sure how to assign these. I don’t have a specific video for this scenario but I have made videos for topics like these in Learn Stage Lighting Labs. When you see this window come up it means that you’ve brought in a profile that some of the channels were not assigned to a parameter group. So when this window does come up you’ll just want to assign that to a parameter group. Learn Stage Lighting Labs (10:30) Learn Stage Lighting Labs is the sponsor of this podcast and I’ve seen many situations such as Clinton’s. On Learn Stage Lighting Labs I try to keep the pricing low and keep it more accessible to more people. Inside of Labs we have customized tutorials, forums, and access to personalized assistance for tour lighting needs. Zack (15:23): Just had a quick question, do DMX splitters with optical isolation actually isolate problems like flickering to that specific leg of the DMX chain from all the rest of the other legs? This is a great question as I’ve seen a shift in the past few years. The quality of the DMX splitters has become more problematic since people have wanted the price of DMX splitter to go down. In more modern splitters there are some flickering and other issues. From my experience the splitters with optical isolation do keep the issues isolated but not always. Diego (19:54): I’ve recently started with Onyx and when I go to launch a show there is no option for me...

This week we’re discussing why I promote only certain consoles. In this week’s podcast, I want to go in deeper into what I look for in consoles and why I recommend the ones that I do. One of the videos I shared earlier this year was a cost breakdown of some of the bigger name consoles. You can check that out here: Should I Use Grand MA3, Vista, Hog, Chamsys, or Onyx? Sponsorship As the podcast and the resources that Learn Stage Lighting offer, I am beginning to consider some alternate sponsorships from companies that are involved with the stage lighting industry. I can be reached at questions@learnstagelighting.com Main Segment (4:38) If you have been following Learn Stage Lighting for a while you may notice that I do talk about consoles a lot. The reason why this is and why it’s so important is because it is the brain of your set up. When talking about consoles it’s a real passion of mine to recommend only the best consoles of each class (similar to a class of cars). To get started with reviewing a console there are four main factors that I weigh out. Functionality The first factor I look at is functionality. Function to me is the most important part of a console. Basically does the console function and do what it needs to do for the user. One of the things I look at is it buggy, does it do what it needs to, and is it reliable? I prefer to recommend consoles that are easy for new users to use and if it’s easy to learn how to use. Price The next thing I look at is the pricing. To me, price does matter. I like to review what are you going to get for that price. What comes with it? I also try to look at multiple pricing points and what different needs to do these consoles meet? Growth Another thing to consider is growth. Every user is going to have a starting point. But I do want to know how much a user can grow with the console. How far will this console allow the user to go with the production? As your show and setup will change I want to be able to recommend a console that can be used and be able to handle all the changes. Longevity When working with software and stand alone consoles I want to know how that a console will be able to be used for years to come. Granted when working with equipment and technology it’s not always easy to guarantee that it will last for ears to come. If a console has been around for a few years, has updates, and changes then most likely that console will be around a long time. With the newer consoles, I like to talk to the developers and see what their long term plan is for the console. Consoles I Recommend Over the years I’ve worked with many different kinds of consoles. So, with that there are some great consoles that I like to recommend to my listeners and readers. These consoles you may have seen tutorials, posts, and even more in-depth training on Learn Stage Lighting Labs. When making recommendations I do want to make note that there are other great consoles in that class. The three classes or general buckets for consoles are beginner, intermediate, and pro. ENTTEC DMXIS On the entry level, I often recommend the

This week on the Podcast we answer your questions that are sent in for our Q + A Tuesday. We’ll cover topics such as pixel controllers, M-PC, and more! If you have a question you would like to share be sure to submit it here: Contact Form and there will be an option to allow you to leave your voice message. Lighting News (2:15) There’s a new podcast in the lighting world that launched in January, it’s called Geezer of Gears. It’s from the people at gearsource.com. If you want to check out the Podcast you can do so here: Geezer of Gears Podcast If you’re not familiar with gearsource.com it’s a site where used equipment is sold. The Podcast is hosted by Marcel and Henry. They’re both industry legends and really know their stuff. Not only do they discuss what’s upcoming and happening in the lighting industry. They also discuss the history of lighting, which they’ve worked in for a long time. Brightness of Light (3:47) One of the topics that piqued my interest and what I was discussing with one of the students at Learn Stage Lighting Labs was the brightness of light. As technology advances, we realized the lights keep getting brighter, why is this? One of the questions I get very often is “how bright does my light need to be?”. I actually went into this in one of the previous podcast episodes. How Bright Does My Light Need to Be? I often respond with as bright as your stage or show needs it to be. I say this because it really depends what your location or venue needs. If you have a dark venue then most likely you will not need extremely bright light. But if you have incoming lights from a window, house lighting, etc then you need to bring in stage lights to lighten the stage. Ultimately, what it comes down to is that our shows are getting brighter because we’re adding more video to our stages and presentations. Something to really think about is if you can make the stage darker you can change the dynamic of the stage. Meaning if you set the average stage light to be darker then those moments you want to make things pop you can bring up your lights. Main Segment: Your Questions Answered (10:20) If you have a question you would like to share be sure to submit it here: Contact Form and there will be an option to allow you to leave your voice message. Patrick (11:17): What kind of DMX controller can I use that’s not too expensive? When looking at lighting consoles it’s not always and only about the cost of the console. A lighting console can be your best friend or your worse enemy. If you’re trying to keep it simple such as just turning the lights on, changing the colors once in a while, etc then I would recommend going with the cheapest console you can find such as Chauvet Obey 40 or Elation’s Scene Setter. The issue with the inexpensive consoles is that they are expected to handle a lot. For example, some expect the fade times in between the scenes to be flawless and that is just not the ...

This week on the podcast we’re going to talk Gobos and how they’re not always what they think you are. I’ll dive into unique ways to use Gobos to help amplify your production. If you’re new here and you’re not sure how or where to get started with your lighting be sure to take this Quiz and I will send you a customized Guide based on your answers to help get you pointed in the right direction. How to Begin with Lighting Quiz Main Segment (1:21) We’re going to dive into our main segment of the show. Gobos are not what you think they are! Let’s explore what they are, what they are used for, types of gobos, and how can you use them? What are Gobos? What is a Gobo exactly? A simple definition is that a gobo is a pattern that you put into the light. That patter is then being reflected where the light is pointed. If there is haze or fog in the atmosphere that pattern will then shine through the beam of light as well. What are They Used For? Gobos are generally used to add texture to the show or even the atmosphere. Sometimes DJ’s may use gobos to highlight a couple’s wedding initials or even at corporate events gobos can be used to highlight a companies logo. To direct this more to those that follow Learn Stage Lighting you would most likely be using gobos to add texture to the room or stage. What Type of Gobos Are There? Gobos can often go into a variety of spotlight type of fixtures such as actual spotlights, lekos, moving lights, beam lights, etc. But gobos generally go into a light with a hard edge because this allows you to focus the gobo. There are a few different types of gobos such as glass, metal, rotating, and non-rotating gobos. Glass gobos are really great because you can put anything that you want on them. Basically, it’s a pattern, color, etc printed on a piece of glass. The downside to glass gobos is that they are fragile and expensive to replace. Next, you have your metal gobos that are made steel. Metal gobos are made with a laser cut so they are handy in when adding texture to your stage. The upside to using metal gobos is that they are inexpensive. The downside to these is that they don’t have colors but you can put a gel in front of the gobo. Something to note when working with an ellipsoidal is that generally, you will need a gobo frame. Then, there are normally two different sizes for gobos. Size A is a bigger gobo that takes up the entire frame and Size B is a smaller gobo. When working with Spot Fixtures you may notice that these units will come with gobos. The different gobos you will run into here are the rotating gobos and the non-rotating gobos. The less expensive or entry-level units normally come with the non-rotating gobos. You won’t be able to rotate these gobos because the patterns are stamped into a sheet. These are not replaceable. Th nicer and more expensive units will come with rotating gobos. Most often rotating gobos can be replaced in that size. How Should You Use Gobos What most will do is dial in the gobo on the console and zoom it in, then walk away. While this does work and it does look good there are other ways to use gobos. Something to try the next time you are working with a gobo is to focus it in all the way and then g...

This week on the Podcast we have our Q + A Tuesday! Today, we’ll be covering topics such as working with new software and how you can make lights works. If you have a question you would like to share be sure to submit it here: Contact Form and there will be an option to allow you to leave your voice message. If you’re new here and you’re not sure how or where to get started with your lighting be sure to take this Quiz and I will send you a customized Guide based on your answers to help get you pointed in the right direction. How to Begin with Lighting Quiz Lighting News (1:30) As I mentioned on last weeks show, the Pro Light and Sound Show were happening over in Germany. There were some new product announcements and we actually have more information. One of the items announced was the ONYX Dylos system, a pixel mapping engine. There wasn’t a lot of information provided so I reached out on Facebook to see if anyone was at the show and able to see this new product in action. There are some great videos on Facebook from Eric Loader with the new ONYX Dylos system here. Another cool item that was announced at the USITT Show was the ETC Augment3d (Augmented). What this is, is a 3D Visualizer that meets real life. What makes it different from other visualizers is that has full integrations with their console. This unit was designed with theater in mind. It allows you to draw out your space physically then you can move around lights with your mouse or using the touch screen on the visualizer. As long as you are accurate with placing your lights everything should hit where its suppose to. For more information on this product, you can watch the video here: ETC Augment3d at USITT 2019. Main Segment (8:50) If you have a question you would like to share be sure to submit it here: Contact Form and there will be an option to allow you to leave your voice message. Harold (8:57): Hello, We are having an issue with our overhead stage lights. Every time we change the bulbs they will be burnt out again within 1 month to 2 months. Around half of them will do it… I don’t know if we are using the wrong bulbs or doing something wrong. Any idea is appreciated. I’m not sure what type of lights you have or what bulbs are being used but you probably have your sockets going bad. This is fairly common, especially with lights being used over time. You’ll want to order new sockets or have someone come out and replace the sockets for you. Something to try before replacing your sockets is bringing all of your lights up to full and meter the power. You should be getting between 110 volts to 125 volts. Joseph (10:35): Good day, Mr. David! I’d like to ask for your help with regards to the lights I have. Please see the attached photo, my problem is that there is no available cable I can find here in Guam or online that is male in both ends to connect in my DMX controller. Can you please help me or do you have any suggestions.  The important thing to know about DMX is that the input and output are a general purpose two plugs that provide input and output. This is known as a bust configuration.

Today on the podcast I have a special guest, Pete Greenfield. Pete has been a long time Learn Stage Lighting Labs Member and a good friend of mine. Today, he’s going to share how to get started with band lighting, working with a budget, and how to create a good show. Main Segment (0:45) David – Pete is from the UK and is a band guy. He plays in a few bands and is now also doing lighting for these bands. Pete, how did you get into lighting? I had started by doing lighting for the bands I work with. We wanted to create a theatrical show and do something that none of the other bands were doing. We thought if we could just figure out the lighting and effects we will be fine but it turned out to be much harder than we expected. David – Yes, it can be really hard sometimes to get started and that’s why I began Learn Stage Lighting. That’s how you stumbled across the site, right Pete? Right, even before that I had never even heard of DMX and had no idea what it even meant. We had our introduction show coming up and it was a big deal. One of our guys supposed to be figuring out how to use MIDI but he wasn’t really getting anywhere. That’s when I had found Learn Stage Lighting and it really saved us. We already had a laptop and we decided to go with DMXIS because it was really easy to work with. Then all we needed were some lights and did get a few different types of Chauvet lights. Once I was able to everything together I started watching your videos, the Zero to Lighting Hero and then the DMXIS tutorials as well. Once I got through those I was able to start working on the programming. David – One of the things that I like about your show is that it is a rock show but has a theatrical essence to it as well. I feel that does come from the lighting design. When you start to program a song what do you think about as a musician when trying to choose and match the lighting to that song? The first thing I would try to look at it from a color theme point of view. Then program in those different colors that would reflect the emotions of the music. We didn’t have any moving lights but we used an Oscillator to depict motion. Then beyond that, we would use effects, props, etc. David – I wanted to talk about how you trigger your shows because a lot of bands do ask about what console and programs they should use. What did you guys use to trigger your lights? We decided to use Showbuddy and organized our songs that way. Then using DMXIS pulled the lighting prompts. So this had Showbuddy firing off all of the prompts and effects. Then, once we had Showbuddy going we used the pedals on the stage. But we decided that we wanted more flexibility for the show so we got rid of Showbuddy and decided to stick with the foot pedals to control the triggers of the lights. That we found worked best for our band. I really did like DMXIS because it was very easy to learn and use for our show. The show definitely puts on a good looking show. David – The new scoop on Showbuddy Active is similar to DMXIS and now it can apparently work with audio and video. Yeah, that’s similar to what we were looking for because we do use video in our shows. I’ve heard there’s a way to do this through DMXIS using MIDI. David – There is another program called QLabs and that runs light, video, and audio.