Weddings Wedding Dance Floor Lighting: What Do You Guys Use?

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I gotta say, trying to put together a lighting package has been, has been driving me crazy, I think I have changed the list about tens now, the only things I havent changed on the list is the truss and the wash lights at this point.
 
I gotta say, trying to put together a lighting package has been, has been driving me crazy, I think I have changed the list about tens now, the only things I havent changed on the list is the truss and the wash lights at this point.

It took me literally months to decide between the Inno Pocket Washes and Spots...

Part of my problem though, is I really, really, really hate the way light trees and trussing looks at a wedding. I will do pretty much whatever it takes to avoid using them- that said, I realize I'm gonna have a hard time washing the dance floor consistently without either. So, compromises have to be made. If I can make them as inconspicuous as possible, that'd be the ticket...
 
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I gotta say, trying to put together a lighting package has been, has been driving me crazy, I think I have changed the list about tens now, the only things I havent changed on the list is the truss and the wash lights at this point.

It may be different in your area, but in Nashville clients seem like they couldn't care less about dance lights. I used to tote out 2 trees, full wireless DMX and 8-10 fixtures. That is until I realized it wasn't gaining me anything, booking-wise. Personally, I think we DJs hold more interest in our dance lights than our clients do. All this said, I generally do provide it but I've gone to Martin Acrobats. Strong lights, lots of them and it changes enough (on auto) that it's interesting the entire night. Rather than trying to fill up a tree(s) with a bunch of small lights, use fewer, strong fixtures.
 
It may be different in your area, but in Nashville clients seem like they couldn't care less about dance lights. I used to tote out 2 trees, full wireless DMX and 8-10 fixtures. That is until I realized it wasn't gaining me anything, booking-wise. Personally, I think we DJs hold more interest in our dance lights than our clients do. All this said, I generally do provide it but I've gone to Martin Acrobats. Strong lights, lots of them and it changes enough (on auto) that it's interesting the entire night. Rather than trying to fill up a tree(s) with a bunch of small lights, use fewer, strong fixtures.
About how many Martin Acrobats are you using at one time?


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Some great ideas here. There are other controllers that are bigger/more channels that are obviously smaller than theater lighting consoles, but I guess you have to make a decision on your level of investment and ROI, bdh89. Many of the effects lights I've seen (at least the moonflowers and derby types) will work with DMX, technically, but if you're trying to do a single color type thing, you'll probably find the results disappointing. The only issue I have w/o DMX on those types of lights is the slow-start/pop-on that occurs when you turn on those channels; if you're trying to time lighting to the music, it makes you have to anticipate the beat rather than just being able to switch on the beat.

As far as the Kintas and Swarm being too much of the same, I don't personally think so. The Swarm has so much to offer-- not just the derby colors, not just the strobe, but red and green textured laser patterns, and from what I understand, everything can be individually controlled through DMX on that one (due to my DMX limitations mentioned earlier, I haven't tried it yet myself), so you can have it all at once in program or sound active mode, or just individual features using DMX.

As far as lighting not being something that is highly regarded in certain areas, I think that's just an opportunity for some of you guys to educate and high-light your superiority to the competition in your area!

GJ
"Master of Social Studies" (Waitaminute, I meant "bite me")
 
The company I work for doesn't charge extra for lights, but it's a pretty basic light show, that I've added a few pieces of my own too. Right now, I've got an ADJ Duel Gem LED that's still kicking on me on a single tree with a disco ball that I light up with two basic pinspots. I have a pair of light bars on top of my speakers, and then I add to that one DJ strobe (used sparingly) and some lights I picked up at a garage sale of all places, on my table. These "table lights" are a red, yellow, and green set-up from a German company (the guy I bought them off of picked them up in the 80s IIRC, I believe the company name listed is Netz, but I'm not sure everything on it is in German). Not a bad $10 purchase. I was running an ADJ Galaxy laser for a couple of years. It started acting up and I've got it torn apart on my work table in my garage looking for the time to mess with it.

The couple of times a year I do do uplighting, I use 10 Blizzard Pucks.


On a completly different note, but still regarding lighting. I'm directing a musical this summer for my local community theater and I'm looking to project a palm tree pattern for the opening number. Any idea how I could do that on the cheap?
 
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I recently picked up a Chauvet Dotz tbar system... I really like... Includes four Dotz pars built into a t-bar with carry case, stand, remote and foot controller... Fully DMX able for more flexible programming. Works well as a stand alone but color mixing is limited to 7 colors... Remote accesses all built in programs... And the programs are adjustable for speed and repeating...
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Glad you like them. They seem pretty bright in all the videos I have seen.
Are the bulbs replaceable?
 
Jockerswild , What do you think of the EV 8 inchers. Thought about picking up a pair. Been using 10" EON's for smaller gigs.
Already have the 12" bottoms. Work great for receptions. Been going lighter so as not to have to get a partner. LOL
 
Welcome to the forum.

I do mostly weddings and corporate events. Lights are an add on for us. Uplighting is the most common purchased item. These are wireless and can be turned into dance lighting if desired.

We have a number of fixtures. It really depends on what the customer is looking for or what we believe the event needs based on our discussion with the client.

The biggest mistake I see djs make is to spend a bunch of money on lights because they think it's cool only to find out that customers don't find any value in them.

I also see some djs think they can charge a lot more money because they have cool lights. It's much more rare than you think. You'll be able to charge more money on a regular basis when people want to book you because you are a good dj.

I would keep it basic if your including lights, and pick several options as add ons......use videos online to show the effect. Only purchase when they start getting booked
 
I use 4 American DJ Mega Par Profiles on a T-bar set master slave and sound active as a floor wash, the only other light I use in an Amer Dj Trispherion for a mirror ball effect, I used to have all kinds of lights, nobody cared about them except me and other DJ's, they were a complete waste of money,
 
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Jockerswild , What do you think of the EV 8 inchers. Thought about picking up a pair. Been using 10" EON's for smaller gigs.
Already have the 12" bottoms. Work great for receptions. Been going lighter so as not to have to get a partner. LOL
They are great.... I use a DRPA before them and set the crossover and othe processing before the speakers which I believe helps improve their performance over using the built in crossovers in the speakers themselves allowing me to get more sound out of them without clipping.
 
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I like my lights a lot. I think they do a great job. Here's a pic and a video for your viewing pleasure.

This is my standard light show. This show contains 7 fixtures. Four Chauvet ColorSplash 196's, two Marting SCX-500's, one Martin EFX-500 and if the ceiling is high enough, I'll include one Chauvet Vue III.

P1070875.jpg

 
Very nice setup DJ Wes, and the lights look great too! Are you running those on a DMX controller, or sound active?


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Wow guys! Thanks for all your input! A lot to think about! I'm in the middle of the road regarding want vs. need. I feel like customers here don't necessarily care that much about lighting- certainly not as much as I or other DJ's do- but they'd definitely miss them if they were gone. Especially when the lights go down/out and they're dancing in the dark! (No pun intended!)

In order to achieve a good common ground, I went with an ADJ ultra bar 12 to use on a TBar as basic dancefloor wash. It's versatile and I can use it for uplighting if I ever need to, which I like. As far as DMX goes, I'll have to figure out how much I want to do before I get tired of the extra cables everywhere. That's why I really like lights that are interesting on Sound Active.

Anyway, thanks for all the input! I hope you all had a great 4th!