Tutorial: "What lights should I get"

A couple of questions designed to help you better describe what you're looking for.

Offer answers to these questions when you're asking for advice on mobile lighting.

* What events is the lighting for? House Parties require minimal light output, weddings require a little more while school dances are the most demanding.
* What style of lighting do you like? Oldschool such as Derbies and mirrorballs, High Tech such as Scanners and Barrel scanners, or LED effects that are pattern based?
* Are you buying just once or going to be upgrading in the future?
* How long do you intend to be using these lights for?
* How important is power consumption? Can you use at least 2 dedicated circuits for lights only?
* Do you want to impress with quantity of lighting, or would you rather impress people with having fewer, more impressive lights?
* Are you planning to use fog/haze? How much? Certain lights work 200% better while other lights (such as certain LEDs) are great with or without fog.

Places to ask about lighting:
http://www.djforums.com/ - lighting section
http://start.prodj.com/ - gear section

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• mobile
• dj
• tutorial
• lighting
• dmx
• ellaskins
• briansredd
• fullspectrumm

[surajshahi1]

what is the difference between smoke machine and haze machine and fog machine?

[fullspectrumm]

Smoke and haze machines put out particles in the air that light reflects off of. Smoke machines put out particles at least 10 times the size of haze machine particles. Smoke detectors look for particles in the air to signify smoke. Therefore the larger the particles, the more likely detectors will be set off.

Smoke machines used properly, should only be used for the "cloud effect" A burst of smoke only now and then. Many DJs use smoke machines to fill the venue - this is what the hazer is used.

[VomitUnicorn]

@sandelirious1 Check out a device called DMXIS, built by ENTTEC, which is basically a USB-DMX converter. You can connect the Behnringer BCF2000's to the software through midi assignment and they work just fine. You're running your lighting rig off a laptop at that point, which is way easier than lugging a board around in my opinion.

[sandelirious1]

can you please explain me how to connect behringer bcf2000 to dmx lights

[rockinhorse]

Hi Neil,

Looking at X4 chauvet 38T LEDrain fixtures and an Obey 40 controller to lite a 4-5 piece band. First purchase....building blocks is what i'm lookin to do. I've never done any DMX programming....want Midi so i could control from stage (foot controller)...just need simple scenes to highlight solo's and colors for mood...am I going the right way? is the obey 40 a good controller?...the price is right...any controllers with presets all ready in them? thanks for any info...

[cowboybob993]

Good primer for lighting decisions. I recently upgraded to led and now can run everything off one circuit / receptacle.

[bodymovin08]

You bring up a good point about the use of fog/haze machines. Moving heads and scanners are pretty much usless without fog and not many businesses(non club environments) want the use of fog.

[Johnson0426]

Very good video, lots of info and well put together.

[ljmike1204]

nice martin smart move

[ScottishDeeJay]

Plus, mmmmmm, Toblerone!

[ScottishDeeJay]

Very very professionally made vid, bud. Interesting, informative and creative. Great job!