light show?

[johnnyboy4]

hey this is probably not the right place to post this but i was wondering if anyone knew about creating a custom light show for a rock band. We wanna create a lightshow on a small scale that we can bring to venues. we'll spend up to 5 grand. I'm not sure where to start looking, the only lights i see are "dj" lights. is that the right direction??

[The Byre]

No.

When you are wrking with a small budget, you have to think differently. Try things like flash lights mounted on the intruments. Lots of smoke (check fire alarms!) Stage flashes. Rammstein started out using angle grinders on stage - not to be recomended, but a great idea!

You could have some of the lights carried on by helpers and hand held (remember Talking Heads?)

I did a design for a band once that involved a few PAR cans on stage and most of the lights hidden behind a black aluminium sheet and all looking through one 1-foot wide hole in the middle. On their last song Dark Star (or something like that, I forget the details, it was many, many yars ago) the sheet and all the lights (mounted on a long crane arrangement) was slowly lifted above their heads and more and more of the affects all came though that hole in the middle with loads of smoke.

Ultra cheap and ultra effective are car headlight bulbs, mounted where the audience will not realise that they are there, wired to a car battery and flashed on and off just for one or two songs.

But to get a good lighting show, get a good lampie with an electiian's certificate who understands that P = V x I and what does and does not constitute a danger.