Concert Stage Lighting...

andythefilmer

andythefilmer

Veteran
Does anyone know the make/model's of some of the common lights used to flash at crowds in big concerts? I mean the ones that have like 4 or 8 bright tungstens on them, mounted on the top or on the stage that light up the crowd during heavy parts of songs? This is just my arbitrary curiosity... Also, what are some common moving heads used?
 
bill totolo said:
"Movers" or programmable moving lights that are commonly used are Mac 250 Kryptons made by Martin:
http://www.martin.com/product/product.asp?product=mac250krypton
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Haha, ok, first of all, mac250 kryptons are nice lights but are commonly used in very small shows as they are not punchy enough for concerts. I owned a live events production company for 15 years.
For concerts:
Martin Mac2000 is the standard moving head fixture. They come in Spot (projects images, patterns, has special effects, etc) and wash (color wash only) versions.
High end systems does a ton of stuff and is industry standard.
Robe does a lot of high end lighting.
Clay Paky has been big for a long time.
Coemar is decent.
It starts to drop off from there, but those are the big players.

The "Blinders" you are talking about come from a variety of companies. Do a goole search for concert blinders and you will see.
 
(Sorry for all the questions), but I also see moving heads that have a lens on it (wash or image), but also have an LED ring around the lens perimeter... Who makes these?
 
Kit Hannah said:
Haha, ok, first of all, mac250 kryptons are nice lights but are commonly used in very small shows as they are not punchy enough for concerts.
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The question was <<Also, what are some common moving heads used?>> And I think I answered appropriately, seeing as I and the DP's I work with rent these (and others) frequently. As with any unit there are larger or smaller units available and what is appropriate depends on its application. Martin has an array of moving heads, I simply pointed the OP to the Martin website and specified one unit. No question has a single answer.

"Haha" added nothing to the conversation. You may have simply said, for the larger events I've worked on, we used some other products.
 
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bill totolo said:
The question was <<Also, what are some common moving heads used?>> And I think I answered appropriately, seeing as I and the DP's I work with rent these (and others) frequently. As with any unit there are larger or smaller units available and what is appropriate depends on its application. Martin has an array of moving heads, I simply pointed the OP to the Martin website and specified one unit. No question has a single answer.

"Haha" added nothing to the conversation. You may have simply said, for the larger events I've worked on, we used some other products.
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I didn't mean to get you all riled up, Bill. He asked:
andythefilmer said:
Does anyone know the make/model's of some of the common lights used to flash at crowds in big concerts?...Also, what are some common moving heads used?
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He appeared to still be referring to big concerts... in big concerts, Mac 250's are rarely used because they're not bright enough. I didn't mean to come across as arrogant with the haha thing, but if you're going to give people mis-information about things, people are going to point it out. This question DOES have a single answer.

And that's fine that DPs rent them. They're a good light. But again, not what he asked. Concert stage lighting and lighting for video really are 2 different beasts, although they do share some things, they are still very, very different.

Next time, send me a private message if you're offended with something I said, such as the haha and I can remove it, rather than publically scold me for it because I did not intend to piss you off.
 
Definitely far from p/o'ed, and didn't intend to scold.
Just clarifying my post. I know humor doesn't always translate on a forum, but thanks for addressing it.


Cheers,
 
Another common moving light you'll see in a lot of mid sized clubs is the Intellibeam. As far as I remember, it's basically a focused tungsten light that shines onto a mirror that moves around. I think they can also take gobos and such. They can also change colors on the fly.
 
robotsound said:
Another common moving light you'll see in a lot of mid sized clubs is the Intellibeam. As far as I remember, it's basically a focused tungsten light that shines onto a mirror that moves around. I think they can also take gobos and such. They can also change colors on the fly.
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The Intellabeam (also a High End Systems Product) was one of the first big moving fixtures in moving lights, for concerts and clubs. It used a (funky) 400 watt discharge lamp. You don't see too many of these anymore, they were popular in the early to mid 90's but when moving heads came out (namely Vari-Lite), mirrored fixtures slowly dwindled and are nearly a thing of the past today or only used in small rooms. A lot of used ones still floating around for cheap.
 
robotsound said:
I guess I'm revealing the age of my concert lighting knowledge. Ha ha! I was the sound guy anyway...
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Oh yeah? Lemme guess... EAW KF850's or EV MT-4's? Yamaha console? I had a full production company, did sound too :) It just turned out that video was the cheapest, lowest maintenance, highest profit of the "sound, lighting and video" company, so that's what won out. Video is a side business of mine, I actually design and consult on A/V system installation and integration for a living.

If anyone ever thinks that video gear is expensive (well the high end stuff IS expensive), check out the cost of concert sound and lighting gear. Those "High End Systems" moving head fixtures are anywhere from $8k -$30k each, and yes, some tours have hundreds of them. Not including truss, motors, cables, distros, trucking, a $50k+ controller (or multiple), etc. Sound gear, those line array speakers that you see are usually in the $10k range each, add subwoofers, digital mixing consoles can be $100k+, accessories are buku bucks. Multi million dollar systems. And the worst part of it all is the labor and maintenance needed to keep the gear running correctly...
 
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