Rigging Movers

[david.elsbury]

Where can I get moar of this "disco DMX" from? My mate Davie Dimmers may be interested...? He runs discos down at the local village hall with his disco mac250entours once a term and may be keen on some more gear thats good for discos?

[smalljoshua]

I hope some of the newer members get that David. :** laughs out loud **:

 

Josh

[Luke-Woods]

hey guys thank you very much for all your info, you've confirmed what I was thinking. The show is in Norwich, does anybody have any ideas on where I can get cheap hire from? I already have 2 good quotes from Viking and Stage Electrics but it is always better looking for the cheaper company (Credit crunch and all!!). Also has anybody heard of source 250w moving heads as I have found 4 on hire for £25/week?

 

Luke

 

P.s sorry for going off topic ** laughs out loud ** :-)

 

 

Yep, Disco lights. They will look naff against your generics and you probably won't be able to see them. They don't work off DMX512, only the disco 3 pin style DMX, they are about £300 to buy whereas a Robe will cost about £3000. Pay your money takes your chance.

 

Sorry to be abrupt, but if you want your design to look as pro as you can, avoid these sort of lights.

 

Ok thanks for your help but from what I understand it doesn't matter if the units are on 3 pin as long as they receive the DMX protocol, I have worked with many movers that are on 3 or 5 pin.

OK I was just going to use them on the floor as some pretty up light gobo jobbies but from this info I may reconsider.

[david.elsbury]

Luke

To paraphrase what another member (Gareth) has said on here a couple of times now, be aware that on the Blue Room you are getting advice from people from all walks of the industry... everything from students who have seen a mover in a catalogue and thought that it might be cool to get one day, to industry professionals who have been doing this day in and day out for tens of years...

 

Just a gentle reminder to be aware of this and to take what people say with a grain or two of salt.. (hint, you can often find out a bit about the poster by looking at their profile...)

 

:** laughs out loud **:

[Ynot]

(hint, you can often find out a bit about the poster by looking at their profile...)

 

:** laughs out loud **:

 

As well as making your own profile as accurate and up to date as possible.....

[Luke-Woods]

Viking usually supply favourable quotes.

 

Also don't forget to ensure they are supplied with half couplers, although I assume you already knew this.

 

Yes thanks for reminding me ** laughs out loud **

 

It has been said enough times on here that 3 pin leads are XLR not DMX which are 5 pin. Of course DMX will run on 3 pin, but it is the disco stuff normally that uses this. I personally wouldn't run DMX through XLR cable.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear....

 

XLR is the TYPE OF CONNECTOR

XLRs can be 3, 4, 5 pin - even up to 7 pin as I recall.

 

DMX refers to the protocol, NOT the connector, although the approved standard connector recommended for DMX is of course 5-pin XLR.

 

DMX cable is also what the protocol spec, well, specifies.

Audio cable is what the noise boys specify.

The two are similar, and in theory either can be used for either purpose - they'll both work in both situations, but you risk potential issues if you do.

 

We've done this SO many times here on the BR...!

 

It's ok I am fully aware of 3,4,5,6,7 pin XLR

 

Veering dangerously back on topic for a moment... :P

 

Forget the boom arms, bite the bullet and go for a side hang - it adds another dimension to movement cues and opens up all sorts of weird and wonderful movement opportunities :** laughs out loud **:

 

Most, if not all moving lights should be able to hang at any angle; how well they've been maintained is what decides whether they can ;)

 

 

 

Edited spelling

 

I think I will be going with the side hang as to me it looks more interesting and its on a small stage so I think Booms would look a bit hideous.

 

Outrageously offtopic. Behave!

 

 

I don't know of many suppliers in the area. You could try Production Bureau, but I would imagine Viking will be your cheapest.

 

Rigging on their side is mostly a pain to program. Positional shapes and fades don't work well at all. Unless you want these 'opportunities'!

 

Where is the event?

 

The event is in the Dereham Memorial Hall, not a theatre but has a stage and plenty of power and LX Bars etc

 

Rigging on their side is mostly a pain to program. Positional shapes and fades don't work well at all...

Ah, shape generators - the lazy operator's friend. Just do it the old fashioned way (a.k.a. "properly") - with a chase ;) :P

 

Seriously though: it is possible to do "normal-looking" things with side-hung movers and make their movements "fit-in" with what the overhead stuff is doing - you just have to be a little more careful about how you program your preset foci.

 

When first programming side-hung moving lights, I found it was a bit more work to get the basics in to start with, but that the "Wow! factor" moves happened naturally - the reverse of the normal situation, if anything. Once I got the hang of how side-hung lights behaved, it took far less effort to produce big-looking changes; I didn't have to pull out loads of stops all the time.

 

And yes - they are a pain to rig sideways - but the aesthetic results are worth it IME.

 

In reply to both of the above, I am not a fan of the preloaded shape generators, I much more prefer to do it the old fashioned way

 

Luke

To paraphrase what another member (Gareth) has said on here a couple of times now, be aware that on the Blue Room you are getting advice from people from all walks of the industry... everything from students who have seen a mover in a catalogue and thought that it might be cool to get one day, to industry professionals who have been doing this day in and day out for tens of years...

 

Just a gentle reminder to be aware of this and to take what people say with a grain or two of salt.. (hint, you can often find out a bit about the poster by looking at their profile...)

 

:D

 

Yes I am fully aware, I will be taking everyones info with a large pinch of salt, It's really to see if anyone has come up with issues with using movers on their side that have actually used this kit instead of ringing the manufacturer and getting told whatever it says on their screen to say.

 

(hint, you can often find out a bit about the poster by looking at their profile...)

 

:P

 

As well as making your own profile as accurate and up to date as possible.....

 

Note taken, I don't think mine is very up to date, I shall change during this afternoons show ;-)

 

Again thanks for everyones info

 

P.S sorry for the bad english but I'm opping a show at the mo

[LXbydesign]

One tip thats useful for rigging movers on the side - depending how you wish to use them - if in keeping with the symetrical look , then invert pan / tilt on the heads on one side of the vertical truss / bar. this then speeds up your programming time for position focus.

 

of course - only useful if you want mirror image beam work all of the time coming in from the sides.

[church]

We did well on this thread on a minor wander of topic

 

** laughs out loud **

 

One tip thats useful for rigging movers on the side - depending how you wish to use them - if in keeping with the symetrical look , then invert pan / tilt on the heads on one side of the vertical truss / bar. this then speeds up your programming time for position focus.

 

of course - only useful if you want mirror image beam work all of the time coming in from the sides.

[vbm]

Ah, shape generators - the lazy operator's friend. Just do it the old fashioned way (a.k.a. "properly") - with a chase :** laughs out loud **: :D

 

"Ah, wheels. The lazy person's friend..." Just do it the old-fashioned way (a.k.a. "properly") - by walking."

 

[vbm expecting to be moderated/deleted within minutes...]

[Russ83]

We did well on this thread on a minor wander of topic

 

** laughs out loud **

Well lets be honest, Gareth both answered the original question AND predicted the future within two minutes of the original post so what did we expect to happen. Quite a few other useful bits of info in here as well though to be fair.

[Chris Adam]

Just to add my 2p's worth, no matter how you end up rigging them (side hung or on a boom - both will be fine), just make sure that whatever vertical truss you have them on is on a big enough tank trap to take it, and is weighted enough if need be. I've seen too many bits of wibbely wobbely truss that could be knocked over by a slight gust of wind.

I'm sure you already know that, but it's totally worth saying before someone gets a sore head. good luck with the show.

[Keeper of the Keys]

I hope I will be forgiven for going offtopic once more.

 

Though DMX-512 describes a protocol it is more than that, definitely in it's DMX-512-A/ANSI E1.11-2004 form, it is also a standard describing rules for cabling, connectors merging etc.

 

And since the above mentioned update to the DMX512/1990 standard does not mention XLR3 as a valid connector type as device featuring said connector does not comply to the standard.

 

That does not mean that it won't work or that it's a bad device.