Moving head help

[Leeburkill]

Thank you for all the advice everybody. It's much appreciated.

 

I'll try and rephrase my question bearing in mind what has been aforementioned.

 

I currently represent a village hall which has a seating capacity of around 160 for normal performance situations. The hall is used for theatre productions, pantomimes, dance shows, fashion shows you name it.

 

The hall itself is 16m long, 9m wide and 9m high. At the moment the lighting bars run up the walls to the ceiling about 5m back from the front of stage. We are currently planning the installation of a new lighting bar that will run straight across the hall in the same position. The height hasn't yet been determined.

 

We have some portable staging that is used in many configurations and generally just small portions of different shows, the produces also often has cast members perform in the hall briefly ( I mark the floor so they are alway in the same position.

 

The hall is also used as a wedding type venue, a marque is erected inside and I'd like to be able to top light the ceiling of the marque from the new lighting bar which will now be above.

 

The hall is also often rented for social evenings/parties and the lighting is used to create an atmosphere as much as possible.

 

Is much as I'd prefer more dedicated stage lighting I've been asked to do many things with this limited budget for now. We are constantly adding to the hall but obviously little by little.

 

I though that 3 moving heads would cover all bases? Non brilliantly but good enough for now.

 

What other considerations would you suggest? I've been recommended some moving heads today that have a varying beam angle but it will only be able to purchase two of them as they are more expensive.

 

I'm guessing the consensus is still going to be no.........

 

What should I be considering instead?

 

Once again, thank you for sharing your experience everyone ,before I wasted the money on something that just isn't going to be up to the task.

[paulears]

If they go wide enough, then two of those will be more useful than 3 narrow ones, in my humble opinion. Beam angle wise, keep in mind that a typical zoom fixed profile will have a range of maybe 25-45 degrees or so, if your movers can do this, I'd risk them - just make sure you buy from somebody who will accept returns.

[dmxlights]

If the person or shop your getting them off are any good they would let you try them out to see will they preform the way you are hopping they will. I would get asking can you get them to try out.

[mac500]

American Dj inno colour beam z7 looks like a good unit. 7x 10w quad colour LEDs.

[top-cat]

American Dj inno colour beam z7 looks like a good unit. 7x 10w quad colour LEDs.

 

Looks good, or is good? Have you used one?

 

Scouring the Thomann website and going for the most expensive thing near to the budget does not count as a recommendation.

[Leeburkill]

The lights that have been recommended are:

 

AmericanDJ. Vizi spot LED Pro

iSolution IMove 350 SR

Showtech indigo 5500.

 

Has anyone got any knoledge or experience of any of these?

 

I've just looked at ADJ Inno colour beam Z7.

It looks good on paper but have you used any?

 

Something else I never considered before reading these posts, how loud are the motors on moving heads?

I assume the budget end are going to be quite noisy now I think about it and they are going to be sat a few meters above the audiences head!

 

Been given this money was quite exciting at the time I was told! Not so much now...............

[CraigG]

I've used Showtec 6500s, the big brother a couple of times before (albeit for DJ/club type events) and for a fixture of that price it was pretty good.

 

Colours and gobos weren't bad, and a prism, remote focus (and I believe iris) allowed for some pretty decent beam control, a fully unfocused beam actually spread out somewhat. Worth noting I had the bigger fixture, but intensity wise it was pretty solid, defo comparable to an older 575 fixture and more than adequate for a room bigger than yours.

 

We did however have a couple of issues such as pan/tilt or wheels coming unalligned, but nothing a reset didn't sort.

Regarding your noise question though, we had 6 of em, and walking into the room it resembled standing behind a plane taking off!

 

But as I say, for the money not bad

[Leeburkill]

If I just use them when the chorus is singing they may be beneficial then.........?

 

The more I think about this the more I believe I need to call a meeting with all concerned and take everything back to the drawing board?

 

Moving head, for now at least, are not looking like the best way to go?

 

Where is, I know not..........

[paulears]

I realise you want to soak up the pros and ignore the comments but the widest beam on those three is 18 degrees. Look at your distance and hanging height and see how big the circle of light will be. A few rough calculations or graph paper and protractor will reveal a VERY small circle.

 

Using village hall sizes, maybe as small as a metre!

[top-cat]

The more I think about this the more I believe I need to call a meeting with all concerned and take everything back to the drawing board?

 

Moving head, for now at least, are not looking like the best way to go?

 

Where is, I know not..........

 

Yes, read my above comment.

 

Say who you are, where you're from, what you've got already, what you want to do with your kit, what infrastructure you have in place, and how much money you have... and there are a surprising number of people who'll have been in a similar situation before and have made the same mistakes and learned from them!

[norty303]

I can recommend the Showtec Indigo 4600 in the price bracket for a spot fixture. Easily comparable with an MSD250/2 lamped fixture for brightness, 2 gobo wheels, reasonable colours and they only use the fans when needed so reasonably quiet. Prism rotation is a bit noisy.

This is the smaller brother of the 5500 mentioned a few posts up, essentially the same bar the light engine.

Bonus is that the 4600 is getting discounted various places currently - Musicstore in Germany were offering them less than the distributor price recently, so you'd get 4 for your £1200 with some change probably for clamps, safeties, etc

0.5A power sonsumption, ~10kg a fixture.

[paulears]

Lee, I've worked out what's going on, so here is the response you want.

 

 

Hi Lee, the advice of every blue room member is that you should go ahead and buy these cheap movers. They're exactly what you need, and every example of what you need them to do is going to work brilliantly. You will be very pleased with them, they'll look great and be excellent value for money. The few people who said there are problems that are quite important are all talking rubbish and trying to tell you things you don't need to hear - so ignore them and just concentrate on the posts from the people who have got as excited as you by looking at pictures on the net. Don't get bogged down by the wording on the web pages. It's all terribly complicated stuff designed to put you off. Ignore it.

[Nicktaylor]

If you really want moving lights then maybe some used Mac 250s would do. If you buy from a reputable place you might pay £3-400 each. Personally for what you have said a wash would be better. It has zoom facilities so and element of spotting and much better colour variance than a spot.

[Panchromatic]

Are you looking for new or used / reconditioned? If good quality reconditioned movers with warranties will suffice message me.

 

 

 

Nick

[Ynot]

If you really want moving lights then maybe some used Mac 250s would do. If you buy from a reputable place you might pay £3-400 each. Personally for what you have said a wash would be better. It has zoom facilities so and element of spotting and much better colour variance than a spot.

Er, a little off topic, but no it doesn't

 

NONE of the 250 range had zoom as a function...