This is where you can quickly explain what is going to happen, what you are bringing, and what is expected of the venue before diving into detailed specifics. The first main thing I put on a rider is a summary of what is going on in regards to lighting for the tour. Ideally the touring LD, tour manager and production manager, it needs to be someone that can answer all the questions a venue or local vendor may have. On the top of the rider there needs to be contact information for at least two people on the tour. It is incredibly frustrating when old riders end up being sent with the advance sometimes. Include both a time frame of the tour as well as a “current as of” date. This is important to keep your information up to date. (Although you will find this happens a lot more than you want it to happen, especially in smaller venues). The last thing you want is to put together what you need, and to find out that no one read it when you get to the venue. There are a few key things a lighting rider should always include in order to get what you need for a successful show.Īlthough seemingly obvious, it is important that the band name is prominent enough that the local crew can pick out your rider in a giant pile of future show information. The main thing to keep in mind is that your rider needs to be simple and straight to the point while still containing enough detail so that the local lighting vendor and/or venue knows exactly what is needed and how it will be used. If crafted well, when you show up for your load in you know exactly what is being provided to you and there are ( hopefully) no surprises! There isn’t a right and a wrong way to make a lighting rider, it can be done in a variety of ways and everyone seems to develop their own style. When advancing a show, a lighting rider is intended to help open up the lines of communication with the venue and/or local vendor.
#BAND STAGE LIGHTING DESIGN HOW TO#
I've done my share of bar gigs and they suck bad enough, you don't want to add a complicated lighting system to your setup/teardown time.We asked our friend and colleague Eamonn Mckiernan (Lighting Designer/Director for bands such as Cage the Elephant, AWOLNation, Silversun Pickups, Little Dragon, and most recently Foster the People) for some advice on creating a lighting rider for a tour and how to make sure you communicate your needs through your advance.
![band stage lighting design band stage lighting design](https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/media/2019/06/stage-lighting-church-hero.jpg)
I've used the predecessor to this system (the Mega Par Profile-based one) on some embarrassingly large productions.Ĥ).
![band stage lighting design band stage lighting design](https://centaur-wp.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/designweek/prod/content/uploads/2019/07/16144425/Priority-shot-1.jpg)
It's also DMX-controllable, which means when you decide to scale your light show up, it will scale with you. Buying individual lights means you have to either make them all do the same thing at the same time (boring) or spend time addressing them all separately and building chases. That means you can more easily do "fancy" stuff, like having the lights do different things. It's one fixture with four different lights on it. Much easier for you to keep up with during a show.Ģ). getting two of something like the ADJ Dotz system would be fantastic for what you're doing.ġ). So, the best place for you guys to start would be just getting the stage washed.
#BAND STAGE LIGHTING DESIGN UPDATE#
Update 8/7/17: Thanks thus far for your excellent feedback!
![band stage lighting design band stage lighting design](https://www.claypaky.it/media/news/images/clay_paky_sharpys_rock_with_rush_as_band_wraps_clockwork_angels_tour.jpg)
Has anyone in this sub ever had any experiences with the above? Or do you have any other recommendations for a good starter lighting set? Your feedback (or jokes if my research thus far blows) is appreciated. I'm looking at the Chauvet Obey 40 Lighting Control Board, as well as daisy chaining 2-4 Chauvet 64 lights together. It seems Chauvet is the really well-known brand in this space. I'm figuring we are only going to spend a few hundred dollars at first, but if the effect is good, we would like to build on the equipment we initially get.
![band stage lighting design band stage lighting design](http://blog.auditoriumworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAhfAAAAJGQ0MWIyYjAxLWUwZWYtNDY2Ni04YzVlLTRjMTQ1ZDVmMzFiMQ.jpg)
I've been looking at some tutorials all day, such as basic DMX, creating multiple scenes, various fixtures, etc. This would simply be a way to keep audience focused sometimes, and create the right mood for various cover songs we play. I recently started looking into adding stage lighting for our gigs. Hi, I am a drummer in a three piece acoustic Rock band.