What to use to create a 'rave' feel at a wedding

[DJ Jules]

I've just been asked for a Laser for a wedding that I'm doing on the 7th August because the B&G want to make it look a bit like a 90's rave (they've asked for house music for the night to give you an idea of the ambience that they're trying to create). I don't actually own a laser at the moment (because I'm not a big fan of them myself and don't get to use smoke a lot), and I know the venue won't allow me to use smoke (I've heard the stories from another DJ about how he got the place evacuated and was almost fined by the fire brigade) so I've been trying to work out what to do for the best.

The B&G are paying enough for me to hire a complete lighting rig for the evening, so forget about what I do or don't have for now - what would you use to give a real "Rave" feeling at a gig like this?

Julian

[Mark Wild]

Plenty of UV would be a nice touch.

[DJ Jules]

Plenty of UV would be a nice touch.

Good point - works well with white dinner shirts and wedding dresses too :D

Julian

[OllieJames]

What about an LED strobe?

[Vectis]

So the remit is

1. Rave
2. Lasers
3. No smoke

Hmmm....

I'd be upfront with the B&G and tell them you can't recreate the effect they're looking for because of the smoke restriction. Then I'd look to cluster lasers such as the Equinox Nebula & Sigma as a substitute, probably with a little UV (or LED pars set to blue/purple) and some strobing as has been suggested.

[DJ Jules]

So the remit is

1. Rave
2. Lasers
3. No smoke


Strictly speaking, it's "Rave & No Smoke", lasers were his suggestion to try and get the effect he's after, but not an essential component.


I'd be upfront with the B&G and tell them you can't recreate the effect they're looking for because of the smoke restriction.

I did that straight away and they actually appeared to understand what I was talking about for once :eek: . I usually get this kind of blank look from people when and then I have to start trying to explain that you can't see the lights in the air unless there's something for the light to reflect off (like smoke for instance) :bang: .


Then I'd look to cluster lasers such as the Equinox Nebula & Sigma as a substitute, probably with a little UV (or LED pars set to blue/purple) and some strobing as has been suggested.

Sounds like a plan, I'll probably run a couple of scans alongside a pair of LED wash panels and hire a cluster laser and a UV cannon or a pair of UV LED panels. There's not a lot of point in having a pair of Cluster lasers is there as the effect is pretty wide and isn't likely to benefit from being doubled up? If I could use smoke I probably would have hired a pair of scanning lasers and a single UV cannon, but... I can't... :bang:

Thanks for everyone's suggestions so far,

Julian

[OllieJames]

I'd hire some LED UV panels if possible :) TC1ooo has a couple and they look mega bright from the gallery pictures.

[Vectis]

There's not a lot of point in having a pair of Cluster lasers is there as the effect is pretty wide and isn't likely to benefit from being doubled up?

Depends on the shape of the room. I often use two - one nebula ceiling-bound and on for much of the night and a Sigma which has a few other patterns as well as blending in nicely with the Nebula which I use sparingly on the dancefloor or side walls for certain musical styles.

[tc1ooo]

I'd hire some LED UV panels if possible :) TC1ooo has a couple and they look mega bright from the gallery pictures.

I have 4 now :)

[tc1ooo]

Is it only me who thinks lasers still look good without smoke? They make nice patterns on the wall, which is what any lights do without smoke.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Is it only me who thinks lasers still look good without smoke? They make nice patterns on the wall, which is what any lights do without smoke.

Hardly a fair comparison is it?

[WWDJ]

One thing would be to get the room as dark as possible otherwise the atmosphere will be lost.

I'd go for
- Scanners, sweeping the crowd
- UV
- A couple of cluster lasers mounted as far apart as possible
- big strobe... under controler, flashing once a second, the wind it up for the most wild bits of the tunes.

This is the sort of atmosphere I try and recreate for my teenage parties and 18th and so on.

[A1DL]

what would you use to give a real "Rave" feeling at a gig like this?

Without knowing the size of the space, power provision or any environmental restrictions (none of which were ever real issues back in the day of the early parties ;) ), it's difficult to answer.

So assuming there's a reasonable space, plenty of juice and no EHOs about, top of my LX list would be

4 No. Martin Atomics
1 No. Martin RGB1.6


Don't forget for the real rave experience you need bass - and plenty of it - I think I'd add 2 or 4 No. B2s to my list.

[Cj_The_Dj]

What about haze. I think 4 Scans, 2 Movers, 2 UV panels. :) with a laser as center. depending on what you already have.

[visualdjmax]

Without knowing the size of the space, power provision or any environmental restrictions (none of which were ever real issues back in the day of the early parties ;) ), it's difficult to answer.

So assuming there's a reasonable space, plenty of juice and no EHOs about, top of my LX list would be

4 No. Martin Atomics
1 No. Martin RGB1.6


Don't forget for the real rave experience you need bass - and plenty of it - I think I'd add 2 or 4 No. B2s to my list.

Atomics. Nice. That will send them them over the edge:D

[DJ Jules]

Thanks to everyone who replied on this. I've ended up going with:

4 x Scanners
1 x Starcluster laser (Kam) - hire
2 x LED panels (with strobe function built in - controlled by DMX)
2 x 250w moonflowers for earlier in the night
2 x UV panels - hired

I'm "negotiating" on hiring a pair of moving heads as well. I'll try and get some photos on Sun night.

It's going to be an interesting night, the playlist they've given me has got everything from Coldplay/Snow Patrol to Basement Jaxx to Faithless to Chase n Status. I'm expecting to do a fairly laid back/mainstream set for the first 2-3hrs through mainstream dance (BEP/Dizzee Rascal/etc) moving into house for a couple of hours and probably finishing with 30mins or so of DnB.

Julian