up lighting

[marting]

Hi am thinking of getting some lights for up lighting and im currently undecided have seen two good deals, im not looking at doing huge venues or castles (yet)

http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/prodpage.asp?prodid=3530


or

http://www.djanddiscostuff.com/prodpage.asp?prodid=3145

your thoughts please am hoping to do with minimum amount of cables etc

[Cowlinn]

If you want to offer uplighting as a service as a posed to just uplighting behind you for example, I'd imagine you'd need more than four units to start with...

How about something like 8 of these?

http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?browsemode=category&id=LDJLEDJ01

[marting]

If you want to offer uplighting as a service as a posed to just uplighting behind you for example, I'd imagine you'd need more than four units to start with...

How about something like 8 of these?

http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?browsemode=category&id=LDJLEDJ01

had been looking at getting 2 sets to start with phase one also do and 8 mega bar set

[Cowlinn]

had been looking at getting 2 sets to start with phase one also do and 8 mega bar set

Gottcha. In that case, they look :approve:

[Charlie Brown]

The colour bursts aren't very bright. I spent over a grand two months ago on 18 cans/leads etc and wish I'd saved up and brought ones. They are bright but not bright enough. I think they were about £45 a can whereas I have two powerful cans that were £85 each. If you spend that bit more - you won't need as many to light up a venue.

[Booche]

Now i tend to disargee with Chalie as i find the colourbursts quite powerfull, i have a couple of par56's and they are wider/bigger units BUT the output i dont find any different to the colourbursts apart from they may have a slight bigger spread but all in all theres not alot of difference.

There is a picture from Paul (SpiritsHigh) were he was in a marquee and used both par56's and colorbursts and the only thing you will notice is what i said above and in my eyes the colourbursts seem to be brither kust not as much spread.

[Charlie Brown]

I used my 56 cans and colour bursts at the big wedding last month - The groom came and spoke to me 'Charlie, the uplighting doesn't seem very bright. Can you up it so we can do the speeches' There was nothing I could do so I sent him a cheque for £100 in the post the next day.

TBF - It was a dark room with old oak which didn't do the cans justice.

[Spirits High]

There is a picture from Paul (SpiritsHigh) were he was in a marquee and used both par56's and colorbursts and the only thing you will notice is what i said above and in my eyes the colourbursts seem to be brither kust not as much spread.

This one Dave?

How was the Dragon BTW?

[Booche]

This one Dave?

How was the Dragon BTW?

Thats the one Paul :)

As you can see there not much difference

The Dragon was good mate missed a few regulars :( busy uptown situation :(
otherwise i enjoyed it as i always do there :D

EDIT: Just noticed my spelling in my last post :eek:

[Charlie Brown]

Paul, what cans are you using?

[Spirits High]

Paul, what cans are you using?

Now or in that pic?

[Charlie Brown]

In that pic and now.

I'm sure the cans in that picture are from the seller from eBay?

[Spirits High]

In that pic

They were 5 ch Stairville jobs


and now.

4ch LEDJ 10mm type ones



I'm sure the cans in that picture are from the seller from eBay?

Depends what seller that is??

They did come from ebay but secondhand not new

[Charlie Brown]

Well I brought these and they are crap.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230397611936&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_1576wt_1029

[Spirits High]

Well I brought these and they are crap.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230397611936&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_1576wt_1029

Beg to differ!

That's what I use and they're certainly not crap.

They're responsible for this "crap" effort :eek:

[Charlie Brown]

Ahhh - that would be grand but mine don't say LEDJ on them. They appear to be a knock off. ;)

[Spirits High]

Ahhh - that would be grand but mine don't say LEDJ on them. They appear to be a knock off. ;)

Have they got "Zoom" on them?

[Charlie Brown]

Nope, no writing whatsoever.

[Spirits High]

Nope, no writing whatsoever.

Interesting as I have both LEDJ & ZOOM and they're the same thing internal & external.

If you bought from that ebay seller and didn't get what you paid for why didn't you send them back :confused:

[marting]

very impressive photos,
I have decided to go with 4 of the adj mega bars r/c and then supplement with 4 or more ADJ par cans as they can be controlled via the mega bar r/c
the gig isnt untill august but will post photos at the time.

Have my first gig next week so may take them along as well for a bit of extra mood lighting.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Buy the Pulse cans. They are cheap (less than £40 each), versatile and as bright as you want them to be.

Charlie, I can't believe you gave someone a refund 'cos they said the lights weren't bright enough! What nonsense!

[Shakermaker Promotions]

((It looks like one of those days where I am going to be apologising a lot but I want to reply to this thread so....SORRY..in advance!)).

How many times do we get the whole "LEDJ Colourbursts are crap.." line from certain people?

Some may think that they're rubbish and that's fair enough, you're entitled to your opinion but some of us use them, have used them for ages and have never had any complaints. They are great little units in my opinion and do the job well. They are bright and also small enough to be discreet too as they can almost be hidden.

I have 2 x Kam 192 Panels now which I can use if I want to as Uplighting aswell. No word of a lie, these things are mega bright. They have 192 LED's in them. I reckon you could actually use 4 of these if you wanted to, to flood the walls of a venue quite easily. At the moment they are on my top bar and for the last 2 gigs I have had them matching the uplighting and facing the ceiling. They really are bright.

At the end of the day, each to their own and all that...

[Charlie Brown]

Charlie, I can't believe you gave someone a refund 'cos they said the lights weren't bright enough! What nonsense!

Hand on my heart hope to die.

It was my first uplighting job and she did want all of the beams in the old building lighting up (we had to miss out 4 beams because it took so long) and the cans simply weren't powerful enough against the dark wood.

She paid for a service that I couldn't 100% fulfill.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Do you have Terms & Conditions regarding Uplighting etc?
Do you do a site visit beforehand and a tester to see if it will look good enough?

[Shaun]

Beg to differ!

That's what I use and they're certainly not crap.

They're responsible for this "crap" effort :eek:

In fairness, the powerbar is resposible for a good proportion of that colour wash. Looks awesome though :)

p.s. this section of the forum is viewable to guests - I'd get the watermarked before it ends up on Sid's website.

[Shaun]

Do you have Terms & Conditions regarding Uplighting etc?
Do you do a site visit beforehand and a tester to see if it will look good enough?

I don't have a T&C for my uplighting. I've played in a few venues where Dark wood is used throughout, and it would be an absolute nightmare to uplight. I can image this was the case with Charlie.

So how does everyone else that provides uplighting establish whether the site is suitable for uplighting when they haven't been to the site before? I always try to do a site visit where possible, butmost of my gigs are a fair distance away so this isn't possible each and every time. Up till now I've called and been given enough information to make a judgement call, but I suppose that could backfire at some point. If I turned up to uplight a venue like the one Charlie experienced I'd feel I wasn't providing the customer with what they paid for....and would probably refund them too in that situation (especially as I have no individual T&C's in place for that service.

So....anyone care to share their uplighting T&C's with me? Via PM if you would prefer. Thank you in advance. :)

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I don't have Terms & Conditions set specifically for the Uplighting but in there it does say that a site visit is necessary to make sure that it can look as good as possible. I always tell people in advance and in meetings too if I haven't had the chance to visit the venue. The problem is, some customers have their hearts set on Uplighting. They don't realise what goes into it, the hassles with power points, the time and effort etc and to be fair, they don't need to know do they....they just want it to look good.

[Shaun]

They don't realise what goes into it, the hassles with power points, the time and effort etc and to be fair, they don't need to know do they....they just want it to look good.

Aint that the truth! Your earlier post (and also Charlie's recent situation) got me thinking though. There's going to come a time where the client has paid for the uplighting and I turn up and be faced with a similar type of situation to Charlies'. I really need to get something in writing that states that the effectiveness of the uplighting could be affected by the venue decor and layout.....and that no refunds will be made in these circumstances. So I'm wondering if anyone has specific tems and conditions they use for their uplighting service.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I agree....We need to be covered. Surely, if the customer knows the decor of their chosen venue and still want to go ahead with Uplighting, there should ideally be no problems should there?

The venue I was at last weekend was a problem but I overcame it. If I couldn't have then I would have had one well and truly peeved Bride. That's one thing though....it was a venue change. It went from one venue that was unbelievably easy to Uplight to one that was at the other end of the scale. I knew the venue too and had been there on various occasions but had never Uplit it before so I didn't need to go and visit it in my opinion. That's a learning curve isn't it and a reason not to take things for granted.

I'm going to have a good think and re-write my Terms & Conditions and I should imagine so will a few others?

[Paul The Party Dj]

On Thursday I took delivery of 6 of these http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_flood_panel_150_20.htm

So far, I'm impressed - I'm guessing they are the same as many of the other slim panels on the market. I've been using the popular Stairville cans, but as we all know those don't run master / slave - these do. They also have iec in and out sockets - the old cans had the cable attached.

I hope to have a video up in the next few days.

[Charlie Brown]

Do you have Terms & Conditions regarding Uplighting etc?
Do you do a site visit beforehand and a tester to see if it will look good enough?

No T&C's and yes, I visited the venue beforehand. I didn't realise all of the house lights were going to be turned off. Come 10ish my par cans and loads of candles dotted around the room where the only source of light!

I felt bad because it didn't look that great and I had charged them a ridiculous amount for the job.

[Booche]

Charlie is there any gig were you DO NOT give a refund of some sort ?

[Charlie Brown]

Charlie is there any gig were you DO NOT give a refund of some sort ?

I care about my clients and I strive to give the best possible service I can. If I think something warrants a small gesture of refund then I will give it to them. Obviously, they were very pleased I gave them a bit of dosh back - hopefully it will do more good than bad in the long run!

[Booche]

I care about my clients and I strive to give the best possible service I can. If I think something warrants a small gesture of refund then I will give it to them. Obviously, they were very pleased I gave them a bit of dosh back - hopefully it will do more good than bad in the long run!

Well i think anone would be happy that they have paid for a service and then you refund some cash lol

Yeah i agree it might do you good as i can just see the client speaking to there mates

"Book Charlie Brown and he will give you a refund" lol

.....goes to make a note to book Charlie for any event and then ask for a refund........................

[Charlie Brown]

I don't give refunds out willy nilly. I've done it twice. :)

[funkymook]

I care about my clients and I strive to give the best possible service I can. If I think something warrants a small gesture of refund then I will give it to them. Obviously, they were very pleased I gave them a bit of dosh back - hopefully it will do more good than bad in the long run!

I can understand that - and it's all a learning process (however long you've been doing it). Charlie now knows uplighting dark wood isn't as effective as white marquees and can better manage his clients expectations in the future.

[Shaun]

Perhaps I'm in the minority here but I think Charlie is to be applauded for caring enough about his clients to want to offer refunds in extenuating circumstances. It shows he cares about his customers.

[Booche]

Perhaps I'm in the minority here but I think Charlie is to be applauded for caring enough about his clients to want to offer refunds in extenuating circumstances. It shows he cares about his customers.

Oh i wasnt saying it's a bad thing but i feel that Charlie may have been abit to generous etc, if they had mentioned it and asked for a refund of some sort then fair enough but to just say here is etc back that is what i fail to see why.

It like a gig a did a week or so ago were it was red hot and we were in a really stuffy room at the side of the beer garden and alot of people stayed outside due to the weather, do i offer a refund of X amount due to that ?

If Charlie did the job of what he was asked/sold for then cant see what the issue is, i think the most i would have done is offered is a nice complementry way is to offer a service next time they book at a reduced rate or explain what had happened and do the reduced rate situation as Charlie has said he charged them alot so maybe knock £50 or similar off to were he is still earning and not giving away money

Sorry to go off topic and hope it doesn't effect your custom Charlie :D

[Shaun]

It like a gig a did a week or so ago were it was red hot and we were in a really stuffy room at the side of the beer garden and alot of people stayed outside due to the weather, do i offer a refund of X amount due to that ?



In the situation you mentioned I wouldn't provide them with a refund. You've provided the service in full so whether the people sat inside or not shouldn't make a difference to the fee as you provided a full performance. In charlie's situation he provided a service that he felt wasn't proficient enough for the fee he charged. And the way I read his post is that he felt that was down the Par Cans he purchased. So it seemed in essence that Charlie felt he had let the customers down with his poor choice of purchase (jump in and correct me if I'm wrong, Charlie!) and decided to reimburse them as they were unhappy. If faced with the same situation I might have done the same.

[Andy Goodtimes]

Sounds llike it was prob right to give a refund. Uplighting isn't easy and is certainly harder in some venues than others. The Bride in particular sees a picture or has attended someone elses Wedding and thinks that's something I want for my own Wedding and is looking forward to having some fantastic pictures and so on and then if it doesn't work out right on the night of course there will be disappointment.

I think a site visit is really necessary for uplighting, most venues will have pictures of the room on their site but that's a poor second and getting info from others like venue staff or the client is totally unreliable as they don't really understand what you need to know.

As for the units themselves...I have various ones and my favourite is the Visio bars and cans but the Pulse ones from CPC can work well too if you use enough and place them properly. I think that the cheaper ones are ok but you may well need more which is false ecconomy and can take longer to set and be more messy.

[MikeW]

On Thursday I took delivery of 6 of these http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_flood_panel_150_20.htm

So far, I'm impressed - I'm guessing they are the same as many of the other slim panels on the market. I've been using the popular Stairville cans, but as we all know those don't run master / slave - these do. They also have iec in and out sockets - the old cans had the cable attached.

I hope to have a video up in the next few days.

These look nice and neat Paul.
This might be a really stupid question, but with the in/out IEC, does that mean you can plug your first can in to the main power and just daisy chain the rest?
Thanks in advance.

[Paul The Party Dj]

Hi Mike

Yes you can - we did that with the old ones but had to use "Y" junctions which was a bit of a pain. They are similar to, if not the same as, the "puck" style that are all over YouTube. They also have a double bracket so that they can be angled as required. The settings / DMX are controlled via an led display rather than by traditional switches. There are two versions available, one has a 20 degree dispersion, the other has a wider 40 degree dispersion - I went for the 20 version.

I hope to get the video up by Thursday.

[Charlie Brown]

Yup - Shaun has hit the nail on the head.

It didn't look anything like the pictures I showed her beforehand.

Ben will back me up here - 'Jeees Charlie, you've taken on a big uplighting job. If I was doing this job I would have used the ultra bright cans I use for uplighting outside/onto buildings.'

The ceilings were incredibly tall (old church) and it was dark oak all the way up. Yes, the cans were effective in a disco environment but they didn't light the whole venue up in purple/showing the architecture as planned.

Dave - I was contracted to do something that I couldn't 100% pull off and achieve. If I kept all of the money - it would be ripping them off! It's like booking a huge dancefloor and only getting half. What I managed to achieve didn't warrant the full amount I original charged.

[MikeW]

Hi Mike

Yes you can - we did that with the old ones but had to use "Y" junctions which was a bit of a pain. They are similar to, if not the same as, the "puck" style that are all over YouTube. They also have a double bracket so that they can be angled as required. The settings / DMX are controlled via an led display rather than by traditional switches. There are two versions available, one has a 20 degree dispersion, the other has a wider 40 degree dispersion - I went for the 20 version.

I hope to get the video up by Thursday.

Thanks for that Paul, I will look forward to the video.