Must-have Gear for Lighting Your Stage

Sometimes just a little light is enough. It depends, of course, on the size of the stage you are performing on, your experience and your budget. One thing is certain: without lights or effects, there is no spectacle. Therefore, it is absolutely essential to set up your show using the appropriate gear. 

Important: Don’t forget about safety! Remember that lights must be secured with a ground (aka a grounding electrode) to avoid electric shock. Lighting not only affects the senses and emotions but, because it can be high voltage, can hurt you physically (or even kill you). You will find a lot of information about lighting safety rules on the internet.

Advice for Beginners

Basic right/left lighting

The fundamental basis is to always have PAR (Parabolic Aluminized Reflector) lights mounted on a stand on the right and left sides (or in front) of the stage. Half the battle is won because onstage darkness is eliminated. Take a look at the Stairville CLB8 Compact LED Bar 8 RGBW 8W light set with its four LED lights side by side.

Stairville CLB8 Compact LED Bar 8 RGBW 8W

Floodlights, battery lighting & Co.

The first step is completed but using only side lighting can make you look a little pale. To compensate for this, here is the following proposal: Stairville’s Tri Flat PAR Flat LED PAR 5 x 3 W Bundle available in a 4-piece bundle with carrying case. With these lights, you can ideally illuminate the drummer, the keyboardist, or use them as stage back-lighting. After your show, they are easily stored in their handy case.

Stairville’s Tri Flat PAR Flat LED PAR 5 x 3 W Bundle

Something special?

Looking for something practical and functional? Nothing could be easier than this: The Ape Labs LightCan battery-powered LED spotlights offer 15 watts of power and are super easy to use! Simply place them on stage at a reasonable distance and let them work, change the colours from time to time, and that’s all. You will get ideal lighting for breaks and intermissions. This could be important when the rest of the lighting system turns off at the end of a song, for example.

Ape Labs LightCans – set of 4

Light controlled by your feet? 

To keep the light show interesting you need to change the colours and programs regularly, and it’s unlikely that a lighting manager will be part of your team. You must therefore control the lights yourself, on stage! How do you do this if your hands are busy playing an instrument? It’s simple, use the Stairville LED Foot 8 DMX  foot controller. It has all the important functions built in such as dimming, switching programs, changing colour, etc all controlled by foot switches. You can remain completely independent, no need to hire a technician.

Stairville LED Foot 8 DMX

Hanging lights 

A rule for stage productions: apart from some ground lights, the stage remains clear for the art to take place. Everything else is suspended, such as the backlight, blinders or small lyres. For this type of equipment, we offer the Millenium SLS300 Lighting Stand: a crossbar fixed on two legs and able to withstand a maximum load of 25 kg. If the stage has a width of more than 3 m, which is often the case, you can extend the stand by 150 cm using the Millenium SLS150. Because you have good taste, and also because your lights need a reflecting surface, you can dress your crossbar with Backdrops or Stage Drapes.

Millenium SLS300 Lighting Stand

This might already be too much info for some beginners to handle so let’s move on to those readers who have more experience in stage lighting and want to go the extra mile to impress their spectators…

Product Advice for Lighting Technicians

LED Spot Moving Heads

The Stairville MH-x60 LED spotlight is a multi-functional hero among robotic lights. It offers specially developed possibilities for bands playing in clubs, bars and small festivals. It features 60 Watt white light, pre-programmed light shows, colour changes, half-colours and a rainbow effect. Also, get ready for some trippy effects when the gobo wheel (rotating or static) is used. To top it off, the bundle includes a flight case, making it very convenient transport.

Stairville MH-x60 LED

Backlight

The backlight is fashionable and works best with retro products that have been improved and relaunched on the market. One example is the Showtec Sunstrip Activ RetroLED, which can be used for those special moments. It perfectly simulates the Tungsten dimming curve and is particularly suitable for lighting at the front of the stage.

Showtec Sunstrip Activ RetroLED

A bit of smoke

It’s no secret: no smoke, no magic. It not only provides mystery and romance, but enhances any existing lighting. A good example is the Look Unique fog machine 2.1. Some of its advantages: it heats very quickly, and therefore does not generate constant evaporation, and the pump and fan can be controlled separately. In a nutshell: an effective device for small and large stages! Another great option is the Martin Rush SM 850 EU smoke machine. Even if its heating time is longer, its pump offers a smoke flow of 200 m². You can use the Unique Look for continuous fog and the Martin for extra bright moments.

Martin Rush SM 850 EU

Blinders

Professional shows impress the crowd with the use of blinders. They have two primary uses: either shining the light directly into the audience making them feel like part of the show (but also hiding the stage from view), or shining it back on the stage offering harmonic brightness. The Cameo Flash Matrix 250 is a newly launched and really effective blinder (with built in strobe and chase effects too).

Cameo Flash Matrix 250

Beam me up, Scotty! 

The Stairville BladeSting 8 RGBW Beam Mover offers numerous beam changes. Equipped with 8 LEDs (4 10-Watt LEDs on two independent heads), it offers many combinations of luminous images. Your viewers will be impressed by its motion, especially in autonomous operation. Several devices arranged on either side of the stage or attached to a crossbar at the rear will allow you to perform quite a rich light show.

Stairville BladeSting 8 RGBW Beam Mover

So there you have it folks, a few products to help you get on your way with a fantastically lit spectacle. If you have any other bright ideas please leave them in the comments below, don’t leave them in the dark!

We would be pleased to welcome you at our Lighting department in Treppendorf

And here is the link to the Lighting and Stage page of our online store

#LightYourStage with the #ThomannLightingDays!

Joe has been singing since he can remember and started playing guitar when he was 10. He's been using it as a songwriting tool ever since. He is passionate about melody and harmony and admires musicians who create these in unique ways. Check out his alternative / indie projects Best of Feelings and Zef Raček.

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