I’ll tell you.As soon as I found lighting effects for DJ setups, I’ve become a lighting addict. This article assumes you are just beginning to explore lighting effects.Given that being the case, let’s start with some basics and go from there.
Virtually all DJ lighting unit are sound activated.That means you can just plug the unit into an outlet, point it in the desired direction, set it to respond to sound, blast the music, and let it run.However, you need to have a think before proceeding.
Note that many lighting units get blisteringly hot, so you must be careful that no injuries occur.We’re using a scortching hot device that runs on house current, so you must put safety first.Since you will often choose to hang some of the lights, be absolutely sure that you use every possible safety precaution to be certain the lights don’t fall on someone’s head.And be sure you don’t overload any outlets!It is terribly upsetting (and unprofessional) to start up the equipment for the first dance, turn on the lights, and have a breaker trip shutting down the works.Spread the power loads safely across the correct number of circuits and let it all run for a while before you event begins.
When considering the locations of the lights you need to make sure every light hears the music so it will react correctly.This usually isn’t an issue, especially indoors, but it does mean that you need to check out the locations by actually testing the units with the sound up.
What to select?I’m sure the fixtures I like the best are the “intelligent” lights or what you’ll heard referred to as scanners.Lasers units can wow an audience.If all this lighting talk has you excited, the “moving yoke” lights will get you worked up.Let’s not spend any time here discussing these because you can see them and watch mini-movies of what they look like in action at various websites.If you don’t know what you can find these, do a search for “Chauvet Lighting”.There are a lot of mini-movies at Chauvet’s site showing their lights in operation.
Here’s one suggestion: Make sure any units that you buy are DMX units.DMX refers a system common to lighting control that enables the operation of the lighting units from a remote device such as a programmable light board or software-based unit.As a result you can run all your lights from a remote light control board or a device that hooks up to a computer.This means you’ll need to add a step in your set up by running a control cable to every lighting unit or use some form of wireless control, but you’ll love what effects you’ll be able to create, and you’ll just have to have it sooner or later.
Looking to talk about DJ lights? They you need to be at my blog, Discovering and Shopping for DJ Lights.
We’ll look at DMX some more next time.Your class project is to go check out what’s out there – and have a blast!
