Lighting
crews aren't necessarily the best people to tell you,
the musician, everything you need to know about
lighting. After all, they've got their own vested
interests to defend. Obviously, if you routinely play
in stadiums or even large theatres, you'll need to
trust a good lighting designer and let them get on
with it. But for most gigging musicians, there can be
times when it's worth taking an active interest. How
often have you watched gigs at pub and club level
where the lighting was more of a distraction than an
enhancement? The fact that someone can hump a few PAR
cans into the back of a Transit doesn't automatically
turn them into a talented and imaginative lighting
designer.
Lighting vitally affects the way your performance
will be perceived and every musician should take at
least a passing interest in how, and indeed whether,
they are lit. There's no point working hard on
visuals and delivery if every two seconds you're
going to vanish in a lurid nightmare of flashing
green and orange. PAR cans are available in several
different widths of beam, but with cheaper rigs it's
a bit of a lottery which type you'll get on any given
night.
First off, and it may sound blindingly obvious, but
check where the lamps are pointing. Get somebody to
stand in at each band member's stage position, and
make sure at least some of the light from each side
is catching them. Most PAR cans are actually
directional, with a wide horizontal beam whose angle
can be rotated by a porcelain mounting strip at the
back of the bulb. So you can usually climb up behind
each lamp with a heavy duty glove and adjust the beam
angle for maximum effect while aiming the lamp itself
in the desired direction. Backlighting is the
mainstay of conventional rock illumination, and on
large stages in big venues this will indeed create
mood-enhancing beams of light. Try it in your local
pub though, and you'll blind the audience while
turning the band into silhouettes. Up to a point,
there's nothing wrong with getting dazzled yourself
on stage, it means you're definitely lit, and
onlookers will never know you can't see them. But
dazzling an audience is pointless.
Similarly, it may seem equally obvious, but check
what colours are in your eight available lamps. Do
you really want to be yellow or mauve all evening? If
the colours supplied with the rig are crap, it's much
better to take them out altogether and use white,
which at least gives you good clean illumination. You
can then vary intensities on your dimmer board to
achieve changes in mood. If you really get the bug,
buy your own filters and take them around with you.
Finally, keep the lighting plot appropriate to the
size of the rig. At Wembley or Birmingham NEC you'll
see lights flashing on and off every nano-second, so
it's a racing certainty that anyone with itchy
fingers standing at your own dimmer board will flash
those four faders up and down all through your set -
it's what they're for, innit? Watch while some other
band gets this treatment. If it looks good to you,
copy it... if it looks terrible, avoid it. Remember
the primary function of lighting is to illuminate, a
fundamental truth that low-budget lighting
'engineers' all too often forget.
All this is easy enough to ensure if you're paying
for the lights yourself, since any crew supplied with
the rig will be working on your behalf. Often though,
some form of lighting will be supplied by the venue.
This has the advantage of being free, but the
drawback that it may be very basic and in poor
condition (especially the gels) and that some local
pisshead will have responsibility for it. That person
will want an easy life with a minimum of work and
hassle each evening. All too often you run into the
"we always do it this way" attitude, and
you'll need all your tact and diplomacy to get this
pitiful illumination adjusted to your own purposes
and needs.
Two final thoughts. Make sure the PA speakers don't
obscure the audience's view of the stage more than
they absolutely have to. Sound crews seldom give much
consideration to visuals. Contrary to what they would
have you believe, PA stacks can often be moved back
to give a much wider, clearer view of the stage (and
your wonderful lighting) without much affecting the
sound. If they say this will cause feedback,
experiment first by moving your microphone forward to
see if they're right. The other thought is to
consider carrying your own black drapes (cheap
offcuts of cloth from your local department store)
around with you. The smaller the venue, the bigger
difference this will make, because of the amount of
stray light that gets thrown around. With matt drapes
over any gaffa-covered wallpaper and unsightly
flightcases, extra light will be absorbed by the
black material instead of distracting from your
performance.
