Upgrading our Drama Studio

[newpersn]

I was in the drama studio to work out how many light bulbs we need. But i had a thought. What would it take to upgrade our studio to LEDs

 

This is our current set up. 2 Rings with 2 down the side + and smaller ring in the middle. All Round 3 Pin Plugs

All go back to this ^^ Controlled by a Stand Lighting 1000 (didnt get pic but need to check name)

And a random photo of how the lights get power?!?

 

How much work am i looking at upgrading our drama studio

[hallb15]

Wow - that reminds me of when I used to do the lighting when I was in the 6th form at school.

I'd love to get my hands on that kind of project but my experience with LEDs is limited to the handful of LEDJ performers we have in our primary school.

Most of the LED stage lighting I've seen has a standard 13amp mains plug, not the traditional 15amp round plugs you have there. They also have the DMX built in to each unit, rather than using a dimmer pack for several lights.

 

My go to place for lighting is astounded.com but it might pay you to get in touch with a local company for and idea of installation costs.

[mdench]

If you have a digital lighting desk (double check the name and I'll take a look) then you could buy a bunch of LED Parcans, enough DMX to connect each light into a chain back to the desk and you would need a way of providing 13amp sockets. to the lights. Cost wise it depends on if you have a desk that you can use the lights with enough channels, what kind of lights do you want? Do you want just static lights or you could go for some moving LED wash GLP Impression 120 or similar that way you don't really have to worry about re rigging each time they want a light moved just program it to point in a different direction.

 

I would still keep some generic theatre lamps as sometimes LEDs can be too harsh and the theatre lamps give the scenes a much warmer look.

[Chris_]

It should be quite a straight forward upgrade add the option of intelligent/LED fixtures. To get 'hot' power on the lighting bars as required by LED fixtures, you could just patch the 15a sockets in to 13a outlets rather than the dimmers. You could get some of the sockets replaced with 13/16a sockets also if required.

 

If you're wanting to replace all of your generic fixtures with LEDs then I'd suggest looking at RGBA (red, green, blue, amber) LED fixtures as you can get a warmer light output from them more similar to that of tungsten lamps. If you intend to only use the LEDs for adding colour and are going to keep the generic stuff for key light then you could get away with cheaper RGB/RGBW LED fixtures.

[Andrew_C]

Unless you spend "proper money" on LED kit it really doesn't dim well. You can set it at a level, and it is fine, but a nice smooth fade out? Forget it.

 

To buy LED equivelents of profiles and fresnels (as oposed to PAR type floods) again, £ real. Not £50 DJ tat. Think £thousands per unit. Have a look at the new ETC Sourse Four. Not recommending the supplier, just that they list a price.

 

ADDING some LED colour changers would be a good move; they are good at that.

 

Your desk is DMX, (this is the control protocol) so in theory, wil be OK to control new fittings.

 

ETA -

"Inteligent fixtures" Great when you've got someone knowlegable to programme and repair, otherwise within a year or so, a white elephant.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Andrew_C

[antlear]

I have to disagree Andrew on the price of products file and fresnel units. Philips selecon pl1 units which are under a thousand pounds. Ok not cheap when you need a few but great units. Chauvet also do the slimpar pro vw which is a white light fixture where u can mix warm white and cold white.

 

On a power note I would change the 13 amp plugs to 15s and then buy one of these type boxes http://www.mtxengineering.co.uk/product-categories/categories/54/MTX%20Socket%20Boxes

 

 

And then wire this to a 13 amp plug. This would then be like patching the dimners but would provide hot power

[Andrew_C]

I have to disagree Andrew on the price of products file and fresnel units. Philips selecon pl1 units which are under a thousand pounds.

OK, so those Selecons are ONLY £500-700 or so. How many lanterns do you need to light an acting area properly? Then multiply that by say 6 for a small stage, more if "in the round" as you have to go steeper to avoid the audience on the other side of the stage... Plus "specials", and something to light scenery, if required.

 

You will soon get to £30k territory.

 

And as I said earlier, what is the dimming curve on the Chauvet like?

[antlear]

If you are wanting a lot of the Selecon units then you will easily start spending thousands. from the pictures it looks like there are already some profiles and Fresnel and so I would personally adjust the rig and add led lights to add colour and use the normal stage lights for white wash.

 

The dimming curve is not the greatest on the chauvet slimpar range but for a school these units are very cost effective. The chauvet colordash has a better dimming curve but is more expensive.

Knowing the general setup of drama studios having led units down the side will make it easier to flood the space in colour which is what most drama teachers are after.

 

For around £2000-£3000 they could get a good range of led fixtures. Personally i would be tempeted to get the quad led units over tri as you get RGBA which gives the amber rather than just RGB.