concept
The concept of the visual system continued from my experience building a custom LED lighting rig for a now defunct band called The Minimalist. As LED technology got better and cheaper, I was able to build a system that was cheap, easy to setup and provide a large visual impact.
My way to make a large visual impact was to make the system as bright as possible. I wanted the system to be able to be scaled up to be able to be used as a supplemental system in the largest venues. With fabrication help from Felix Kutlik from Masque Sound I built four vertical red, green, blue, white LED sticks 66″ tall. These mount to mic stand bases with Atlas QR-2 quick releases for fast and efficient setup and strike. Two of the sticks have custom fabricated Par Boxes mounts on the top. These boxes have two 150 Watt halogen Par bulbs in them to contrast with the LED light.
The sticks are arranged around the rear of the band to create a “set” and the all the light is focused directly to the audience. In order to light the band members from the front, Felix built taller and wider vertical sticks that act as side washes for the band. In addition, each band member has an “uplight”; a 90 Watt halogen placed at the base of their mic stand to cast shadows on their body and face and to contrast with the stark LED light.
