letsparty.co.nz@hotmail.com

Sat 03 Apr 10 @ 6:42 pm

Lighting is a very personal thing but i'll give you a brief history.

One of the simplest is the mirror ball, which has been around from the 1920's the mirror ball is suspended typically the ceiling or stand via a rotator that rotates the MB at 1-2 rpm. Useful Sizes vary from 12"-24". Mirror Balls are illuminated by one or more Pin-spot type lamps with a very narrow pencil beam that covers the ball but with minimal overspill to the wall behind.
Variations include high power theatrical luminaries, LED projector lamps, use of coloured gel, multi-coloured mirrors In MB construction.

The Disco Era in the mid seventies saw the use of Light Boxes, chasers and light organs that synced Light to the beat of the music.

Light Box ranged from specially constructed cabinets to old speaker box's often lined with aluminum foil with several coloured light bulbs behind coloured glass. often 3 or 4 separate channels with a separate colour used for each channel.

These were run by sound activated controllers such as the light organ where the sound was classically divided into 3 channels.. Bass, Mid, Treble each driving separate colour channels.

A variation of this is the chaser usually with 4 channels, which in its simplest form turned on a single channel, one at a time sequenced to the beat of the music.
Later chases were produced that used all the permutations of the 4 channels to create a greater variation of patterns.

Today these units are combined into a controller which drives Pinspots, Par 58 & 64 floodlights, strobes.
"Matrix/zone controllers" use multiple channels to drive custom wall ceiling displays as well as Illuminated dance floors.


Strobes are frequently used to create exciting stop motion effects, either powerful single units or banks of smaller units,
caution is required when using strobes as they can induce epileptic fits in people with no history of this disorder, who may go on to suffer this condition for the rest of there lives, check for local regulations otherwise limit use.

Black lights or UV lights make that glow in the dark effect we have all seen, produced by high power UV lamps in special housings or special
UV fluorescent tubes.

Smoke Machines use a safe non toxic Glycerin mixture which is heated up under pressure creating clouds of sometimes scented fog enhancing light shows highlighting the beams of light, young people love fog but older people hate it use hazers for the same visual effect with no fog.

The lights themselves have developed from the simple the light box to separate discrete units with motor driven components revolving the lamps eg helicopters & Scanners, or using small motors to move mirrors to the beat of the music eg mushroom, moon flower.
These units having there own inbuilt controllers typically with simple sensitivity and speed controls.
Today all manor of lamps, motors and mirrors are combined into units with stand alone control or DMX control which enables all functions
to be preprogrammed and multiple units synced together in banks, or live control from a single DMX Controller.

The Newest development is the replacement of traditional lamps with LEDs, advantages are much extended lamp life, instant on / off for better sync to music, saturated colours pleasing to the eye, no cycle time as lamps run cool,reduced power demands, the only downside at this time is reduced brightness and added expense of these units