Minimum Power?

[Fordinski]

An age old topic, I know - However, there still doesn't seem to be one definitive answer...

With promoters now having less and less cash to spend, I get asked increasingly regularly what the smallest laser is that will create impact in a venue. I tend to use my experience of previous shows, or just try to adapt their budget to spec.

However, when I was asked again yesterday, it got me wondering if anyone here has an equation they've come to rely on over the years to spec green and RGB powers, such as 1mW per person or 1mW per m³?

(I'm talking rough rule of thumb only, not discussions on wavelength, photopic sensitivity, haze etc )

Andy

[norty303]

It's too open to too many factors in my experience. You have to judge it by experience. I will put a certain size laser into a certain size venue but may specify that it will only work well if we can control the ambient light and/or other light from lampies and vidiots well.
I only carry certain sizes of lasers anyway, so they pay for what I've got, and I tell them if its big enough or not.
I will only take a gig that is marginal if I've already discussed with the promoter that it may be marginal on power.
Given that lasers are getting cheaper all the time the promoters are having less and less to spend, it should work out just about right to put in what they wanted anyway...

[Fordinski]

Hey Adam, yeah - I know what you mean.

Speccing the laser install before the night and how it looks on the night are always two different things, and I suppose I was referring to the former.

To give a different example, we were asked to provide 6x12W RGB's for the Swedish House Mafia tour at the O2 ABC in Glasgow. SHM's production team wouldn't budge wrt power as they use that for their large arena and outdoor gigs worldwide, yet it is ludicrously over-specced for the size of venue. The gig promoter couldn't cope with the costs of a hire of that size considering the revenue ticket sales would have generated, and with the team not budging, they had no lasers at all.

It would be nice to see a "ballpark" equation that was accepted amongst the show community, so we could talk a common language without them having seen the venue...

(BTW, you know I'm also a Vidiot? At least by being both VJ and show op, I can give myself a hard time if ambient lighting is too high )

[norty303]

I'm also a lampy, I give myself SUCH a hard time about the ambient light levels. I've even come to blows with myself...


(no, I didn't say ANYTHING about blowing myself, ok!)

Sounds like in that scenario, the promoter had a total WIN! He didn't have to pay for the lasers, and it wasn't his decision they weren't supplied.


P.S. 'Proper' Vidiots are ok, its the 'I've just picked up a cheap 2k lumen projector and a knock off copy of Archaos/Resolume, and have a whole LOAD of bright orange 13A extensions to run all ugly all over your nice blacked truss' that upset me...

[Fordinski]

(no, I didn't say ANYTHING about blowing myself, ok!)

If you could do that, you probably wouldn't have the time or inclination to gig

Sounds like in that scenario, the promoter had a total WIN! He didn't have to pay for the lasers, and it wasn't his decision they weren't supplied.

Yeah, the only people who lost out are me and the audience...

P.S. 'Proper' Vidiots are ok, its the 'I've just picked up a cheap 2k lumen projector and a knock off copy of Archaos/Resolume, and have a whole LOAD of bright orange 13A extensions to run all ugly all over your nice blacked truss' that upset me...

Yeah, that's quite understandable. MY OCD makes for real neat cable runs