doing a laser show

[Banthai]

Hi Ollie

as this is a commercial show on a licenced entertianment premises that people are paying money to take part of.....

You need to look at the following

1, are you proposing to undertake audience scanning at this event

2, Do you have insurance and public liability cover to do laser shows

3, will you be carrying out a prior risk assesment of the venue

4, will you be submitting all the correct paperwork including risk assesment to the local athorities in advance to the event

5, will all the projectors meet the safety requirements


The reason i ask is .... Most proffesional laser show companies will have to follow these rules .... and as Pelosh said ... that why proffesional laser hire is expensive

if you are cutting the cost ..... you are more than likely cutting corners and could put the public at risk

i dont want to frighten you away from doing public shows but if you want do them you will have to make sure you do it properly

last thing we want is to see any forum members get into trouble


all the best ... Karl

[oliverst14@hotmail.com]

yes (more of a maybe actually)
yes
yes
yes
and you guessed it yes

i know of the dangers of lasers and am carring out all the following. i have 5 million quid public liability and all the projectors are of uk laser standard including key switches and diode shut off devices. i also will have mechanical safety shutters on all the lasers to prvent any dangerous situations and an emergency stop button.

the reason im thinking of putting in a low price is because im thinking of the repeat business oppertunities with a large company like these.
i was asking for general advice of prices as iv never done a show of this size.
i keep saying show but its not really a sit down and watch show. its a dance music effect and im wanting to supply the laser lighting.
what do u feel is a more reasonalble price to be asking for an event like this?


cheers oli

[mixedgas]

the event is for 3000 people and is a professional job. i would love to be able to quote 5 grand for this job but if they said that someone else had quoted less i would lose the job and possibly any future jobs from them.

least bidder clients who dont ask what your going to do for them, and are not willing to pay the money, are pain in the neck clients.

Steve

[pelosh]

There will always be some f****r who will ALWAYS go under your price whatever you do!

Also what makes you think, that this company will pay you £5000 in the future when you charge them £1000 only now?

I personally think that this is one of the most important steps in the business. You have to price yourself. You underprice only few times and it is very hard to get back as people talk and search!
I belive you can do it JUST ONCE! Only to show, that you are the best. But JUST ONCE!

I might be wrong..this is just my theory.

I am going to do one show soon, back in my country. 1500 people, just 1 laser, few mirrors and bit of proper 3D animation. 7 hours = £700.
Here in the UK it would have to be more. Plumber takes £20+/h and that is without a show for 3000 people. His kit is worthy £6000 van included. Ours is much more. His risk? Flood! Ours? Prison!

And organisers of these massive parties makes so much money that laser show for few thousands is just fragment of all those money.

[oliverst14@hotmail.com]

i totally agree. im going to have a think about it but if i quote a higher price and put a proffesional show reel together for them showcasing what this show could look like i think it would help. it was really just a quick question but it looks like this may become an indepth thread.
it was always going to be a one off price that would be agreed that if i delivered what i said i would then they would sign a deal for future shows at an obviously higher price.
i think this is a good business stratergy but its good to get some idea of how much others charge.

so do u think this show should be worth about 3500- 4000 pounds. if so i will put a more realistic quote in.
looking at it that doesnt seem alot when you split it down into hours.
the music runs from 6pm till 6am so this would mean at £3600 thats only 10 quid an hour plus all the extra time iv put in.

i think it may be better to quote somewhere around £3000 which would probably still be cheap.

cheers. im terrible with quoting thats my trouble. i feel bad but at the end of the day there doing an event for 3000 people at £130 a ticket so i think they can afford it

ollie

[norty303]

Is one FB3 going to be able to do all those projectors justice?

If it is just the one, then I think less is more in this scenario, 7 projectors all doing the same thing is going to become a bit much (imo) whereas having separate control alows you to do things with the show that complement each other.

Also, consider that you are about to enter into a serious professional environment, so failover precautions are a must. The show stopping with no hope to continue because of a failed computer or vital piece of kit is unacceptable. Look closely at your single points of failure.

Having 'been there and done that' with the low pricing, i can vouch for the fact that once you're seen to be cheap, people will always expect it. Also, don't forget people talk - and I've had more business off of people saying 'his service was excellent' than I have 'he was cheap'. Don't undersell yourself or your kit.
And if you are going to discount, never do it from your labour or expenses. If the gig is less than your regular time rate, plus expenses then its too cheap (again imo). I have areangements with some promoters that they get a discount on the kit cost but not from me or my crew costs.

[oliverst14@hotmail.com]

im running 2 fb3 hopefully off 2 laptops and a dmx controlled setup in the other room. i will also have another laptop with the ishow software and dac and may run that too but its not a great piece of software so thats just a back up if 2 aint enough.

as iv said this show is in 12 months and i have alot of planning to do and time to do the planning in but if i can do this show it would give my business a really big boost.

im still in the very early stages of planning and will probably be posting lots more questions on here.

this will be very well planned i can assure you (or assure myself)

ollie

[Steve Milani]

I haven't experience about *rave party*....
I can only tell this: when I played music for a "so long- to-bachelorhood party" for a friend of mine, from 9.00 p.m. to midnite, with light effects (scanners, strobo, flowers, smoke machines) and 3 laser devices, my price has been Euro 350 plus.... beers and food obviously...
Anyway...
Close to my town, when the half August holiday has been, a Company came from Midland (Milano) for 20 minutes of lasershow (n°2 3W green , n°1 10W RGB, waterscreen and 4 huge hazer machines, 3KW music's power, 3 people staff) has taken away € 2,000 (two thousands)

(B.T.W. software was Pangolin... I am sure 'cause I've see it on their PC monitor... sneaking in the cockpit into their van)