Before you buy four more
Moving head lights explained
Moving heads come in three broad families and they are not interchangeable. A spot has a hard edge and can project gobos, a wash is soft and covers area, a beam is a tight parallel shaft that only reads in haze. Buying the wrong family is the most expensive mistake a small rig makes, and pointing them without a plan is the most common one.
The order to do it in
Step 1
Learn to tell the families apart by how the light behaves rather than by the case.
Step 2
Match the family to the job: wash for covering people, spot for shape and texture, beam for looks in the air.
Step 3
Check the channel cost. An extended mode with 16-bit pan and tilt can eat thirty-two DMX slots per fixture.
Step 4
Aim deliberately and store positions as palettes so you can recall them instantly mid-show.
Step 5
Re-point the palette rather than every cue when the band moves. That is what palettes are for.
Drills that practise this
Moving-Head Aim
Read the Beam
Palette Builder
Focus Session
Try it before you read more
Three briefs on a real club rig, scored on the stage you made, and you keep the picture. It takes about two minutes and needs no account.
Questions
Spot or wash for a small stage?
Wash, almost always, if you only get one kind. Washes put usable light on people; spots and beams are look-making tools that need haze and a plan to earn their place.
Why do beams look great in videos and disappointing in my room?
Because a beam is the shaft in the air, and without haze there is nothing for it to be visible in. In a clear room a beam is a small bright circle on the floor.
More lighting guides
Stage lighting setup, in the order that actually works
Work out the order to aim and level a stage so it looks right from the seats and on camera.
DMX lighting explained, without the jargon
Understand what a DMX address is, why fixtures fight each other, and how to patch a rig without overlaps.
How to program a light show
Understand how a programmed show is built and why edits to one cue leak into later ones.
Stage lighting for small venues and bars
Make a small handful of fixtures in a low room look deliberate rather than thrown at the stage.
How to light a band
Know where to put light on a band so it looks like a show rather than a lit rehearsal.