While it seems as though it was just last year, 14 years ago this month I was prepping what seemed like a simple lighting plot for a prominent Christian touring artist. The assignment, although simple in scope, was much harder to pull off when it actually came time to do the shows. You see, the tour involved doing shows at every Six Flags amusement park in the United States.
What does this have to do with how to pick a lighting console, you may ask? Well, over the course of the summer of 1997 I used almost every lighting console manufactured at that time. Local production companies provided all of the equipment, and I was forced to use whatever equipment they could provide. That meant that some days we had great gear and some days we were lucky if the lights came on at all.
Although I specified my two preferred consoles of the day, a Celco Gold 90, or the Avolites Sapphire, most of the time I didn't get them. That meant that some days I was using a console that I had never used before, and that made for some stressful afternoons of programming and some interesting shows.
From that tour I learned that console choice is personal; every console has its own syntax, and a console is nothing more than a tool.
CONSOLES ARE PERSONAL While my “Six Flags” experience stretched me and I became a better lighting designer and programmer, I quickly learned the first rule of lighting consoles: lighting console preferences are very personal and very much based on how well you understand how the console operates.
The best console for you is always going to be the one you know how to use. Conversely, the console you don't know how to use is always going to be the “biggest pile of junk” you have ever touched.
This is why it always frustrates me to hear that some church tech wants to buy console X because the band they just saw was using that console. While it may be a great console, if the people at the church operating it don't understand how it works, it will never be an asset to them. They tend to give no consideration as to why the band was using console X, only that they were.
Just as bad is when churches get console advice from touring guys because they tend to get recommendations based on what the touring guy knows and not what fits a church's needs. As a consultant, I am constantly testing and evaluating consoles so that I can make recommendations to clients based on what fits their needs, which may not always be what I personally know or like the best.
Currently, there are two lighting consoles I consider to be my primary consoles and they are the only ones I will use to program shows. It isn't because there aren't other great consoles out there, it's because I know how to make these two consoles work for me and I don't have time to learn other consoles in depth to the point that I am comfortable programming shows on them. Given the time, I would love to be a phenomenal programmer on every console out there, but it just isn't feasible.
Remember this: you will always be eternally frustrated trying to make the lights do what you want them to do when you don't understand how the console works. Find a console that you understand.
Console Syntax So how do you learn to use a lighting console? You learn its syntax.
Although it seems logical that once you know the syntax for one lighting console you should be able to use any lighting console, this isn't exactly true. Each console has its own programming and operating syntax. This syntax is the order of button punches, language, menu settings, layer selections, and so forth, that allow you to program the console so that when you punch a button or push a fader the appropriate commands are sent to the lights and the lighting “look” plays back on stage exactly the way you envisioned it.
You have to know and understand the console's syntax to be able to effectively use the lighting console.
While on my “Six Flags” tour I was using conventional lighting consoles where the programming commands were pretty simple, yet they could still trip you up if you didn't hit the correct buttons, usually causing the “look” you were programming not to save, or worse yet, deleting other programming.
Jump forward 14 years to today, with most of the lighting consoles on the market capable of running automated fixtures such as moving lights and LEDs, and the programming syntax has grown more complicated.
Ten years ago a lighting console might have a 20-page user's manual. A moving light console today may have 150 pages or more in the user's manual, with each page documenting the steps required to make the lights do what you want them to do.
So being able to effectively use a lighting console comes from having a functional understanding of the console's command syntax.
A CONSOLE IS A TOOL
When you have the right tool for the job, the job becomes easier. While this seems to be a somewhat obvious statement, these words of wisdom are not always followed. Like the night I had three lighting consoles to control my lighting rig on my “Six Flags” tour. While I understood the reasons behind the three consoles, it sure would have been easier to just have a single console that could do it all.
Today I see churches that have purchased big lighting consoles that can control any lighting fixture that is made, but they only have a simple lighting system with 24 PAR cans. While the console choice is not necessarily wrong, a simple conventional console would have been more appropriate given the scope of what they do. Conversely, I sometimes encounter churches that need to expand to a larger console with moving light capabilities that purchase the absolute minimum that will run their equipment, and then wonder why the system is so problematic and hard to use. It is all about the correct tool.
MAKING THE CORRECT CHOICE
So how exactly do you pick the correct tool? Well, first you need to evaluate what type of fixtures you are controlling and how many.
Are you controlling eight channels of dimming and six LED fixtures or are you controlling 800 channels of dimming and 60 LED fixtures? The type and number of devices you are controlling is an important part of picking the right console for your installation.
Why do we need to know fixture types we are going to control? Well, if you mainly control conventional fixtures on dimmers and have no automated fixtures, then there is no reason to have a console that supports automated fixtures. If you run a mixture of conventional and automated fixtures, or just automated fixtures, then you will need a console that fully supports automated fixtures.
Additionally, knowing the fixture types and the number of fixtures will let us calculate how many DMX addresses we will need to support. Each dimmer requires a single DMX address, while many automated fixtures require 20 or more. We calculate the number of addresses by adding up how many addresses all of the devices in the lighting rig require.
Once you have an idea of how many DMX addresses you need to support you will also know how many console channels you will need. While on the conventional side of things you can gang DMX addresses up to be controlled on the same control channel of the console, with automated fixtures you need to have one control channel per DMX address.
When you go to choose a lighting console you will want it to be large enough to support all of the equipment that you currently own, as well as anything that you rent for special events or plan to buy in the immediate future. If you are not currently renting or planning to add equipment in the next couple of years, but think you might eventually, look for a console that can be expanded with more control channels in the future.
CONSOLE TYPE
Once you know what types and how many fixtures you will be controlling, the next decision is which console type to look at. If all you are controlling are conventional fixtures then you will want to look at a conventional-type console. If you are running just automated fixtures, then you will want to look at automated-oriented consoles, and if you are running a mixture of both you will want to look at consoles that can support both fixture types.
Conventional consoles come in many shapes and sizes. Some have single or double banks of faders that control one or many DMX addresses. Usually the banks are set up in groups of six, eight, 12, 24, or 48 faders. Some allow for “looks” to be saved in submasters, while others have cue stacks that allow you to record groups of “looks” in playback order for timed playback.
Likewise, there are many different types of automated consoles on the market. These come in various shapes and sizes, but what really defines these consoles are their programming syntax, their features, and the fact that they are oriented to programming and operating moving fixtures. Because of the way automated consoles are programmed and the way that they playback, there are usually fewer control faders, and the faders are multifunctional and completely user-defined.
While automated consoles are generally good at supporting conventional fixtures, conventional consoles are not always good at supporting automated fixtures. If you are just adding a few LED fixtures to your lighting rig you are probably OK using a conventional console. However, if you are trying to run moving lights, you may not have the happiest of experiences.
Then there are the new theater consoles that are oriented toward theatrical conventional operation, yet have good automated light functionality. Their operational syntax and programming styles are much truer to the traditional, conventional theater consoles, but they have all of the “rock ‘n' roll”-oriented automated console features.
Remember, the goal should be to look for the correct tool for the job. You want to look at a subset of consoles that matches what you are controlling, as well as the number of DMX addresses you are trying to control.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Most manufacturers offer families of consoles that run the same operating system, but come in a combination of dedicated larger consoles and computer-based smaller consoles. These systems are great to look at if you have lighting systems in multiple rooms or multiple locations, as training on one system carries over into all of your systems. Also, many of these console families have solid upgrade paths that allow you to grow the console's control channels as your lighting systems needs grow.
BUYING ADVICE
Once you have figured out what type of console you need in your space, research some of the different makes and models that you think would meet your needs. Many manufacturers offer free demo software that you can load on your computer. Download it and see how well you understand the console just by playing around with it and reading the manual.
Next, since consoles can be a major purchase for many churches, I recommend looking at several different consoles in person and getting demos on them. Take notes about what you do and don't like about each console. Tradeshows like WFX and LDI are great places to do this.
Once you decide on which console to buy, be sure to include setup and training in the purchase, so you get off to a good start with the console.
IN CONCLUSION
As you do your research, remember that lighting consoles are just tools. Your goal is to find the console you completely understand, that best meets the needs of your lighting system—and then make it personal by learning how to operate it.
