Why variety matters

The most common mistake: everything, all the time

Beginner shows tend to have constant strobe, all moving heads always on the move, rainbow chases and a room that never gets dark. People can only take in two or three things at once anyway. When every effect runs together, they cancel each other out.

Lights that were still a moment ago hit much harder when they come in. A rig that stands still and takes off on the drop beats constant motion every time.

Think in layers

Divide your lights into four layers and never run all of them at full strength:

1. Base: uplights and washes in one or two colors, calm.
2. Movement: tubes, LED bars and slow moving head positions.
3. Accents: chases, strobe hits, gobo and prism.
4. Specials: lasers, mirror ball, blinders, a burst of fog.

The fourth layer stays the exception. If you show it in every song, you have nothing left for the finale.

Every song gets its own idea

If every song looks alike, the show feels random. Before you build, think about four things:

• Which two to four colors suit the mood and the lyrics?
• Which one or two effects are this song's signature?
• Where do gobos and the mirror ball appear, and where do you deliberately leave them out?
• What sets this song apart from the last one?

Don't reuse the same drop every time either. New colors won't help if the lights do the same thing again.

Not every song needs its own show

A song show pays off for the songs that count: the first dance, reliable floor fillers and the peaks. Autoloops carry the rest. Sort them by energy and keep them fairly simple, so they hold up across many songs. Set up a separate bank for slow tracks, because twitchy lights ruin a slow song faster than anything.

When you mix, keep the start and end of each song calm. That way two loud shows don't run over each other during the blend.