Transporting Light Equipment
Hey all! I am investing in a light rig soon and need to know the best way to transport it! I want it to be manageable for one person with as few trips as possible back and forth from the car with an average sized automobile. Here is the gear I’m getting!
Go nuts and thanks in advance!
Holy crap man. You’re really investing into DJing. You’ve spent like over 10k in the past half a year o.o
You’re darn tootin’! I’m extremely passionate about the music, so I’m going full bore on this thing and a well tuned light show is very important to me!
It’s gonna cost ya but flight cases is where it’s at. I use that same truss and t-bar system. My truss separates into two pieces I just leave all the lights connected to the truss and store it in a long flight case. So when you get to the gig, just connect the truss to the stands and your ready to go. I have a very similar setup to yours and it takes me about 20 mins to setup.
I use truss/speaker stand bags and heavy duty plastic totes with a built in interlocking lid. The totes are the ones retail stores use to ship their inventory in. They stack well and I can fit 4 at a time on my dolly. They were also free 
I used some 2inch foam to pad the fixtures.
Can you suggest some good places to get cases in CANADA. That is important. Hah!
I work in retail! I know exactly the totes! What kind of bags???
So let me get this straight. You want us to research your gear and tell you what road cases to get? Sure, I’ll do it but you’ve got to pay me for my time and I start at $50.00/hr. Let me know if you want to enter in to contract.
I know what gear I want for my lighting and I know of a few things I could do to transport them, I’m just curious to see exactly which cases other people use to maybe get some more ideas for my transport and storage system.
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-MUS-LB6500-LIST?src=Y0802G00SRCHCAPN&gclid=CJWftL7InbgCFVEV7Aod0G0Asw
I use 2 bags similar to the one linked above. One for light stands and another for speaker stands. Make sure you measure the stands and get a long one that is long enough.
Exciting!
I’m doing something similar but rebuilding my setup piece by piece with LED lighting.
When I did this 20 years ago, it was tougher, since lights were heavier, only did 1 thing, etc.
I didn’t go with cases though - I was on more of a budget on the case end & didn’t think it all though. I found Rubbermaid had some large containers with wheels on one end. Add some foam (hardware stores used to carry large mattress sized pieces of 6-8" thick foam). If you go that route, remember to find something with decent handles for when cases got a bit heavy. Sounds like you have some coin to drop, tho.
We used something similar to this: http://www.rubbermaid.com/Category/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?Prod_ID=RP091416
We travelled with a truck, since we had 6 of those large containers plus the stands & truss, plus the music equipment. Also, all our lighting was controlled via MIDI (embedded lighting control commands translated to DMX via NSI equipment). Happy to share any other random outdated info I may have.
BTW - I’m in Toronto currently, but I’m American so I play in the states (NY, NJ, MI, IL so far). It’s easier to drive. I’ve flown with a few bits of my equipment, but frustrated with airline baggage policies. Current rig is small (very small comparatively), with only 2 stands right now. Smaller setup, but once again: happy to share whatever random info I have.
Will be following this thread because this information is great to discuss and discover the possibilities.
assholes… opinions… that being said, here’s my worthless input. I wouldn’t waste the money on bags and cases for that stuff. It’s all low end gear for the most part, and might just end up breaking down or malfunctioning in mobile applications before the bags would even have a chance to protect your lights from the $ value of damage that bags cost in the first place.
Also, and this is only my opinion, so take it for what it is or isn’t worth, you can do a lot better for that price point. I’d say go for a couple of moving heads, some good washes, and a decent truss. Then just keep the hazer, and you have a better looking light show. I myself have two movers, 4 light bars, and used about 10 uplights for a wedding, and it was IMO much better than what you can achieve with your list above… and at only a few hundred more than what you spend on that excel sheet.
You can see that set up for yourself if you like in this video.
Thanks for your input! If I were doing weddings it would be quite applicable but I do small raves, house and warehouse parties so the more “exciting” lights like strobes and lasers are in my wheelhouse more than pars. The being said I am on the prowl next for some moving heads, a good liquid sky, and adopting DMXis for control. That way I have a very scalable system (small, two t-bars and UC3 controlled to full size, truss system and computer controlled).
I think you need some pars for any application. They are very versatile. With dmx you can do chases and strobes, also washing some walls or backlighting the DJ/ performer looks good, up lighting, and warming trusses, etc.
To me, a bunch of different Fx lights all going off at once isn’t as effective as one or two Fx lights over a wash.
Just a little food for thought 
When I switch to DMX I’ll get all my own pars then! For now both venues I play have their own.
Plus the Profile Panels do killer wash.
