cheap stage props and effects

[dreadheadbass]

ok i'm after making some props and stage effects on a small scale just to jazz up our live shows a bit
a $100,000 lighting and pyrotechics rig like metallica's would be nice but but i'm thinking homemade and cheaper

we already have a smoke machine and we dont really have the budget for high end lighting and lazer shows
anyone got any cool homemade props or ideas??

[unbasslichkeit]

Stonehenge has been taken, I think.

[BillyB_from_LZ]

In a slightly different direction, a local rock cover band has an assortment of percussion instruments available as well as a conga for the audience to join in and play. They really got into it!

At work, we used to have a few outdoor summer lunchtime events with catered food and a live band. One time an employee brought his own props, including an inflatable air guitar so that he could play along. Weird, but it really boosted the energy...he was as entertaining as the band!

[dreadheadbass]

Originally Posted by unbasslichkeit

Stonehenge has been taken, I think.

ahh spinal tap

i'm thinking of creating a gas cannon using a moscat shell but rather than filling it with bb's filling it with glitter and other such junk

i dunno so many ideas so little time

[IanStephenson]

Laser Crab is $30 on ebay. You CAN do lasers real cheap. It's low power, but thats actually a plus, cause you don't want to get into health and safety stuff. It's pretty basic, but if you just run it for one or two songs it's pretty cool - it impressed our singer...

You can get a kitchen lighting bar for about $10, that holds three reflector bulbs. Nail it to a strip of wood, load it up with coloured bulbs, and put one on the floor each side of the drum kit.

In a different style buy a 1.75litre bottle of tequila (gonna cost you $40, but you are serious about this right?). Empty it (get the drummer to help you), and refill it with apple juice. Place it on top of your amp, and chug large quantities at appropriate momments throughout your set.

Ian

[Yngwie 4String]

How big is the venue? What kind of band? What is the bands name? Gimmie something to work with.

[CrazyArcher]

Get a discoball

[thesteve]

my band's bass drum lights up every time the bass pedal is kicked...it's a neat thing that people get stoked about.

[jonathan_matos5]

strobe light?

[Bard2dbone]

Aw dude. I can help here...by digging into my ancient stories again!

Hahahahahaha! You thought you could escape the demented ramblings of this old man, didn't you?

Okay. Here we go.

Thing 1: You can make a fairly awesome laser show with a cheap laser, like the one mentioned earlier, or even a simple laser pointer. Glue a small piece of mirror on a speaker cone. It doesn't have to be a big speaker. A garage sale home stereo speaker is perfect. Take the grill off, exposing the actual surface of the speaker cone. Glue a little ( 1" x 1" is great.) piece of mirror on the cone. Shine the laser on the mirror, reflecting it onto a surface. Walls are great for that. Play music through the speaker. The laser will do 'stuff '. It will look awesome.

Thing 2: Build up a major drum riser out of something holllow. A drummer friend back in the '80's did this with plywood, steel binding straps,a couple of sawhorses and an insane number of stolen milk crates(like hundreds, he was odd). Then underneath the riser, place a couple of those rotating christmas light gels (It's a rotating transparent plastic plate divided into four colors that is intended to turn in front of a light so it will shine red...blue...orange...green...red...blue...etc.)in front of strobe lights set to strobe with your music. Place large blocks of dry ice into tubs of warm water under the riser. When you play your music, the fog rolling out from under the riser will strobe colors (redredredredredblueblueblueblueblueorangeorangeor angeorangeorangegreengreengreengreen...You get the idea.)

Thing 3: Wear white clothes and drape all you gear in white sheets. Put a white screen behind you. Now get a video projector and show movies on yourself while you play. Don't use movies where the sound is important. Old silent movies are the coolest. Semi random images that don't actually make any sense, but look cool and change quickly are the second coolest.

Thing 4: Similar idea, but you can wear normal clothes. Set up BEHIND the screen and show movies on it in front of you. Get silent movies and improvise a soundtrack to them.

Yes. I've actually done all of these. I wasn't in the band for the strobe story. I just helped build it. I played in all the others.

[unbasslichkeit]

There was this stuck-up vegetarian restaurant (now closed) which I used to play, and I always wanted to do this to but never had the guts:

Has anyone ever had pizza delivered to the stage during a set?