The Lighting system on the Garage dancefloor consisted of 4 separate lighting elements: Color Washes, Streak Effects, Psych Effects, and Mood Lighting. By using 10 separate lighting methods, these 4 main effects were put together to make a very interesting lighting plot. Ok. . . now let's start by setting up a visual image of the dancefloor space. . . Now the first method used to light the dancefloor was called a color wash. The main purpose of this color wash was to saturate the dance floor with as much color as possible. The lighting fixtures we used to create this wash effect was the 14" scoop. There were 32 scoops hung from the ceiling that were separated into 4 zones (a string). Each string contained 8 lamps that were further divided into 4 pairs. To give the design versatility each pair of lamps was a separate color producing a 4 color schemed wash: 2 cool colors, and 2 warm colors. The lighting board that ran the scoops was able to take full advantage of this crisscross pattern. The lights would either chase on the outside spurs of the star in pairs, or bounce around on these spurs in random order. Or they could take full advantage of the entire string running the length of the dancefloor, and spin pin-wheel fashion or spin in random order. The wide variety of chase programs on the board made it possible to have a multitude of patterns multiplied by 4 colors. . . This effect was massive in scale and it proved to be very dynamic visually.

   The second color wash method used was the Strip Lighting that ran along the perimeter of the room. These lights had just a 3 color wash that did a very effective job. The concept of the strip light goes back to the earlier days of theater to their distant cousins called 'foot lights'. This design was mainly used as front lighting for stage performances and in some extreme cases, the only lighting on the stage. Anyway what we used at the Garage was a bit more advanced than the candle powered version of days gone by. The strip lights we used were not a very elegant fixture nor did it have a guamet of running programs but it did do a quick flood of blue, red and magenta at a moments notice, and I myself got a kick out of using them in a pinch.

   The next lighting technique used at the Garage was spot lighting or streak effects. This method wasn't use to saturate the dancefloor but rather highlight the base color wash with a complimentary accent. The streak effect was also used as an atmospheric effect which produced a shaft of light that was able to cut through the crowd at all angles, spot lighting different areas of the room. The main system we used for this effect, and one the Garage crowd will remember, is the Ring System. There were 9 rings on the ceiling at the Garage, 8 were set in an oval pattern, and the 9th ring was centered. The Rings were designed to cover the dancefloor area and be used as a rigging device for lighting. The most common lamp to be rigged on a Ring system was the Pin Beam. On each Ring we used a total of 64 pin beams, 512 total . . . "Very nice"!
These 64 fixtures were broken up into sections of 8 with 8 lamps per section. In this 8 lamp section we used 4 different colors, so you had 2 pairs of matching lamps for every 8 lamps, for every 8 sections.( don't get lost . . . stick with me ). The Board that operated this ring system was fenominal, and the chasing sequences were unlimited. Not only were you able to chase each lamp one by one, you could chase them in pairs or in color pairs, or by fours, or by four pairs, times 64. Not only could you chase the individual lamps on each Ring, but you could chase the Rings as well. You could chase them one by one clock-wise, or clock-wise in pairs, opposing pairs or side by side pairs. You could chase the rings at random or chase them inverted. You could chase them with all 64 fixtures on or just one fixture on, or whatever color you wanted. The Ring System was the baby of the Paradise Garage, it was versatile and an awesome effect, you could go the entire night just using this system and never get board.

   The second streak effect used at the Garage was the Spinners. The spinners were not a very intense effect like the Rings but they had a niche' of their own. They used the same bulb as the Pin-Beam producing a shaft of light which cut through the crowd, but instead of pointing in a single direction the spinners job was to rotate on it's axis in a 360 degree pattern. The spinners were also set in pairs of 2 that could chase in sequence, or come on all together. This really depended on the song and the type of effect you wanted to produce, but that is another discussion..

   The last streak effect was a favorite of all of us, it was the Beacons. The beacons (police beacons) were a huge effect, when they came on, you knew about it. Their main function was to cut the room into sections in rotating angles so that no inch of the dancefloor was untouched by them. The double-beacons that were in the center of the rings were mounted on rotating motors to achieve this coverage effect. The chase program for these lamps were fairly simple, they either chased in random sequence ordered sequence or all on full blast..

   This next section we will move into the Psych effects used at the Garage. First let us start with your favorite and mine, The Strobe light.. yes where would we be without the strobe effect. The Paradise Garage probably used more strobes than any nightclub in history. . and we used them well. There were 2 basic types of strobes hung on the ceiling. The first was the Super Strobe which had an out put of 1 thousand watts, we put these fixtures on the ceiling in a circular pattern around the Rings.
   There were 2 chase pattern for the strobes, sequential (clock-wise) or in sync. This first set was in white. The second set was in yellow and chased in the opposite direction. All together there were 12 Super Strobes mounted on the ceiling, and when these babies started going it was totally insane. . . The second kind of strobe used was called the Egg Strobe. We had these mounted on the center Ring. The egg-strobes were a subtle strobe effect, the flashes were not as bright as it's larger cousin. However the placement of these units on the center ring gave a nice popping effect you could see throughout the room and it was a good hazing effect for trancing.

   We'll move into the Mood lighting section now and talk about my all time favorite lighting effect at the Garage, . . . the Gobo Rotators. The Gobo- Rotators were mounted on the center Ring, their main function was to sweep the room in a slow and deliberate pace gently spotlighting medium sized areas. We used a total of 12 fixtures and set them into 3 groups of 4. The Gobo Rotator was the initial idea of today's "intelligent lighting fixtures". The Intelli-beam, Vari-lite, Martin, Clay-Paky, all the modern moving light fixtures are derived form this basic gobo rotation idea.
   This lighting effect just looked cool when they came on, very smart, very elegant. I loved to use them by themselves with a small amount of smoke on the dancefloor. The image of these lamps sweeping the room from the booth was *Awesome*. Larry enjoyed this effect also, it filled in the orchestral melodies of songs very well.

   Ok, another mood effect we used at the club was The Black lights. I wish I had tons to say about these fixtures, but they were black lights. You know the funny neon blue glow.. it made your teeth really bright. The only neat thing I can say about them is, we sure did use a lot of them and they burnt out often.
  (just a small note here, our bulb order for the entire club was about 5,000 dollars every 7 months or so)

   The last mood effect we will talk about is the Mirror Balls. And boy did Larry love these things. . . big shinny Balls, . . just kidding. . .    The 30 inch mirror ball was the work horse of an era gone by. Most night clubs put a pin beam or a small spot on the ball, this would give you a nice pin shard effect, but not us..
At the Paradise Garage, we used big 'ole lamps. We use 500 watt wide beam par 56's and we sure did use a lot of them. It wasn't good enough to have just one light on the balls, we had 6 of them, which meant we had 6 different colors to choose from. ( Trivia: Larry was the only one who could use the Mirror Balls during the evening. It was at his request that the effect was saved until he got there.) I never turned them on unless it was a night that he didn't come in, but the balls were hands off for everyone,
just Larry could touch them.. The Mirror Balls

   And so there you have it, the lighting on the Paradise Garage dancefloor. I am sure I left out an effect or two, but those are the major ones. No I won't let you down.. Here