LEDs for theatre sets and stage lighting
If you’re involved in stage lighting design and construction, LEDs can be a great way to achieve impressive, reliable and flexible effect.
Every stage is different, each event is a new challenge… and often the lighting is the most important aspect. That’s fine, because LEDs can be used for stage lighting in a variety of ways.
There are many different LED products and techniques that you can use in your stage lighting design. Let’s take a look at some of the most useful.
Using LED strips in stage lighting design
– how and where
LED strip lighting can be used to highlight areas of the stage, or to create striking divisions and borders. This can be achieved either by ‘hiding’ the LEDs (positioning them out of the audience’s direct line-of-sight) so their light falls onto a surface creating a glow effect, or by mounting them in plain view.
LED strips create formal spaces in the movie John Wick Chapter 2
Entrance to the Stalls Bar, ENO London Colliseum
For example strip lights can be mounted on stair treads, to shine up and add a glow to a flight of steps. We created an effect like this for the stage of the London Fashion Awards in 2016.
This kind of configuration can be used to highlight the edge of stages, pillars, trussing, or any area that you want to draw the eye towards.
LED profiles
Our range of LED profiles / extrusions have a frosted acrylic cover that helps diffuse the light from the LED strip’s diodes, to create a smooth bar of light – ideal when an audience can clearly see the strip.
Profiles can often make installation easier too – they’re supplied with their own fixing clips.
InStyle supply a wide range of aluminium profiles / extrusions, typically available in standard 1m or 2m lengths. (They can be cut or butted together to create shorter or longer lengths, if required.)
The LEDs are positioned to face outwards, so the audience’s line-of-sight sees them at their brightest.
InStyle’s 20W RGBW LED strips mounted in aluminium tube extrusion – NERO live in 2016
Props & lightboxes
LED strips can be fitted inside transparent / translucent stage features, to make them glow (similar to a traditional LED lightbox). These pics show InStyle’s RGBW LED strips creating dynamic colour-change effects at the Shepherds Bush Empire.
More LED inspirations
To provide pre-programmed lighting effects, self-contained LED products like the Ultra-V-Box or this Retro mobile lighting system can be a very effective, straightforward approach.
Both of these cabinet lightboxes were created by Dave Basford of Studio 2, using InStyle LED tapes.
The Ultra-V-Box
The Retro lightbox
LED tapes can be used to fabricate unique props and costuming, like this otherworldly full-face mask.
What colours & white lights can I use in my stage lighting design?
We offer LED tapes in a wide range of colours and brightnesses. Choose from:
white LED strips – from very warm to very cool whites: standard stock colour temperatures include 2400 Kelvins, 2700K , 3000K, 4000K , 5500K & 6500K
colour-control LED tapes – RGB (red/green/blue lights) mixed at source | RGB + warm white (3000K) | RGB + cool white (6000K)
specialist colour-mixing – Dual-White (CCT) LED strips have warm 2700K and cool 6000K LEDs mounted in tandem, to mix any shade of white light | 5-colour RGB+CCT LED strips offer a palette of red/green/blue + warm/cool whites for the ultimate in colour mixing and control
single-colour LED tapes – stage lighting for a particular show may not require full colour control, so we have a full range of fixed-colour LED strips (red, green, blue, pink, orange and amber available as standard; other colours on request)
Ordering and installing your LEDs
Ordering your LED tape pre-cut makes building your stage or set easier.
Send us a list of the lengths you need, or a sketch/diagram, and InStyle’s technicians will cut and solder your LED strips to the exact dimensions. We’ll also attach custom-length starter lead cabling and flexible corner links if required.
You’ll receive your order packaged and labelled by area/zone, for an easy installation. There’s a wealth of helpful support info on our website, and if your electricians need more advice then our LED experts can talk them through any issues.
Ordering checklist:
• When ordering white or single-colour LED strips – you’ll need a compatible LED power supply too
• When ordering colour-control LED strips (RGB / RGBW / CCT) – you’ll need a compatible LED power supply + an LED receiver + an appropriate controller for your LED colour palette
What brightness should I choose?
Check out the full specs of our LED tapes here.
As a guide, if you are adding highlights / feature lighting to your stage or props, these LED tapes should be your first choice
- 5W / 10W products (if using white or single-colour LEDs)
- 7.5W / 10W products (if using RGB/RGBW colour-mixing LEDs)
- 12W dual-white LEDs
- 12W / 15W / 20W / 24W products (if using white or single-colour LEDs)
- 15W / 20W products (if using RGB/RGBW colour-mixing LEDs)
- 24W dual-white LEDs
LED controllers for stage lighting
InStyle offer a variety of useful controllers and receivers to control your lighting designs.
The right option for you might include RF-signal remote or fixed-panel controllers, 0-10V or TRIAC-dimming modules, or more complex and flexible DMX or DALI control systems. You can even control your stage lights via an Android/ioS app.
Controllers are here
Receivers are here
This allows all lights to be dimmed, colours to be selected and adjusted across lighting zones independently of each other, etc.
DMX receivers
More useful LED products for stage-lighting applications
Strip lights aren’t the only LED devices that can help with stage lighting design.
These do exactly what the name suggests, offering enough lighting power to illuminate surfaces up to 5m high.
Fashion press event showcases LED wall-wash effects
InStyle’s range of downlight products offer a choice of optic-lens options, each giving its beam a different ‘spread’ – so your design can specify a wide light-wash or a tighter (wall-graze) focus.
Dim, mix colours and create waves of light along the length of the tape. LEDs can be controlled in bespoke groups or independently in separate blocks of three, to create striking and utterly unique lighting.
Custom programming for digital LED strips
Prolight moving head units can be ordered through InStyle LED as part of your LED lighting project, or directly from Prolight.
These recommendations apply to InStyle’s commercial-grade Epistar-branded LED strip lights. For lower-grade strip lights from elsewhere, adjust accordingly.