Getting a stage lit with four fixtures

Stage lighting rig above an empty stage

Most small venues do not need a rig. Four heads, placed properly, cover a speaker and a band.

The instinct with a small stage is to add fixtures. The better move is to place four correctly. Two at forty-five degrees either side of centre, at head height or a little above, will light a face without the flat look a single front source gives you.

The third goes behind, aimed down and back at the performer. It costs nothing to rig and it is the one that separates a person from the wall behind them, which is what makes the difference on camera.

The fourth is a spare aimed at whatever the room actually needs: a lectern, a drum kit, a sign. Keeping one head uncommitted until the room is set is worth more than a fifth fixture on a plan drawn a week earlier.