Practice the rig before the show
Learn to light a stage without waiting for the next gig
Lighting is for anyone who wants reps on a rig without waiting for a room to be free. Light a real virtual stage in the browser, get scored on what the light actually does rather than on channel numbers, and build the eye through daily practice: colour mixing, DMX patching, fixture behaviour, and looks that read from the back of the room.
What you will be able to do
Mix colour by eye and know why a wash reads muddy on camera.
Patch a rig across a universe without overlaps, including around a house block.
Read fixtures by how their light behaves, not by the label on the case.
Build looks with front, back, and side light so faces stay readable and the stage keeps depth.
Start with the free tools
Lighting guides
Answers first, for the questions people actually arrive with: church platforms, DMX, programming a show, and lighting a band on a small rig.
Start here if nobody explained the rig
Stage lighting setup, in the order that actually works
Work out the order to aim and level a stage so it looks right from the seats and on camera.
The part everyone skips
DMX lighting explained, without the jargon
Understand what a DMX address is, why fixtures fight each other, and how to patch a rig without overlaps.
From busking to a show file
How to program a light show
Understand how a programmed show is built and why edits to one cue leak into later ones.
Low ceiling, small rig, real show
Stage lighting for small venues and bars
Make a small handful of fixtures in a low room look deliberate rather than thrown at the stage.
Curriculum focus
Colour and intensity
Additive mixing, colour temperature, saturation, and what a colour does to skin under a camera.
Fixtures and optics
Wash, spot, beam, profile, and blinder: what each one is for and how to recognise it in haze.
DMX, patch, and power
Addressing, footprints, universes, two-universe scenarios, distro maths, and load safety.
Composition and busking
Front, back, and side light, energy arcs across a set, cue stacks, and calling a show live.
Good fit if
- You volunteer at a church and ended up running the lights, on a fixed rig nobody explained.
- You run lights at a bar or small club, busking to a band you have never heard before.
- You are an electrician or a student on a theatre show, working from a plot somebody else drew.
- You want DMX and patching practice without a rig to plug into.
- You can operate the desk but your looks do not read the way the ones you admire do.
One plan covers the connected skills
Start in Lighting, then keep the same account, progress history, and subscription as your plan expands into the rest of Main Act.
Questions
Does this teach my specific console?
It teaches what every console does: tracking, palettes, HTP and LTP merging, record versus update, and why a light ignores your cues. The drills run on a working desk model rather than the syntax of one manufacturer, so the judgment transfers to whatever desk you sit behind.
Do I need a rig or a visualiser?
No. The stage is rendered in your browser with real light sources, so beam angle, falloff, edge quality, and what actually lands on a performer are all part of the picture and part of the score.
Is this only for touring concert lighting?
No. You pick the kind of room you work in and the briefs are drawn from that rig, so a club operator, a theatre electrician and someone on a fixed house package each practise their own world rather than a tour that is not theirs.