Smoke machine?

[dan the man]

anybody use one of these for their live shows?

a bit cheesy perhaps, but i'm thinking it could add to our live show

any recommendations for a particular brand or model?

 

[Albionic]

We used one a few times intil it discharged into someone's eye and they had to go hospital lol although I think such occurrences are rare and their eye was fine

 

[dan the man]

good lord! lol

 

[dan the man]

guess he didn't see that coming...

 

[sage]

I have a small one that I use on Hallowe'en. I got it at Walmart for $20. It's lived through 4 Hallowe'ens and I expect it'll carry on for some time yet to come. I'd imagine you'd want 2 for a live show, one on either side, or just use one near the drummer.

I hate smoke machines when I'm playing, though. I have a "no smoke machines" clause in my contract. Whenever I bring that up, my bandmates remind me that I don't have a contract. If I did, though, it would be in there. Like, right after the "I want to be dropped off at the rec centre four hours prior to show time so I can sit in a hot tub for an hour" clause. As I get older, hot tubs are kind of a requirement to keep my joints moving.

 

[darren]

Are you in a touring band, or just play occasional local/regional shows? You might want to look into renting one instead. Any place that rents lights/backline/staging/PA stuff will have smoke machines available for rent.

 

[Katash]

But don't let them fool you - I heard from a person regularly paying 15$ rent for a smoke machine that costs 50$ new. So depending on what you need and how often go one way or the other. Be carefull with really cheap ones, in a location I'm working at we had failures with the really cheap ones quite regularly.

 

[pylyo]

Sorry for OT but seeing the title I thought we have another Blackmachine copy...

 

[dan the man]

our band doesn't tour - just local shows

i've heard horror stories about crappy ones, so i wouldn't mind spending $100 - $150 on one that doesn't suck

i also like the idea of one on each side of the stage

 

[Hallic]

Just ask the stage/venue, if they do disco/dance-parties aswell, then they will have one for sure.

please be aware that the smoke is kinda "fatty", may be something to consider. It is for this reason a stage/venue wont allow smokemachines with professional grade beamer screens, because they get ruined.

 

[rahul_mukerji]

Slightly off topic but in the same realm : Someone in our band decided it would be a great idea to get a Bubble Machine into the live rig . So with little enthusiasm from anyone else in the band, he went ahead and got the little machine.

Come gig night, he put it right in front of the stage where people would stand so that they could play with the bubbles as they were blown out.

Lo and behold, the machine malfunctioned and oozed out 1 gallon of icky soapy liquid all over the floor where people were standing and routinely coughed and spluttered out a sad excuse of a bubble.

So instead of having people at our gigs, it repelled everyone away from the stage

We've never laughed so much as we did that night at the event .... gadgets make for some weird stories.

We now use fractal animations projected on a big screen or wall as our backdrops. I create these and our music is psychedelic so it goes with the ambiance.

EDIT: Forgot to mention: I know some people have issues with Smoke Machines, so depending on where you're playing, it could be detrimental to your gig. These probably work best when the band is playing on a stage which is a little removed from the floor, but at least here, where the floor / band space is basically the same, the smoke gets to everyone and causes issues.

 

[Señor Voorhees]

Thread's a little old at this point, but I figure it worth mentioning. Mushroomhead used smoke machines. I was at this show:


At around 0:55, the fire alarm goes off and the power cuts. Fun times.

 

[abandonist]

More smoke the better imo.

 

[exarchangel]

My band uses a smoke machine, I paid like $20 for it at walmart, works fine on smaller stages, but at bigger venues we don't even bother with it, either we rent a big one or have no smoke. It's a cool effect thought

 

[robare99]

A hazer works better, but they cost more...

 

[AJS]

Every show I have ever done had a smoke machine. This also includes almost every metal show I've seen in the Chicago area, as it accentuates the lights and makes them visible from afar. It kills.