Types of Stage Lights: A Beginner's Guide to Stage Lighting Types

How do you take your show up a notch without putting in all that effort to just get better…? Stage lights!

Stage lights set the mood for your show. They bring an atmosphere and stage presence that you can’t do with your sparkling personality alone. And while less cool, they also help the audience see you — which is also important, I guess.

But adding lights to your performance is more than just setting up a few colored LEDs; it’s a show of its own! Each type of light needs to play its part. So, let’s dive into the 7 main types of stage lights to help you build your ultimate performance.

Spotlights, as the name might suggest, illuminate a spot. They shoot a concentrated, intense light to a specific part of the stage — usually the performer(s). They’re designed to highlight a subject and set them apart from the darker background.

But spotlights can do more than just highlight your pretty face. They can also create exciting effects when you attach them to a moving head. They can change colors, fly around the stage, and mesmerize the audience with bright, moving beams of light.

PAR lights (or if you want to be fancy, Parabolic Aluminized Reflector lights) are one of the most versatile lights you can have in your arsenal. They look like a tin can with a bunch of colored lights stuck in the face. Each of the lights has a parabolic reflector (hence the name) that focuses each individual light to a specific area.  

Many PARs can even change the colors of the individual lights, meaning you can mix colors to create unique effects.

PARs are one of the most versatile lights in any lighting rig. They can illuminate subjects, uplight certain parts of the stage, or even put a wash in the background. They’re also typically very easy to use, durable, and relatively affordable. If you’re just beginning your lighting journey, a few PARs are a great place to start.

As we get wider and wider dispersion, you finally end up with wash lights. Wash lights produce a wide, even light over a large area. They don’t have any bright spots, dim spots, or edges. It’s nothing but smooth coverage.

You can find wash lights as long bars, fixed modules, and even moving heads. There’s also a bit of overlap between washes and PARs, as many PAR lights can be used to create a wash effect.

Want to add a bit of movement to your light show? That’s where moving head lights come in.

Moving head lights are attached to a swiveling, rotating base. That way the “head” of the light can move up, down, sideways, around-ways, and any other ways you can think of. They’re great for creating a dynamic light show that keeps the audience engaged.

Technically, moving head lights aren’t a specific type of light; it’s just about the powered base. The “head” part can be a spot, par, or wash, depending on the type of show you want to create.

Take a long bar, jam a bunch of small multi-colored lights into it, and you have a batten light. Batten lights cast a long, even light — similar to wash lights — but with dynamic, color-changing abilities. You can split the light into different regions, each with a separate color, to throw multi-colored washes across the stage.

Bar lights perform a similar function to batten lights. The only difference is that they’re individual PAR or wash lights attached to a bar — either above or below. They’re not integrated into the bar.

Cue Dr. Evil meme… It’s time to Fire the “Laser!”

Lasers are typically reserved for large, high-energy shows, but who says you can’t bring one to your local open mic night!? Just make sure you follow the rules with lasers; they can cause damage if shined directly into the eyes.

If you take bits and pieces of all the aforementioned lights; throw them into a crazy, spinning, moving base; and unleash it at the venue; you’ve discovered special effects lights.

Basically, they’re just a lot of fun.

Okay, atmospheric effects aren’t technically a type of stage lighting. But they work with lights so well that it would be an injustice to skip them.

Yes, atmospheric effects can create atmosphere on their own — as their name might suggest. But they’re often best used in tandem with stage lights. For example, when you shoot laser lights through a haze or fog, it makes the laser lines extra bright, creating a super-cool effect the audience won’t soon forget.

Ready to build your perfect stage lighting setup? Luckily, you’re in the right spot! At AMS, we carry all the top lighting brands to take your performance up a notch — or maybe even two!

Here are some of the most popular stage lighting brands:

• Chauvet DJ
• ColorKey
• JMAZ
• ADJ

And if you’re new to the stage lighting game, there are plenty of lighting packages and bundles that come with everything you need to put on an amazing show in one portable, easy-to-deploy package. Just get it out of the box, plug it in, and you’re ready to put on a show!

Your music dazzles the ears; now it’s time to dazzle the eyes. Stage lights can make the difference between a good performance and a spectacle. They set the mood and keep the audience engaged.

Get all the stage lights and accessories you need to put on an amazing show right here at American Musical Supply. We offer VERY fast and free shipping, along with 0% interest payment plans, to make it easy to build your perfect lighting rig. Now get out there and light up the stage!