PAR light rental

What PAR lights are

PAR lights are compact lighting fixtures that cast an even pool of colour onto a surface. They are among the most widely used tools in stage lighting, and that is no coincidence: they are simple, reliable and usable anywhere. You aim a PAR light at a stage, a wall or a piece of scenery and you have a polished layer of colour in one go, without complicated settings. That simplicity makes them the workhorse on which many lighting designs are built.

The name comes from the reflector used to focus the light. In the past PAR lights were incandescent lamps with a parabolic reflector, but today our fixtures work with efficient, dimmable light sources that mix the full colour spectrum. This lets you set anything from a deeply saturated colour to a soft warm white, without having to work with separate filters. The classic shape and the directness of the effect have remained, the technology underneath has moved with the times.

What sets a PAR light apart from a spot or a moving fixture is the emphasis on flat coverage rather than directed movement. A PAR is aimed at a fixed point and fills its surface evenly. That makes it less spectacular than a moving head, but very well suited as a reliable base layer. In many designs the PAR lights provide the atmosphere and the colour, and we build the more dynamic light on top of them.

Why PAR lights are so versatile

The versatility of PAR lights lies in their size and their simplicity. They are compact and light, so we put them on a light stand as easily as we hang them on a truss. This means they fit almost any space, from a small stage to a large hall. For an intimate event a few fixtures suffice, for a larger production we use dozens, all driven from the same plan.

They are also broadly usable in application. You use PAR lights to set a stage in colour, to light a wall or a piece of scenery, or to bring general atmosphere into a space. Depending on the lens they give a narrower or wider beam, so we choose the right spread for each position. A narrow beam lights a specific surface, a wider one fills a larger area evenly.

On top of this they are energy-efficient and reliable. Modern PAR fixtures use little power and barely heat up, which makes them suitable for longer programmes and for spaces where the power supply is limited. That combination of versatility, efficiency and reliability explains why the PAR light, after decades, is still the backbone of so many lighting setups.

Where you use PAR lights

PAR lights suit almost every kind of event. At a wedding they give the reception hall and the stage a warm layer of colour that sets the tone all evening, with calm tones during dinner and livelier colours once the dance floor opens. At a corporate event we use them to set the stage and the walls in the brand identity, so the space matches the brand right away.

At presentations and conferences PAR lights provide a polished, even look across the stage area, which also comes across neatly on camera. At a party or company celebration they form the colour base of the dance floor, where they keep the energy up while the moving light plays over them. Beyond that you see them at drinks receptions, anniversaries, receptions and product launches, anywhere a stage or space needs to be reliably set in colour.

Precisely because they are so accessible, PAR lights also lend themselves well to smaller and simpler setups. With a handful of fixtures you already have a complete atmosphere, without needing an extensive lighting installation. For larger productions we scale up the number and combine them with moving light, spots and effects.

The technology and the control

Colour mixing and dimming

Our PAR fixtures mix the full colour spectrum, which lets us move smoothly from one tone to another. That mixing determines how pure a colour looks and how natural a warm white comes across. The fixtures are also fully dimmable, so we can fade the light up and out rather than simply switching it on and off. Those smooth transitions make the difference between a polished show and one that feels jerky.

Control via DMX

We control the PAR lights via DMX, the standard protocol for event lighting. With it we set the colour, the brightness and the transitions per fixture or per group. This lets you put the stage in one colour and the walls in an accent, or run slow colour fades along with the flow of the evening. If you want to approach the control as a larger whole, with scenes and cues, take a look at our options for DMX lighting control.

Setup, testing and operation on site

On the day itself we place or hang the PAR lights according to the design, aim them at the right surfaces and set the colours. This is followed by a test in the room, because a colour that is right on paper sometimes comes out slightly differently in the space due to the wall colour or residual light. We correct tones that are off, check that all fixtures light up evenly and match the transitions to your programme.

During the event we can handle the operation ourselves, so the colour changes come at the right moment, or we set everything fixed and briefly explain how to switch a scene yourself. For larger productions the lighting runs along with the sound and the rest of the show, driven from a single plan.

If you only want to collect and set up a few PAR lights yourself, individual rental without support is available through SpeakerVerhuur.nl, the webshop of Speaker Verhuur Amsterdam. If you are after a fully managed result, HuurAV takes the design, the setup, the testing and the operation off your hands. Request a no-obligation quote and we will think through the best setup for your event.