Why on earth would anyone want to go to all this trouble?

How’s it all done?  What songs do you use?  How do you let

people hear the music on their radio?  Hopefully you’ll find the

answers to these questions (and more!) below.  If there is

anything you don’t see answered about which you’re curious,

please feel free to email us and ask!

Why go to all this trouble?

Great question.  When I was a kid there was a house just

outside of my neighborhood that always had a huge light

display. 

I was fascinated by the sheer scope of it (admittedly it

probably is bigger in my memory than it ever was in real life). 

The house was on the east side of Indianapolis at 42nd and

Newburg Drive.  I loved to stare at all of the lights they put

up each year, and that always stuck with me.

When I was a little older, I tried putting up some static lights,

but never felt like the reward was worth the effort.  So I put my fascination

with Christmas light displays out of my mind - being satisfied to just drive around each year and look at other peoples’ displays.  In 2007 I discovered systems that could let anyone animate and synchronize a light display to music using a computer!  After watching some of the videos online I knew I had to try myself.

Call it the fulfillment of a childhood fascination if you will.  My wife just shrugs her shoulders and says, “Whatever makes you happy!”

What’s the magic glue that makes all this work?

There are a handful of controller systems for lights.  I happen to have

chosen to use a system by Light-O-Rama, but there are plenty of systems

out there that have their own fan-following. I have two 16-channel

controllers.  This means I can control 32 different “outlets” all at the same

time.  Each outlet could have as few as one string of lights on it (100

bulbs) or as many as 40 strings of light (4000 bulbs).  Though in practice

you’ll have a maximum of around 10,000 total bulbs per 16-channel

system. 

The Light-O-Rama (LOR) hooks to a standard Windows computer to run

the show.  The computer contains the music and animation files (which

are built by hand) and sends the signals in time to the music to the

controller.  Each channel can be off, on, or faded all in concert with any

other channel.  When playing a choreographed sequence the effect is a

dancing light show in time to the music.

What songs do you use?

We have five songs in our show - they are:

1. 1.Joy To The World (Go Fish)
   

2. 2.Carol of the Bells (Monique Danielle)
   

3. 3.Sleigh Ride (Brian Setzer)
   

4. 4.Winter Wonderland (A Bayou Brass Christmas)
   

5. 5.It’s the Most Wonderful Time Remix
   

6. 6.Stille Nacht (Mannheim Steamroller)
   

7. 7.Siberian Sleigh Ride (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)
   

8. 8.Wizards In Winter (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)
   
   

The show itself runs about 13.5 minutes.  There are 6.5 minutes of music

with no animation to clear out any traffic between shows.  This makes the

total show cycle twenty minutes, which means it will run - in full - three

times per hour.

How do you get the music on the radio?

We use a small FM transmitter (the Ramsey FM25B to be specific) which allows us to broadcast our music on unused radio channels.  We’re broadcasting on 100.1FM.  The transmitter is basically a low-power radio station which can be heard up to 200’ from the display.

How many lights are in your display?

Our first year (2008) we had 10,446 lights in the display.  This year our plans call for 22,000 lights in the display!  It will be a mix of 100-bulb strings, rope light, “icicle” lights, & flood lights.

We’re also estimating there will be about 2,500 feet of extension cords to get everything hooked up and ready for the lighting season.  To keep waste and clutter to a minimum, we make our extension cords out of “zip cord” (16 gauge SPT3).

UPDATE: The final 2009 light tally is 21,928 bulbs and 2,775’ of extension cords were used to build the display!

How long does it take to setup everything?

It takes about 43 hours of work to get setup.  The 43 hours was spread over 5 full days, so it’s like working a normal 8-hour job - but outside in the cold!  A lot of things like our mini trees are pre-wired in the summer and fall to save setup time in November. 

The total time required to build then entire show - which we work on all year - runs well into the several hundred man-hours.

How much electricity does this all use?

You might be surprised to learn the answer is not as much as you think!  The reason is that it’s rare that all of the lights in the display are all on at full intensity for any length of time.  We expect that even with over 22,000 lights in our display our electricity bill will only be about $65 more than normal!

We do have 80 amps dedicated & available for our display thanks to an electrician friend of ours!

How long does it take to choreograph a song for the show?

The choreography (we call it sequencing) is where the real labor of love comes in.  Good sequencers can get about 1 finished minute of show finished in 4 to 6 hours of work.  Since we’re just getting started, we’re budgeting 10 hours of work for each minute of show.  Wish us luck!

So you wanna know...something else?

If you’re curious about something we haven’t answered here please don’t hesitate to email us and ask!  We would be happy to answer any other questions - and we’ll add the best ones to our frequently asked questions page.