Consoles I Have Broken

It’s pretty much every one that I’ve touched at some point!

I was chatting with one of our regular lighting programmers recently, and the subject turned to consoles that we have used, and broken, throughout our careers. This, of course, got me thinking about just how far we have come as an industry, even within my lifetime, in terms of Lighting Control.

Way back in the early 1990’s when I was doing my first shows, for those of us at the lower end of the budgetary spectrum Analogue control was very much how things were done. In my case, my High School had a Rank Strand Tempus MkII, a 24 channel, 0-10v analogue heap, plugged directly into the dimming system. Many of the Faders were broken, and not all of the flash buttons worked and it was here that I learned the value of the patch panel and the art of the hot-patch. In these heady days before Risk Assessments were a thing, a good few of the plugs in the school control room were missing plug tops, and I recall earning a healthy respect for electricity on a few occasions!

Strand Tempus

Everyone has to start somewhere.

Back then, We had to keep detailed notes of every cue, and hope that the cues were spaced far enough apart that we had time to reset the faders on the preset that wasn’t in use before the next cue was due. To this day I maintain that those early experiences, where patching and cue timing had to be really thought through, have helped me to become the skilled programmer that I am today (even if I do say so myself hehe). I remember being very envious of our local Theatre and their Zero 88 Sirius 48 with it’s ‘Super User’ function. Hard to imagine now but once upon a time that old grey memory desk was quite cutting edge.

Believe it or not, there was a time before DMX, and I was lucky to start working in the industry as it was starting to become more mainstream. Just as now, many designers struggle to get their head around ArtNET, sACN, HippoNet, and all of the other Networks; so too back then many of the older LD’s were struggling to understand DMX. Even as recently as the 1990’s, it was a rare show that toured with more than a few moving lights, and even those that did often had many separate control consoles. One for the Moving Heads, one for the Moving Mirrors, one for the non-moving lights, and often others still for the fixtures that had their own propreitary protocols, more on those in a moment.

Through the guys at Avolites, and in particular the legend that is Mr. Steve Warren, I found myself getting up to speed with the original Avo Pearl, and being of the generation for whom DMX wasn’t really a new thing (everything was), I got my head around it quite quickly and ended up spending a lot of time trying to explain it to the vastly more experienced LD’s that were struggling with it. I’d like to think that I was quite good at it, but lets be honest, it’s all a bit hazy back then.

The Avolites Pearl

Desk of a generation

The Pearl was a fantastic console in its day, to be honest, I’d be happy enough to busk a live show on it even today, but it’s genetics live on in the fantastic and massively improved Tiger Touch, for which the original Pearl is of course the great grandaddy. It was with the Pearl that I learned about true HTP and LTP programming, as well as the utility in being able to choose between recording information on a Fixture or Channel basis. Incidentally, if you are looking for some programming basics, I can highly recommend Rob Sayer’s On Stage Lighting website. For all of us Pearl users though, we relished any opportunity to move on to the Diamond 2 or 3. I suspect mainly because it was a great Ego Massager, being as it was as big and heavy as any of the Sound Consoles that we were parked behind.

Avo Diamond III

You didn’t quite need a cab to get from one end to the other.

After my time with the Avolites Consoles I moved, for a short time, on to the Vari Lite Virtuoso. It’s the predecessor of what is now the PRG V676, and the child of the Artisan, one of the first true Moving Light Consoles, and console of choice for anyone specifying a rig of Vari Lites. Not least because back then, it was the only console that could drive them. This was back in the days of proprietary protocols, and limited memory. In the Artisan’s case, its data output was the Series 200 (and later, Series 300) protocol, which was bi-directional and so allowed fixture talkback to the console, an incredibly useful bit of functionality that even DMX was capable of but was rarely, if ever implemented.

Vari Lite Virtuoso

Had its moments!

It was here with the ‘Virt’, that I learned of such wonders as Split Timings, Delays, Part Cues, Follow-On’s, Linked Cues, and the more complex programming of large sequences and big Moving Light rigs. All a good grounding for the scale of shows that I would go on to design and programme. It had an added benefit in that the buttons on the century panel (top left) made a great double clicking sound that made it appear you were working a lot faster than you were actually capable of. Unless you were Andy Voller or Mike ‘Oz’ Owen of course. Who could work 10 times faster than any of us...

From the Virtuoso, I suspect my console choices will seem reasonably familiar to most people practicing in the industry today. As much as I loved the Virtuoso, Vari Lite’s insistence on not selling them somewhat limited their availability, and so I had to find another desk that was a bit more readily available. My love of Avo continued, as it does to this day, but at that time Avo were a little behind the curve in terms of complex timing, fanned delays and all of that good stuff (it’s safe to say that these days Avo have caught up, and are back to being the innovaters that they once were) (and then some!).

Hog 3

Not the most reliable of beasts after Nick Archdale left…

After the Virtuoso, I discovered the Hog3. I somehow managed to largely miss the Hog 1 and 2 that in themselves were groundbreaking revolutions in Lighting Control, as well as apparently being used by just about everyone except me. For a good few years, the Hog fulfilled it’s purpose nicely, and I was coming to the conclusion that it was pretty much all that I would ever need. Sadly, the Hog was plagued with reliability issues once the lead developers departed, and it soon became so reliably prone to falling over that I had to seek out something else. Enter GrandMA Stage Right.

You could argue that the MA Lighting Grand MA2 is the worlds most ubiquitous lighting console, certainly in Live Concerts, TV, and Film these days (although I posit that the ETC Eos - Yep, used that a lot too - probably still has the edge in Theatre), but of course it wasn’t always the case. At various trade shows the MA guys would show me through the Grand MA (now more commonly known as the MA1), the successor to the ScanCommander, and every time I looked at it I decided that it was just too German, and far too organised for my creative brain, and that I was still very happy with my Hog. And then the Hog crashed on me one too many times and got me sacked from a gig. It was then that I called my MA Rep and said ‘send me a console then’. Which they happily did, and I’ve barely used another brand ever since.

the original Grand MA

A true workhorse

Now of course, MA have evolved to the Grand MA 3, Avolites to the latest generation of their Titan Consoles, and I’ve almost come full circle. These days, amongst the myriad of consoles that I’ve used and broken, the MA2, MA3, and Avo Sapphire Touch form the main consoles of choice, with the MA’s for our Theatre productions, and more recently switching back to Avo for the Concert work, although often we’ll use an ETC Eos or the Pharos Controls Designer Software on the Theme Park and Museum Projects.

As projects get ever larger and more complex, and fixtures likewise, I’m sure I shall be provided with many new control methods to learn, and I’ll slowly become the equivalent of those guys that just didn’t get DMX back when I started out. On most of our projects today for example, we are probably running five or six different networks around the place, and on average we have at least four control protocols, as well as Timecode, Comms Networks, Video Networks and so on. More often than not, I’ll have a programmer to do the heavy lifting for me whilst I take care of looking at the big picture, but I still enjoy pressing the buttons, and as our world at FOH becomes ever more complex, it’s great to see some of the console manufacturers doing what they can to maintain the simplicity in controlling these hundred channel fixtures.

My hope is that they keep on keeping it simple, and I’m sure it wont be too long until we start to see yet another sea change in the way we go about programming things. When it does, I’ll be there, as keen to learn it as the next guy. I won’t promise to understand it, but it should be fun.

Peace and Love
Smiffy

The Industry and its Current Normal

It’s a long one this, apologies. But please do read and share.

As with I’m sure so many other people around the world, I sat down to watch Hamilton on Disney+ a couple of nights ago. I’ve been attempting to see it for years, and never managed to get the time, tickets, or be in a location where it’s playing and have everything line up to enable me to give it a watch. I designed a show on Broadway a couple of years ago in the Theatre next door. My Chief Electrician on that was the indefatigable Jimmy Fedigan (I genuinely couldn’t do a New York gig without him!), who is coincidentally, also the chief for Hamilton. He offered me an opportunity to go and see it, but as ever, the production I was working on took over my life and time out of my Theatre was a sufficient rarity that I failed to even make it to the Stage Door of the Richard Rogers Theatre where the show resides in NYC.

I’m never entirely satisfied watching a Stage Show as a Movie. Whether it’s a Theatrical or Concert Production, that sense of shared experience is lost completely. The smells, the expectant buzz that ripples through an auditorium as the House Lights dim, the scream in the case of a concert as the Intro kicks off and we kill the House Lights. There’s a sense of missing out.

For sure, Hamilton is a stunning production. Obviously, I was watching the Lighting (Howell Binkley, it’s a master-class in Stage Lighting Design for the Theatre – Beautifully lit and the timing is fantastic – Jimmy – I have questions…) but every aspect of it was stunning. I was particularly taken by the Set (David Korins), the Costumes (Paul Tazewell), and the Choreography (Andy Blankenbuehler). Sadly in this format, I cant speak to the Sound Design, but I am assured that it is stunning.

Obviously, beyond those people, there are other members of the creative team (available here https://www.broadwayworld.com/shows/creative.php… ) as well as the many Cast Members, Designers Associates and Assistants, Stage Managers, Board Operators, Wardrobe Staff, Musicians, Ushers, Front of House Staff, Building Team, Sound Engineers, Sound Techs, Automation Operators, Carpenters, Ticketing Staff, Producers, Directors (Directed by Thomas Kail, but there’ll be a resident director (or more) too), Security, Wigs people, Riggers, Flying Crew, a veritable backstage town of people that make the show run and make sure that it looks the same on the night that you see it as it did on opening night. I’m certain I’ve missed many more jobs too.

Beyond the immediate vicinity of the Theatre, Arena, Stadium, or Club, there are myriad other people involved. Lighting and Sound rental houses, and their teams that prepare and maintain the Equipment, Scenic Fabricators and their welders, carpenters, electronics, and integration teams. The Seamstresses, Cobblers, and Wig Makers that make the costumes. The marketing teams, the ticketing companies, the lawyers that deal with the contracts, the transport companies that move the show around the country or world on tour before it gets its residency on Broadway or the West End (in the case of a Theatrical Production).

There’s a trickle-down too. You don’t just go to a Theatre, or to a Gig, do you? You probably use Public Transport, which means you can have a Drink. Maybe you’ll go for a Meal beforehand, perhaps you’ll, and so the nearby Pub’s get some business, you buy a Program (Printing Company), maybe a new outfit (Clothes Store), maybe you’ll hit up a nearby pub after the show and make a night of it, maybe spend the whole weekend in town so you’ll be needing a hotel. The cast and crew need to eat. So, the café’s and pubs near the theatre will do a roaring trade in coffee and snacks during a production period and as the shows settle into their run just from the efforts of those people (and the cast and crew can probably drink the local dry a couple of times a week!)

For all of those people. Myself included, our lives have been put on hold. We aren't furloughed. We are freelance. If we are not at work. We are not earning money. Let that sink in.

The press and media have of course latched on to the celebrities asking for support, and it’s great to see them raising their voices on behalf of all of us much, much lower down the food chain, but I wonder how many of the public will switch off as Multi-Millionaire Paul McCartney tells them that the Live Production industry needs help?

Let’s be clear, it isn’t Paul McCartney asking for help for himself. He’s asking on behalf of people like us. People who planned, financially, for the normally slow December to March period in our business, only to then see 100% of our annual income disappear just as we were looking forward to getting back to work, seeing our friends, making some money, and delivering the spectacle that we deliver day in, day out, in the hope that we can bring some joy and enrichment into the lives of the general public that come to see our work.

To give some perspective. A freelance Lighting Technician in UK Concert Touring probably charges around £200 to £250 a day. From that, they have to buy their tools, insurance, cover sick days, pay their mortgage, pay their taxes and National Insurance (in the UK), and of course, whilst that looks like a nice amount of cash on the surface, consider that their ‘day’ may be from 6:00am through until 01:00 am the following morning. That’s £13 an hour at £250 a day. Take from that the governments chunk of change, and it’s considerably less. Of course, they can’t work 365 days a year either.

Let’s be incredibly generous and assume that they can work a standard working year with a month’s holiday, and no evenings and weekends. That was roughly 261 days in 2019, so 231 with a month’s holiday. That’s £57k a year. Nobody works that many days. We have already established that the first three months of the year are generally considered to be a non-starter. So that leaves 171 days. That’s £42,750.00. The yearly take home from that for 2020/2021 is roughly £32,710.00 not taking into account any tax credits. Throw in maybe £3,000 a year for tools, insurances, software licenses etc and that’s £29,710.00 a year. If you then factor in the rainy days for the first three months of the next year, that leaves you with £22,283.00 which is £2,475.00 a month (9 months based on 3 months saved from the previous year). I’d imagine there are rent or mortgage payments on that, so let's hazard a guess at £1,000.00 a month, which would leave £1,475.00 a month for the bills, groceries, home improvements, stuff for the kids, maybe a vacation, and all of the other crap that adds up to modern life’s outgoings, and of course assumes that they are never, ever, ill enough to need time off of work.

Now. Take all of that income away, with no notice, and with no indication as to when you might be able to start earning any of it again. Down that road lies despair, desperation, a good few existential crises, and god knows what level of Mental. Health. Damage.

Consider then that literally thousands of dedicated, skilled, talented, Creatives and Technicians, Performers and Producers, have been living through exactly this scenario since March. Live music alone generates over £4bn for the UK Government on an annual basis, throw in the creative industries at large and it's over £11bn. That’s considerably more than Premiere League Football.

Every single TV Show, Movie, Stage Show, Concert, Album, Artwork, Book, that you see / listen to / read / look at is generated by people that work in the creative arts. Every piece of furniture you use is designed by someone. A creative. The British Government has allowed many of us to slip through the cracks. I urge each and every one of you to support the Arts when we can come back, and speed us towards returning by wearing a mask when you’re in public and avoid going out when you possibly can.

Do what you can to let us get back to entertaining you as soon as we can (wear a mask, stay indoors when you can, etc), and write to your MP to ask them what the plan is. Those of us that work backstage do it because we don’t want to be in the limelight, that’s the job of the artists. What makes us tick is the buzz that YOU get from seeing our work, whether you know it or not.

Peace and Love

Smiffy

#LetTheMusicPlay
#ForgottenFreelancers