Why are things opposite?

[len]

In my early years in the production end of the business, I was always told that dimmers/lighting distro, etc., are kept stage right, and monitor mixers are always stage left. And thinking back that seems to be true of every concert I ever saw, even back to 1975, before I started really paying attention. The only notable exception is Willie Nelson, who likes his monitor engineer to be stage right, or so I'm told.

However, the theaters built for plays etc., seem to have it set up the opposite. Anyone know the reason why music does it one way and acting the other?

[Footer]

Most theatres don't have a monitor engineer or for that matter dimmers onstage. Most tours I have worked put the SM on whatever side the fly rail is on and dimmer beach on the opposite side of the fly rail. Personally I prefer the flyrail SR setup, and I really don't know why. I just do.

[museav]

And sometimes it is purely a result of the building itself as in where can they put certain parts of the structure or other building elements when designing the building or where is the company switch or the loading dock. For example, the amphitheatre I worked at had the amp room and cabling access from FOH located stage right and the electrical room, dimmer room and loading dock stage left and that was due purely to how the building had to lay out on the site and where the utilities were coming from (no sense to run all the electrical under the entire building or across the building to get from there to the dimmer room).

[rochem]

Yea, for theate it really depends on how the theatre is built. The roadhouse where I work just got renovated last year, but before that their company switch was on SR, the same side as the fly rail. Because of limited space in the wing, the flymen had only about a foot or two of space between the fly rail and the dimmer racks to squeeze through (this was before they put in a fly gallery), and the feeder had to run up and over a doorway and back to the upstage wall to get to the company switch. The SM was also on SR, which made everything very crowded over there. In the renovation, they put the company switch on SL instead, where there is much more room offstage, so now the dimmer racks all live on SL and the SM and fly rail is on SR. But I know that some of the other roadhouses around here are completely opposite of that.

[FatherMurphy]

Most of the theater tours I've worked as a local hand for seem to have the electrics looms laid out starting from the center, so that the cable can easily run either direction.

Now that you've mentioned it, I've seen more concerts with sound left, dimmers right than the other way around, but I always just assumed that was because the power tended to be located to the right of the houses I've been in, and it was therefore a shorter feeder run to the dimmers.

[cdub260]

At my venue, the main stage has the dimmers, audio racks and fly rail all stage left. The reason for this is one of geography. All power comes into the building from stage left and the loading door for the building is stage right, so the fly rail can't go there.

[epimetheus]

The only theater I've worked at had the fly rail SL and 400A service SL and SR. Traveling shows generally setup dimmers SL and sound SR. SM could really go on either side. House dimmers are in the basement.

[len]

Originally Posted by Footer

Most theatres don't have a monitor engineer or for that matter dimmers onstage. Most tours I have worked put the SM on whatever side the fly rail is on and dimmer beach on the opposite side of the fly rail. Personally I prefer the flyrail SR setup, and I really don't know why. I just do.

I meant that the show's touring dimmers are usually stage left, near the rail. Every theater I've been in is designed this way, but by your comments I'm assuming there are some that the flyrail is SR.

[mnfreelancer]

The funny thing is that every outdoor show I've worked where power is from a portable genny and the stage is modular dimmer beach has still been SR and monitor world SL...old habits die hard I guess!

In my HS theatre our flys were SR, and although we didn't have an actual company switch there was a heafty sub-panel SR as well. Most road shows would use house dimmers but a few brought amp racks for additional sound and tied in SR. There was a panel across the service hallway within 15' of the SL wing but it crosses a major traffic pattern AND the green room so it never was tied into.

[mixmaster]

Just wondering here, if lights and sound being separate goes back to the days of lighting equipment being electronically "noisy", and lots of older, unbalanced sound equipment being susceptible to RF and EM interference, and having them on opposite sides of the stage to reduce the chances for that interference. Modern shielding and balancing has eliminated the issue but I still have people stare at me like I'm crazy when I put stage power and mic lines under the same piece of tape.
Thinking back, most venues that I can remember working in had the flyrail to SR. Power was six of one half dozen of the other, and dimmers went wherever there was room. Monitor land went to the same side of the stage as the head of the main snake so that the short monitor trunk could reach. Seems like most shows I remember doing monitors for we were SL, but usually that was a decision based on logistics and the geography of the venue. I guess I don't have a preference.