Lighting / Sound Cue Sheets

[EustaceM]

In the past I've made my own lighting and sound cue sheets for shows and distributed them. I'm not sure if my lighting/sound cue sheets seemed easy to understand. i was wondering if anyone can send me (or tell me what info to put down) a copy of their lighting and sound cue sheet. Thanks a ton!

[Nelson]

What kind of console do you use? Clearly the cue sheets for a two-scene preset are vastly different from a memory console, and so on. What kind of shows do you usually design for? How intricate/complicated are your lighting designs?

I'm also interested to see what others use. I seem to come up with a different design for every show. I haven't found/created one good cue sheet that I can use for most everything.

-Nelson

[zmb]

Here are the lighting cue sheets I have for an 18 channel, Two scene board:

These were done in MS Excel.

[FACTplayers]

For sound cues, I have my techies write the cues directly into their script notes. Each techie takes notes a little differently, but it is what works for him or her.

Also, none of my techies are allowed to bury their face in their script notes or cue notes. I require them to attend so many rehearsals that they have just about every cue, line, scene change, light change, and movement memorized.

[EustaceM]

That is a good point by having the sound/light technicians write their own notes but a majority of shows i've worked on and called, the sound and light crew were added late in the production around tech rehearsals. I've made cue sheets and wrote down all the information they needed for them. Some times, I met with them outside normal rehearsal hours to discuss their cues so they'll know exactly what needs to be done, how and when.

[Nelson]

I also tend to have the crews write their own cues, especially for sound. I want the crews that are running the boards to be comfortable with their cues, so they usually write their own. I am usually the designer, so for smaller shows where I also run the board, I just do it from memory or "design-on-the-fly", so no cues needed except a few casual notes.

[1troubledouble1]

Some people so lighting cues as numbers and sound cues as letters. I find it easier to just make all cues numbers and note which ones they are. It helps with tandem cues so you don't have to call "Cues 19, 20, and F Go", you can just call "Cues 19-21 go", etc.

radio hour cue sheet master.docx

This is my master cue sheet from our One Act show, which had various elements, but I tried to keep it as simplistic as possible. And I did make seperate sheets for each type of cue, but this is just the master.

[jglodeklights]

Things really depend on the skill level of those involved, and the situation. Typically, light board ops do not have a Cue List, except when operating two scene preset boards. Especially with the ability of most consoles to have Q's labeled or noted, the paper Q sheet is largely negated. Additionally, board ops should generally not be taking the cues on their own. It is the SM's job to call them, and their responsibility to be wrong if it doesn't go where it is supposed to.

For sound, again, G-O's should be handled by the SM, and it is their job to get it correct. For musicals, sound ops/engineers may keep a copy of the script or a list they use to track their mixes, ensuring the only hot mics are those of the actors/singers we are supposed to be hearing and at what level. This may also include any cues they trigger. Typically, SM's do not call mixes- it changes every night and would over complicate things when combined with their deck and light cues.

Additionally, deck, light and sound crews don't need to know all the cues of one another. Each crew should be solely focused on their task at hand. Followspots shouldn't be worrying that Sound J isn't going while they are picking up Actor Z, unless of course Sound J is their prompt to live move or come up on the Telephone Sound J is "coming from." Each crew should have their own tracking sheets, as required, to perform their duties. Excessive paperwork will only complicate matters and take people away from what they should be doing.

[Nelson]

Most of the events I work on are not elaborate enough to require a stage manager. That is why we usually write and keep track of our own cues. Those events also don't require elaborate cues, so sometimes a cue sheet is not necessary at all.

[longbordr13]

We take a script and write on it the cue locations then copy it for all crew mwmbers. Then I highlight my lighting cues so i can make sure i see them.