Controlling Booth Traffic

[Anonymous067]

OKay...we've all given our non-techie buddies booth tours before, but realistically, who should be allowed in the booth, and how do you go about kicking people out?

Personally, I don't even let actors in the booth. They're allowed to come up the stairs, and only to get their mics or if instructed by a board op/SM.

 

[NickJones]

I'm a bit of a Booth Nazi. If they need mics they wait outside the door, the Director is allowed in for plotting, and that's about it. And when the Stage Audio guys want somewhere to hang out I try and keep them out of the booth too.
Nick

 

[zuixro]

I'm a fan of the "nobody unnecessary in the booth" way of doing things. It keeps things from getting messed with mostly, very important when you have $20,000 of rented wireless mic gear sitting around. Also keeps our snacks from getting pillaged.

 

[kiwitechgirl]

Our booth is kept locked unless there's a tech in there, but the actors all know better than to go in there anyway. Occasionally during a show the odd cast member may go up to see a part of the show from the front, but we have no issues with that provided they're quiet!

 

[cprted]

Keep the door locked. Anyone who needs in has a key. I often deal with actor/mic things in the wings or dressing rooms. Saves the actors from either having to come to the booth or FoH.

 

[ReiRei]

At my high school the rule was that nobody was allowed in the booth unless they were working. Actors/performers only if they were recording something with the sound tech. Anyone who had nothing to do with the show was strictly just not allowed in the booth.

How to go about kicking them out? Well, since my TD made the rule that nobody was allowed up there whenever someone not allowed would come in I would simply tell them that they weren't allowed and they needed to leave. One of the technicians at my old high school who thought she was the reason the sun rose in the morning brought her girlfriend into the booth and got really bent out of shape with me when I insisted that she leave. They finally left though, complaining loudly that I was mean and whatnot. Whatever, those are the rules that I'm given and those are the rules that I follow.

Our stage manager for Pajama Game let a reporter up into the booth so she could write an article. There was also talk of letting this girl on headset. I kindly told miss reporter that there was absolutely no way she could be on headset and not any way that she could be in the booth either. I mean, how was she going to write anything down if there was no light for her to see. The stage manager thought it appropriate to override me by saying, "I'm the stage manager and I'm the boss, she's coming into the booth." So down I go to the TD who rages at her and makes the reporter leave. More complaining about me being rigid and mean. Whatever, deal with it.

If you have a problem with people coming into your booth just to hang out, put a sign outside the door that says something along the lines of, "unless your job is a booth job, turn back now." If people decide to come in anyways without purpose tell them to leave. We had a big problem with having all the techs in the booth, that should only have 5-6 people max, coming in before a show. It got to the point where I couldn't even focus on the tasks at hand and I made everyone leave and we put up a sign.

Make guidelines about who should/should not be in the booth. Share these guidelines with your crew and then stick to them.

 

[mstaylor]

I ran lights for a S production years ago and kicked the director/teacher out of the booth. First off she had no real purpose being there, SM was calling cues on headset, second she was an idiot that had not a clue about tech. I was only doing it because a friend of mine's daughter was the SM and no one knew how to run the board.

 

[MSLD]

i do the oppisite, if you're in my booth, you run lights, even if you dont know how to. hey, it keeps them all away

 

[photoatdv]

I've almost had dancers run a number in rehearsal before... because they kept asking for ridiculous things then telling me my job was so easy and anyone could do it...

 

[MillburyAuditorium]

Well we currently don't have a booth, just the back row crossover we call our home. Anyone, be it students, actors, or other person walks back there I or the SM has a ***** on them. And our real problem used to be students or air head actors messing with the EQ and what not, it all stopped after I put a white sheet over the equipment and two laminated pieces of paper on it, one saying "DO NOT TOUCH. This equipment is insured for more than your life."
and the other being "This area under 24 hour closed circuit video recording.". (There is no camera in the theatre )

Fake signs really do help, especially the "DANGER: High Voltage" on the dimmers and amp racks. Although, its true for those.

 

[cdub260]

At the Pageant there are four people with keys to the booth and the booth has its own dedicated alarm system. The Pageant Director, the Technical Director, the Stage Manager and I are the only people with unrestricted access to the booth. Anyone else who needs to get in there needs to find one of us to open the building for them. Yes, the booth is it's own separate building. That said, I generally steer clear of the booth unless I have some reason to make the hike from the stage to the back of the bowl.

 

[Jinglish]

Ah, you lucky people with your booths. The "booth" at my high school consists of a couple of desks in the back left corner of the house. As a result, intrusion by actors and other unwanted individuals can be a bit of a problem. At best they hang out there and getting in the way a little when we're trying to work. But many of them--including seniors--like to play with our gear while back there, whether it's our two-way radios (note to self: lobby for some ClearCom wireless gear when the next theater grant comes around) or messing with the lighting board (which happened at a set strike last year).

What's really annoying is when the freshman decide to plug their iPods into the sound board and play rap on the sound system when I'm trying to work. They're dealt with quickly and sternly, of course.

 

[Raktor]

Our stage manager for Pajama Game let a reporter up into the booth so she could write an article. There was also talk of letting this girl on headset. I kindly told miss reporter that there was absolutely no way she could be on headset and not any way that she could be in the booth either. I mean, how was she going to write anything down if there was no light for her to see. The stage manager thought it appropriate to override me by saying, "I'm the stage manager and I'm the boss, she's coming into the booth." So down I go to the TD who rages at her and makes the reporter leave. More complaining about me being rigid and mean. Whatever, deal with it.

Yes, the TD overrides the SM, and you were right to go to the TD... but you'll usually find that what the SM says - goes. The SM does have more authority than you, and you should have just immediately told the TD, not argued with your superior.

 

[MillburyAuditorium]

Jinglish, I know how you feel That's how our school is as well, although in the middle not corner.
But our faculty knows that if any student besides me and the sound guy touches any equipment its an automatic discipline

lol, someone asked me if they could play music with the theatres sound system and I said "If you can figure out how to do it you can."
She stood behind the board for at least thirty minutes xD At least 10 of which was just staring at it, so I felt bad and did it for her : P
-Plug device in there, play something. Turn board on. Main slider up. "Open" channel slider up and unmute.-

 

[Soxred93]

-Plug device in there, play something. Turn board on. Main slider up. "Open" channel slider up and unmute.-

Now THAT's an odd procedure...

We do it like this:

Turn on amp. Turn on board. Main Mix up. Plug in iPod. Unmute channel. Set gain about halfway. Slowly bring up fader. (We always unmute before bringing the fader up. Sometimes, unmuting while the channel is all the way up creates a slight "pop")

I still fail to understand why you press play before even turning on the board...

 

[MillburyAuditorium]

Well, lol, I was just saying what I told her to do

We turn our amps on first thing, since they are backstage.

So,
Board on.
-Pop- Good, where in business. (xD)
Main up to +10.
Check gain in the middle.
Play something.
Unmute.
And adjust whatever slider accordingly. Whether it be the CD mixer, "Open" (for ipods or what ever with a mini output.), or a mic.

Off topic-
Anyone else have fun during shows or rehearsals soloing someones wireless mic to listen to their conversations? xD

 

[cprted]

Well, lol, I was just saying what I told her to do

We turn our amps on first thing, since they are backstage.

So,
Board on.
-Pop- Good, where in business. (xD)
Main up to +10.
Check gain in the middle.
Play something.
Unmute.
And adjust whatever slider accordingly. Whether it be the CD mixer, "Open" (for ipods or what ever with a mini output.), or a mic.

Off topic-
Anyone else have fun during shows or rehearsals soloing someones wireless mic to listen to their conversations? xD

The amps should be last to go on and first to go off to avoid the "pop."

 

[Les]

Well, lol, I was just saying what I told her to do

We turn our amps on first thing, since they are backstage.

So,
Board on.
-Pop- Good, where in business. (xD)
Main up to +10.
Check gain in the middle.
Play something.
Unmute.
And adjust whatever slider accordingly. Whether it be the CD mixer, "Open" (for ipods or what ever with a mini output.), or a mic.

Off topic-
Anyone else have fun during shows or rehearsals soloing someones wireless mic to listen to their conversations? xD

Am I the only one that thinks explaining how to play an ipod through the school's sound system to a bunch of other students is a really bad practice? Maybe it's just me but if I was a theatre teacher I would never, never let my students play anything other than show-specific music on the system, and only for production reasons. Look at it this way. If your ipod is connected to the system and you happen to blow a speaker or an amp, who's head is on the chopping block?

And when rules tend to get relaxed, people can get careless and push the limits.

/end rant.

 

[Anvilx]

And when rules tend to get relaxed, people can get careless and push the limits.

So true. The difficult part is strictly enforcing the rules and not coming off as a jerk at the same time .

 

[zuixro]

The amps should be last to go on and first to go off to avoid the "pop."

My rule is "Nothing goes on or off when the amps are on" That rule really only applies to things between the board and the amps. So plugging a compressor into an insert is ok, but you shouldn't turn on a compressor (between the amps and board) if the amps are on.