LightingPenguin
Active Member
Probably could get your maintenance team to do it, assuming they have an electrician on staff. Check the codes first though
Abandoned Light Booth
- Thread startersoundoff
- Start date
im glad i brought this up even though i was really argumentative in the middle of the thread. i had never heard of running lights from the house exept when you are aiming them and building cues and scenes. i will try to work with what ive got and do my best. i guess it just seemed to me like you would naturally run lights from the booth but if we are all together we can run more fluently. we really just used to use com for that but now were less than 2 ft. away from sound guys. I will be removing the back row of seats this saturday (as per request of director) from our thearte to put in the monster table. ill take some pics so you guys can see how terrible this thing is. we'll make it work though. we always do!
-Max
-Max
LightingPenguin
Active Member
Just a note, its common practice to move the board from the booth for high schools. My school does it, and I know many many other schools that do as well. It allows easy communication between the people you need to talk to, as most people are not in a high school booth because they don't all fit, or it just doesn't work. Even if you're two feet away, the com can still be used by your SM to manage backstage and trouble shoot if something foes wrong, so its not like your com system is useless now.
Also if by "we" in " we used it to talk to the sound guys" is the lighting board op, why were you talking to them over coms anyway? I'm just curious.
DuckJordan
Touring IATSE Member
maybe its just south dakota but i have never heard of anyone taking the light board, which for us is just a computer with a horizon box run on the parallel port. Now as far as our theater is done which is a high school theater, the director who used to be our old technical director can actually sit in the audience and tell us what lights should go on. Along with students being in the booth there is no reason that a student who is not responsible enough to act like an adult near expensive equipment should be even close enough to read anything on the board itself is a bad idea. also if its anything like our theater we are not the only ones who use the space and putting a piece of equipment where people who have no idea how to use it in easy reach is again another bad idea. THAT is how things get broken. Yes i am only 18 and have only had four years experience in a theater setting but its fairly common knowledge you let idiots near complicated equipment its going to get broken. the only reason i could ever see the lighting console to be in the audience is if you have no booth what-so-ever or for demonstration purposes. The booth is designed to keep the equipment there not out in the house where people can see the techs.
LightingPenguin
Active Member
While my booth is also within easy hear shot of a director, it allows us to see the stage from a different perspective. Atleast for me, I somewhat prefer it when doing tech day or cue-cue. It lets me see it how an audience would see it, instead of behind glass from a booth farther away than the audience. For the actual shows we move it back to the booth, so we're not sitting in the audience, no exceptions
Now, as for the equipment part. If you have equipment in the house, and people can simply access that, I agree you have an issue. If we leave the board in the house, that theatre is locked up. Period. No "students staying late with the door locking behind them". The door is locked, there is no one inside.
If you're house is accessible to a random student who has no idea what the equipment does without supervision from a teacher, I think it should be moved or the theatre should have better security.
Now, as for the equipment part. If you have equipment in the house, and people can simply access that, I agree you have an issue. If we leave the board in the house, that theatre is locked up. Period. No "students staying late with the door locking behind them". The door is locked, there is no one inside.
If you're house is accessible to a random student who has no idea what the equipment does without supervision from a teacher, I think it should be moved or the theatre should have better security.
For this, our schools are different. While our director asks us to give him some light, its our design. He's not dictating to us what lights to turn on. And being in high school we don't have a separate person on board and the designer in the house. The reason I move the board down is so I can be like your director, seeing what I want on and off, levels, etc etc. If your director is designing your shows, it makes sense for the board not to move, he has the right perspective from where he wants it and can simply call up.
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DuckJordan
Touring IATSE Member
its not so much as students but rather principals that think they know what they are doing or have the idea oh well hey we paid for it we can use it how we want. but as soon as we say we need something replaced because another teacher broke the equipment its complain about how we never keep our stuff in good condition. also with our booth we have a sliding glass window and we are only located 2 feet above the audience on the main level and about 10 foot below the balcony so we are actually in the best spot in the house as far as lighting and sound goes. although the overhang of about 10 foot ends up acting as a sound trap.
LightingPenguin
Active Member
My high school moved our booth downstairs my freshman year partially because of audio issues and partially because of what they caught techs doing in there the year before. At first I TOTALLY hated it... then realized it was actually more convenient. I almost ended up using the old booth for the video I was going to do on a show last year because I needed to be able to talk to my crew, but decided I'd rather setup more tables behind lighting/sound because I didn't want to be where I couldn't see very well (the booth is ~30' up)... then the video got cancelled for the show.
I know what you mean about teachers seeing the pros as second only to God. That happened ALL the time at my school. I'd suggest something, the teacher would say it's the crazy, one of the pros would go up and ask the SAME THING and it was BRILLIANT :-S. I was really mad at first, then it just became a big joke between us. We even did it once where the TD said the EXACT SAME word as I did and same result
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I know what you mean about teachers seeing the pros as second only to God. That happened ALL the time at my school. I'd suggest something, the teacher would say it's the crazy, one of the pros would go up and ask the SAME THING and it was BRILLIANT :-S. I was really mad at first, then it just became a big joke between us. We even did it once where the TD said the EXACT SAME word as I did and same result
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I just want to point out that although this feels really lame to you, the process of figuring out how to make it all work is an excellent educational opportunity for you. Not only is it a good chance for you to really get into how your system works, it's also teaching you to be flexible and not be territorial... two common high school technician problems.
As for the power situation. I wouldn't run sound off of power stolen from an aisle light circuit. There's a potential for creating issues with the power that could make your sound system buzz, humm, hiss, or just plain sound bad. Also it's possibly against code since you are messing with a safety feature of your theater. (and as was said above don't try anything like that yourself get a real electrician!) Use good cable under a well taped and well marked floor mat.
As for the power situation. I wouldn't run sound off of power stolen from an aisle light circuit. There's a potential for creating issues with the power that could make your sound system buzz, humm, hiss, or just plain sound bad. Also it's possibly against code since you are messing with a safety feature of your theater. (and as was said above don't try anything like that yourself get a real electrician!) Use good cable under a well taped and well marked floor mat.
My space has both a control booth and a control bay the bay is in the back of the house and every one must walk around it to get to their seats. both lighting and sound are run from the bay, the booth is only used by the stage manager when calling a large show. this was all in the original 1985 design of the facility but we have expanded a bit for the lighting desk. the amp racks are in the booth but can be remotely powered on/off from the bay.
I might suggest that what you need to do is to find other (theatrical) uses for your booth. a work bench for fixture repair. color cabinet, lamp cabinet, audio cabinet. drafting table, plotter, soldering station, tool storage ..etc.etc. keep a space open for your SM to call the show. any and all spare equipment that it is in need of a secure spot should go into there. anything that you do not need daily
I might suggest that what you need to do is to find other (theatrical) uses for your booth. a work bench for fixture repair. color cabinet, lamp cabinet, audio cabinet. drafting table, plotter, soldering station, tool storage ..etc.etc. keep a space open for your SM to call the show. any and all spare equipment that it is in need of a secure spot should go into there. anything that you do not need daily
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00AVD
Active Member
The schools I've helped out at usually have had teachers that mean well, but don't really know much at all about lighting and sound. Some of the bizarre things I see them do (because they saw someone else do it) makes me shake my head at times. Personally, in a school situation where there is a booth, I'd rather see it being used as intended, not as someone else's store room.
Without a picture of the seating & booth areas it's hard to say what's right in your situation. I'm guessing that school politics comes into play in the US just as much as it does over here. If you're just a student, let the staff organise the situation. Surely they can't expect you to do it all.
Without a picture of the seating & booth areas it's hard to say what's right in your situation. I'm guessing that school politics comes into play in the US just as much as it does over here. If you're just a student, let the staff organise the situation. Surely they can't expect you to do it all.
LightingPenguin
Active Member
You need to lock your theatre, somehow. Having boards and equipment just sitting on a table in the back of the house where anyone can get it at anytime is inviting disaster to come and destroy it all. Talk to the administration about this, sometimes talking to a principle can help. Having a lockable door is an important thing to have
My school has always kept equipment in our booth both sound and lighting. When our auditorium was built they wired inputs into the floor in the back of the house, however we never used them because our massive sound craft series two and light board would be too much work to move in and out of the booth because about 50% of our staff has keys to the place and it is always left unlocked.
It all boils down to security and ease of use.
If your theatre is always unlocked then go for the booth.
If you have problems with what goes on in the booth give the staff member in charge a headset or convince another teacher to be the TD and stay in the booth.
It all boils down to security and ease of use.
If your theatre is always unlocked then go for the booth.
If you have problems with what goes on in the booth give the staff member in charge a headset or convince another teacher to be the TD and stay in the booth.
Tex
Active Member
I don't have a problem with control in the house. Footer's right; never underestimate the ability of a teenager to stop thinking and do something not very smart. (I love and trust them, but I'm still going to watch them...)
What I can't believe is that a theatre teacher gave away storage space! Is she nuts? If there's enough space to cram in a chair or step unit, it's mine!
What I can't believe is that a theatre teacher gave away storage space! Is she nuts? If there's enough space to cram in a chair or step unit, it's mine!
Esoteric
Well-Known Member
Whenever I work with schools we always move the console into the house for tech (it is just stupid to try and design a show from 99.9999999% of light booths) but we always move it back for performance. I have worked in community theaters though where the board is in the house. If there is a booth I would always rather use it though, why would you want an SM sitting at the back of the house having to deal with the inevitable crises that come up during a run within earshot of the audience? Sounds dumb to me.
I am with Tex as well. In my time as a High School TD, I was stealing storage space from every other department!! The only thing I can think of is someone in the English Department (why does the English Department need so much storage space anyway???) has pics of the theater director and the principal in a compromising position.
Mike
I am with Tex as well. In my time as a High School TD, I was stealing storage space from every other department!! The only thing I can think of is someone in the English Department (why does the English Department need so much storage space anyway???) has pics of the theater director and the principal in a compromising position.
Mike
NickVon
Well-Known Member
as has been mentioned by other i'll also second.
Sounds like you have a Teenglish teacher. English teacher that that thinks they are a Tech.
that said when teching shows and writing cue for our theatre I absolutely toss dmx and power over the balcony and run and program from in the back of the house. The reason is you get a feel for the look of the lights from the audience perspective which is usually very different form the location of the control booth. Basically for the same reason that on Broadway and large venue shows Audio control is mixed from the center of the house.
In the middle of the week however when we have classes that happen during the day of our production week you can bet that the light board disappears upstairs or to the greenroom for storage. I'm not going to let the five thousand dollar peice of theatre critical equipment sit out in the open. Either for students to screw things up on it, break it, or spill food and drink on it (despite the no food in theatre rule :-()
I agree with the OP regarding the look of proffesionalism that having this kinda of setup can work against. Somtimes it's just the case though. My real concern after doing this for a little while would be for the safty of the equipment and your patrons first, "looks, second."
That said OSHA does have a website and a contact number for calling in violations.....and it sounds like you have some dooseys if you want to put some heat to the fire under your school board. From everything you've set it doesn't seem like the building is safe for professional technicians much less high school students.
Sounds like you have a Teenglish teacher. English teacher that that thinks they are a Tech.
that said when teching shows and writing cue for our theatre I absolutely toss dmx and power over the balcony and run and program from in the back of the house. The reason is you get a feel for the look of the lights from the audience perspective which is usually very different form the location of the control booth. Basically for the same reason that on Broadway and large venue shows Audio control is mixed from the center of the house.
In the middle of the week however when we have classes that happen during the day of our production week you can bet that the light board disappears upstairs or to the greenroom for storage. I'm not going to let the five thousand dollar peice of theatre critical equipment sit out in the open. Either for students to screw things up on it, break it, or spill food and drink on it (despite the no food in theatre rule :-()
I agree with the OP regarding the look of proffesionalism that having this kinda of setup can work against. Somtimes it's just the case though. My real concern after doing this for a little while would be for the safty of the equipment and your patrons first, "looks, second."
That said OSHA does have a website and a contact number for calling in violations.....and it sounds like you have some dooseys if you want to put some heat to the fire under your school board. From everything you've set it doesn't seem like the building is safe for professional technicians much less high school students.
waynehoskins
Active Member
I'm all for running lights in performance from an isolated booth and cueing from in the space.
But in this case, from what little I know, I think I agree with the faculty decision.
To get to your booth, you have to go through a department office and a boiler room. The English department can't lock their office, and Maintenance can't lock their boiler room. I don't like that from a liability and security perspective.
But in this case, from what little I know, I think I agree with the faculty decision.
To get to your booth, you have to go through a department office and a boiler room. The English department can't lock their office, and Maintenance can't lock their boiler room. I don't like that from a liability and security perspective.
masterelectrician2112
Active Member
I'd suggest something, the teacher would say it's the crazy, one of the pros would go up and ask the SAME THING and it was BRILLIANT :-S. I was really mad at first, then it just became a big joke between us. We even did it once where the TD said the EXACT SAME word as I did and same result
That is hilarious!
That's very good that you learned to just accept it as a fact of life though. I am very very blessed that the drama teacher/director also makes an awesome technical director. She has taught me much about technical theatre.Our booth is a professionaly built two-part cabinet with space for the light and sound boards. It is in the back of the house, but it is also away from the audience and they don't have to walk around us to get to their seats. It has 4 locks for the entire thing, and it is always locked. I think it is a good solution because the space is defined so there are no unauthorized personnel, if you will.
