I've been asked to give some input on a
FOH position for a 400 seat high school theater. It is to sit behind the last row of seats in the center of three seating sections. (main aisles will be on either side). It's floor is 7" above the row of seats in front of it and then there is a gentle
rake toward the
stage. There is no
overhang to deal with. The total width available is about 12-15'. They would like this to
house sound and light desks as well as a
stage manager position with the option for one or two more individuals as needed.
Power,
DMX, sound, com, and internet cabling will be accessed under the counter.
My initial thoughts:
1. The counter be built at standard bar height of 42" both for better visibility of the
stage and to move the inevitable booth noise away from those seated around it. I'm probably in the minority here but I also like to run shows standing and this would accommodate that. Bar height chairs are also pretty easy to come by.
2. The booth wall extend somewhere around 14 inches above the counter to
shield the audience from booth light and sound.
3. A 2-3" gap should be left between the far
edge of the counter and the booth wall to accommodate running cables.
4. some sort of custom
cover(s) will need to be made to secure sound/light desks.
My questions for all of you are:
1. do you have any
feedback on the above recommendations?
2. what do you love/hate/wish was included in your
FOH position?
Any photos you'd like to pass along would also be welcome! (I've taken a look at the booth photo thread already)
Thanks for your input!
Only a few thoughts from an old
blind guy.
In single / combo booth situations, I've always preferred having the SM seated between the LX and Sound operators as cueing can then easily be accomplished by tapping of shoulders should the comms
system unexpectedly go down. I'd then add any additional accommodations on the two outer ends when necessary for other uses such as follow spots,
understudy's or directors dropping in to observe a performance unannounced. As another general comment, I've always preferred having the sound operator located out side the booth where they can actually hear what the audience is hearing and more easily assess four basic levels such as: My Lord that's painful!, that's plenty loud enough to get the director's
point across, that's a suitable background
level and that's suitably under dialogue, still audible without
masking or distracting from the cast. For decades I've struggled with making these assessments accurately from within a booth no matter whether the performance monitoring be stereo or
mono or however well calibrated to a patron's reality.
I applaud your sensible approach of not pushing the distant
edge of the counter hard up against the rear wall of the audience chamber. No matter how many cable access holes you leave in a counter top they're often too small for a
connector to pass, in a bad location, allow pencils and useful commodities to vanish out of sight at the most inconvenient times, yada, yada. Of course, do add a low, 1/2" to 5/8" lip on the distant
edge to keep things from sliding off the counter top and into the great abyss. It's also useful to push counter-top items back against a back-stop such as mixers and / or LX consoles.
Lighting can be conveniently dealt with by having a large
incandescent or
fluorescent or two overhead for when patrons aren't present and work lights are what's required while vacuuming or servicing within sound and LX consoles. For task lighting during performances and rehearsals, I've personally preferred small, individually dim-able,
PAR 20 or
PAR 30 low wattage floods or spots equipped with four-way doors and, optionally a light flesh glare reducing
gel and / or beam widening
frost when necessary to increase the width. Having each task light fitted with its own individual
dimmer yet commonly controlled by one, overall, master on/off
switch permits all the lamps to be conveniently extinguished when departing without disturbing every ones individual
dimmer settings. Never place the bright overhead cleaning light's
switch conveniently close to the entrance door as it's the first thing non-booth denizens will turn on when they enter from a sunny day into the comparatively dark environment of a booth mid performance or rehearsal while their eyes are still irised down from having been out in the sun. Keep the master task light
switch convenient to the door for the booth occupants convenience but always keep the cleaning/work light
switch where the booth bunnies can easily access it when necessary but NEVER where it's the first thing to
hand for non-residents. Having the task lights bracketed from the wall over the counter allows them to be focused to skim down the
house wall past the windows and onto the counter top without spilling out into the
house during black-outs and / or glaring back off the glass, if fitted, at the booth bunnies and / or occupying valuable counter-top space which is often at a premium.
One thing you'll ALWAYS end up fighting are occasional SM's who'll insist on running with their task lights at maximum
intensity to the
point that their eyeballs are practically bleeding from the glare off their mostly white prompt scripts and then you go for a quick dead black to permit the dead body to exit and the SM with the bleeding eyes is still sitting there asking their ASM's if the 'body' has exited yet. Meanwhile, you've been in black so long, the front rows of the audience are half way to the bars wondering what you're holding for as even their eyes have adjusted and they're
tripping over their crutches. Note: The same SM's who can NEVER have enough illumination on their glaringly lit prompt books are almost always the same ones who NEVER
switch their mics off between cues, even when there aren't any for ten pages, yet they have no qualms about blowing your ears out when they suddenly feel the need to scream at some poor cast member mid rehearsal. Have you ever noticed, those same SM's that will NEVER
switch their mics off are often mouth breathers with post-nasal drip and the same people who slam their headsets down BEFORE they think to
switch their mics off? Unfortunately some people, and generally SM's, are like that and by the time they're that old you'll find they're resistant to change and generally beyond your capabilities to educate and / or convert into worthwhile, polite, courteous and generally helpful human beings.
As an audience member, one of my favorite tests for good booth lighting is can I
play shadow puppets on my program during boring parts of a production? If I can, I consider it badly executed booth lighting with too much uncontrolled
spill escaping to help me read my program. If I can't see the shadow of my
hand on my program the booth lighting is on its way to a passing grade. If I can see the booth's inhabitants when I stand, turn around, and look at them, no problem. I see no fault in them having a little light within their booths so long as it's not distracting the patrons from watching the production they've paid to support or distracting the cast as they've enough on their minds already. Not only that, but I shouldn't be standing up and looking in the booth window during a performance.
Pardon me for droning on with another of my TLDR posts.
I'll relinquish both the
podium &
lectern and crawl back into my little dark hole.
Edit 1: Corrected a spelling error.
Edit 2: Corrected another spelling error.
Edit 3: Missed a space between words.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.