I need info

I'm still in High school, however i am getting very serious about Tech and especially lighting. I really want to keep up with the industry but i have no idea what magizines to get or websites or even where to go. If anyone could point me in the right direction thatd be awesome. thanks
 
Iv gone gone a little over board some may say with the magazines. I have Live Design, Stage Directions, and Lighting and Sound America, iv subscribed to PLSN but I havent gotten a magazine yet. Also all of these magazines are free =) . You can also go to manufactures web sites (ETC, Apollo, Rosco, .....) and request free product catalogs.

Hope this helps
 
You've already happened across one of, if not the, best websites out there to learn about it ;)
 
Mobile Production Magazine (or whatever the heck they call it now) is another good one for touring and Rental and Staging News are a couple I haven't seen mentioned.

Also, go to all the publications websites where you can subscribe to email newsletters which deliver all the latest news on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. This is the best way to stay current on what is going on around the industry.

Home - PLSN
Live Design Magazine : Envision. Build. Tech. Go.
LSA Online - Welcome

Another good way to stay current is to check out the major manufacturers sites like Vari-Lite, Martin, High End, ETC, Strand, MA...just to name a few. They always have news stories and case studies highlighting their products, usually covering very large/high profile events!

When I was young and just getting into lighting I subscribed to every magazine there was, even the overseas stuff! I got on every mailing list I could find and always requested all the product info on the little request cards.

Have fun,

BRANDON
 
Thanks for all the magazines! I just subscribed to all of them :)
 
It's more geared to audio, but there's also FOH Magazine.

And there's this great forum called Controlbooth .. oh wait, we're here.

I think you don't so much need to keep up with the latest and greatest bells and whistles, but more so build a solid foundation to build from. Good lighting design doesn't always (or ever, actually) have to use the newest toys. If you have a good background, you can do good stuff with almost anything. If the most crude thing you've learned is an Express, then when you're faced with a slider patch cabinet or a piano board, well...

I'm sure some guys, when they learned on the Express at another high school in town, and came to try to use the Producer2 at my high school ten years ago said "What? There's no Go button?"

Same goes for how stuff works. PWM dimming is pretty much unchanged since the dawn of time, and patching and calculating loads and working with fixtures is also similarly unchanged. Even the fundamentals of control haven't changed significantly in the past 20 years. Sure, new boards and new programming syntax, but the end result is the same thing: 8-bit big-endian data bytes (or analog levels of some kind) that change when you push the big green Go button or move some handles.

Just some thoughts from the crazy analog guy...
 
I agree with waynehoskins, as much as I hate and and constantly complain about our two-scene board, and how we're running on all 20-30 year old Altmans and not Source 4's, its definitely concrete to build your house on.

When I had my first chance to use a "go" board--if I may--it was probably one of my most exciting experiences as a lighting technician. Start from the bottom and work your way up.
 

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