I set up a stage today...

miriam

Active Member
In my class, with one other girl.

Plug in the mixer, turn on the mixer, equalizer, compressor, amplifier. Connect three mics for singer, one for guitar, DI box for guitar, speakers. Coil everything nicely (it was a very small stage).

That was a heady feeling.

Then we tested to make sure there was soiund running through everything. Then tested each mic separately, and all together, for bothmonitor and speakers. Tried to blend it all nicely.

Extremely heady.

But it sounded awful. The performers were all the other girls in the class, and we couldn't sing well or play well. We took turns being the performers and the techs.

But I did it. For sort of real.:mrgreen:
 
Congratulations Miriam. I remember so clearly being about 12 and running sound for an all school event for the first time. It was so exciting. Except for the occasional idiot performer/director... It only gets better!
 
It's a great feeling isn't it? It is always exciting to see your work, planning, and education come to fruition. It is also great that you are in a program that give you good practical projects like that, even if the people in you class aren't great musicians ;)

Keep it fun!
 
Miriam: Your enthusiasm which just glows out of your posts reminds me of why I do this. Thankyou.
 
I think the first time I did sound for anything important was when I was in 6th grade. I was board operator for the middle school play. James and the Giant Peach I think it was...on a Mackie SR24-4VLZ. That mixer was pretty overwhelming at the time. Even had a lav mic on James running through a reverb unit on an aux for when he climbed into the thing ;).

I went back there last year just for S&G and my gaff-taped Littlite was still there illuminating the mixer. Brought back some memories...
 
I too have to thank you for bringing so much energy to a post. I remember the first time I was asked to set up a microphone and stand for assembly when I was 5. I think that was the beginning of it all, and its so good to see someone with so much enthusiasm in a business that I think I can safely say, all of us love!

Cheers

Daniel
 
You know some people find all my energy nauseating. I'm glad that is not the case here, or else people are good at covering it up.
:sick:
 
We all remember when we were at that point...the first "HOLY CRAP THAT'S COOL" point of any techie's career. As you progress, it takes more and more for you to go "HOLY CRAP THAT'S COOL!"
 
I dunno, I'm 56 and I've been doing this for over 40 years and I still say "Holy Crap that's cool" at least once every show. Oh and every time I open a box with a new toy in it.
 
I've been in the entertainment industry for over 25 years and I STILL feel that way. Yesterday I was on a carpentry crew (not my favorite) for Peter Pan. But it was enjoyable. There's just something about the business. To the outsider, what we do sucks. The hours, the risks, the travel, etc. But if you understand the thrill, there's nothing like it.
 
I remember the first time that i set up a PA system. I couldn't have been much older then 7. My dad was a Square dance caller, and he had a Hilton 4 channel powered mixer, A cd player, a yak stack speaker, and a shure sm-58 microphone.

He told me to go and set it up, I was nervous. I had seen him set it up hundreds of times. It took me 5-10 minutes, but i did it all by myself. I was so excited when everything worked. I owe all that i have done in the theater to what my dad taught me about sound systems when i was younger.
 
I have to agree. With the other old guys about still getting thrills. There's nothing better than visualizing something in your mind. Creating it on stage. Then hearing the audience react to it. It's totally a selfish egotistical thing. But it's a great feeling to see what you dreamed come to life and be shared by everyone in the room.
 
Precisely why we're in "live entertainment" (I can't say I'm in theatre anymore) as opposed to some other profession, where we'd work 9-5, have weekends and the big eight holidays off, and take two weeks of vacation per year.:)
 
I know you all will understand what I mean--

I went to see an opera once, to expand my cultural horizons. And it was a free ticket, in one of the boxes. The show was Carmen. Once I read the plot, I wasn't too interested, but the effects created on the stage were spectacular.

After intermission when the theater was all silent and the curtain opened, the stage was a grotto. The way the space was manipulated and the lighting and mist, I was blown away. No one was on stage, no action or singing or anything, but I started cheering. Like at a ball game cheering. It was so powerful, what everyone had created.

Then the entire theater turned to look at the loon, and the floor just opened up to swallow me whole. I wish. My friends pretended not to know me, the whole thing was just horrible. I have since learned how to behave in a theater.

But I will always remember how that stage looked.
 
The way the space was manipulated and the lighting and mist, I was blown away. No one was on stage, no action or singing or anything, but I started cheering. Like at a ball game cheering. It was so powerful, what everyone had created.
Then the entire theater turned to look at the loon, and the floor just opened up to swallow me whole. I wish. My friends pretended not to know me, the whole thing was just horrible.
Wow, talk about life lessons.
 
I know, life is really strange sometimes. Going to that show made me stop and think about theater in a totally new way, and that was it for a while. Then I became more involved, and now I am beginning to study it for real, the nuts and bolts, and it is just amazing. To see both the forest and the trees, if you will.

And I really did not mean to get into a whole deep discussion about this.
 
You know, I know it isn't considered proper to cheer an empty stage but I remember once sittting in a theatre for the opening night of a show I had designed the lightng for. The curtain went up and the audence saw a dark midnight stage with a field of stars and a moon gobo. There were three shepherds sitting on a beautiful hill designed and built by a very talented lady there was low smoke (CO2) covering the stage internally lit with blue light and the audience applauded.
Gee it made me feel good.
 

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