So my dream has come true, and we are building a new theater. We are in the planning stages right now, and my superintendent wants a list of recommendations. I have been working out of the loop for a long time...an
auditeria <sigh>, so I don't even know where to begin.
It appears that we are looking at a
house size of about 500-600 (though I am not sure of that). No balcony. Your generic high school new construction. It will have to be multipurpose for theater productions, choir/band/
orchestra concerts, community groups,
etc. I am sure if I don't fight well, I'll get screwed in the process. I want to know everything.
What do you have that you can't live without?
What do you really wish you would have done?
What mistakes can you help me avoid?
What was a huge waste of time and money?
What questions should I be asking myself that I haven't thought of?
And specifics... How much electricity? What kind of boards (sound and light)? How many dimmers? Fly
system: yes or no. How much storage space? What kind of seats?
I am just a little overwhelmed.
Help!
By now you've gotten plenty of recomendations for designers, and consultants, and the like. I would second all that has been said, and will try to answer some of your specific questions with ideas to think about.
Thing's I can't live without:
Power. Amps need it, Dimmers need it, motors need it. All of these need lots of
power, and usually don't
play well with others. Motors and dimmers can inject lots of noise into the AC feed that will
play heck with your sound
system. The best circumstance is at least 2 feeds to the building so that all the sound
system wiring can be completely separate from lighting/motors/mechanicals, all the way back to the building entrance. Multiple circuits from the sound
system power should be located on
stage, the booth, the
FOH mix position, and the amp racks, and should be distinguished by a different color
outlet or something. If this is to be a
Road House, some sort of
power tie in for the incoming act is also necessary.
Paperwork. Blueprints are nice but you should definitely have a copy of the final
as-builts, and the operator manuals for every piece of equipment remotely connected with the
venue, as well as any warranty documentation, from the manufacture or the installer.
Conduit. Lots of it, big sizes. As popular as Cat 5 or 6
network cable and fiber-optics is, eventually a new technology is going to come around and if you don't have the
conduit buried, then installing an infrasturcture to support whatever the new technology becomes more expensive than the up front cost of bigger conduits.
Comms. Lots of stations and even more points for beltpacks. Comms in the catwalks let the LD talk to the guys in the cats during a focus without yelling, comms on the fly
rail and up on the weight bridge let the flymen and loaders communicate, comms in the dressing rooms or green room give the
stage manage the ability to
call warning cues to people in the dressing rooms.
What do I wish would have been done differently?
A MIX POSITION IN THE
HOUSE!!! Both my theaters were designed with booths for sound and lights. You can't hear what you are mixing, and no, booth monitors are not an acceptable substitute. Lighting can go in a booth IF it has a good view of the
stage, amps and
system processors could go in a booth, but the
mixer itself needs to be able to be out in the
house. I recently installed a
snake to the back wall of our bigger
venue with a multipin
connector so I can
plug in a
console in the
house for my big shows and mix from the booth for simple gigs, but even that compromise is less than ideal.
I wish we had access to the catwalks from the
stage. My high school theater had a ladder in the booth, and a ladder in a closet off
stage left. I miss being able to take fixtures from the storage by the
stage and run straight up to the cats. Now I have to go from the
stage to the
lobby, up four flights of stairs to the booth at the top of the balcony, and then a ladder up to the cats.
Infrastructure is key. Most everything I wish would have been done differently could be easily corrected if there was more
power, bigger conduits, and better access. Then it's just a matter of keeping up with technology, and that's hard to predict.
Biggest waste of time and money at this
stage is not thinking ahead. Second biggest waste of time and money would be analog control equipment. Think digital lightboard, digital soundboard,
network everything. Analog is on it's way out, and if you sit down and crunch the numbers you get more bang for the buck with a digital
console in the sound booth. Remember, it's a lot easier to bury the extra cost in you original project than try to find the funds for an upgrade later.
The biggest mistake you can avoid right now is going with the low bidder to save money.
Specifics
Electricity
Your whoever helps you design the lighting rig for your space will be able tell you how much
power the
dimmer racks need. Your
speaker system will determine the number of amplifiers you need, most amplifiers will spec how much they draw at peak output, and from there you can figure how much
juice you need. Your electrician can help you with the figures based on the final gear that you chose, but don't forget to figure in some extra for
safety.
You'll need several circiuts on
stage for instruments, from the same source as the rest of the sound
system, and several convenience outlets.
I already mentioned that I would recommend digital boards, and
Yamaha is a big name in that area, although not the best.
Allen and Heath makes excellent equipment and just introduced a small format digital that is going to give the
Yamaha LS9-32 a run for it's money (about time). Soundcraft also has a number of fine offerings both analog and large format digital, but pricey. Other brands that will generally be good include QSC,
Crown, JBL, EAW, EV,
Shure, Audix , and Sennhieser. I'm not currently enough of a lighting guy to be
current on in that world, however I've had several bad experiences with Leprechaun, and several good experiences with
EDI and
Strand.
Regardless of the brand, your needs should determine you budget, not the other way around. Otherwise you will end up with cheap gear that can't do anything.
You can't have too much storage space. Just make sure that everything has double doors and locks. Make sure you have a shop, and a workbench with good light and a couple outlets for bench work.
I would lean towards a fly rig of some kind. I'm a fan of a
counterweight system WITH A WEIGHT BRIDGE. Winches can be noisy and slow. Most of our fly gear is from Secoa, and has seen several years of neglect (we're trying to correct that) but continues to function well. We've also received good service from them.
FWIW
Matt