new to busking

vidfan

Member
im busking a concert series this summer and have figured out my light board(nsi 7532) and have coppys of all my manuals.my main hang up right now is color combinations. using a basic r p b a clear more spicificly roco 26 46 80 21 58 59.any help or refrense material i could look to would be appreciate.its a 60k parcan set up with 2 blinders.32 cans us and 32 ds.have done graduations and simple stach and cue in theater so i understand washing stages and shadow manipulation.ty for your time(gota run dimmers on fire) bad joke i know
 
im busking a concert series this summer and have figured out my light board(nsi 7532) and have coppys of all my manuals.my main hang up right now is color combinations. using a basic r p b a clear more spicificly roco 26 46 80 21 58 59.any help or refrense material i could look to would be appreciate.its a 60k parcan set up with 2 blinders.32 cans us and 32 ds.have done graduations and simple stach and cue in theater so i understand washing stages and shadow manipulation.ty for your time(gota run dimmers on fire) bad joke i know

Since you've dabbled in lights before, you'll probably know this, but be sure to set submasters, and lots of them, and label them well!!! That's how I do lights on the fly. Another thing I always keep in mind is how the colors will conflict with the backdrops, but that's only because at most concerts I do lights for there is a yellow curtain as a backdrop. (Ugly, I know) Of course, there probably is a better way, in which case one of the regulars will inform you.

What board are you using, what's the venue, and what type of music?
 
What board are you using, what's the venue, and what type of music?

Vidfan said an NSI 7532

According to the website this board is "Catering to the advanced lighting designer." Uh... yeah. :rolleyes:

Vidfan, the good news is it's a very basic board so it shouldn't be too hard learn. The bad news is it's a very basic board so it can't do much to help you look good. It also may be between complicated and impossible to do more than record or playback from a submaster or run a basic chase. It's an older board, the manual was copy written in 1993 and revised in 1998. Have fun with it and learn. You'll get to use a smarter board down the road.
 
Last edited:
The MC7532 is a good board for busking with a parcan rig, due to the flexibility of the setups. If you use chases (which can be loaded in to any of the 32 subs, if I remember correctly), you can use the tap button to set the rate, so you're chasing in time with the music. It's very easy to record subs (press record button...press bump button...Same as ETC Express), and recording effects isn't much harder. I just spec'd one of these boards for an install at one of my venues at school, so I've been reading up on it quite a bit. This board is actually my favorite board for concert busking with parcans. Make sure to patch your specials in to the first 32 faders so that when you're in 32x32 mode (32 channels in top row, 32 subs/effects in bottom row), you can access your specials. You can actually set up a cue stack in the board, and if I remember correctly, it uses a primitive (but easy-to-use) form of preset focuses as well, and has 16 cue stacks accessible (not simultaneously, though). If you've ever used an NSI MLC16, it's from the same series and has the same brains. Insanely easy to use, and you can get good results in no time. Exceedingly good board for the price. When it was introduced, with the features that it had, it was rather advanced, and still is for good consoles in the price range.
 
As everyone else as said the NSI is great for this. The only problem is that you have more than 32 lights so you'll have to double up. The biggest thing with the board will be to record looks you like and to have fun with it.
 
This is how I'd approach the situation:

Channels 1-32: anything that needs to be accessed individually. If you happen to get any lekos for specials, or if you use parcans for specials, they should go in the first few faders. Also, you probably want your blinders on the top row as well. The bottom row can contain your backlight pars, which you won't need to access individually nearly as often, because they'll just be a back wash. Here's how I'd do subs: first few would be color washes, second few color chases. Then I'd do some useful color combination effects/chases (blue purple, red amber, amber purple are the ones that I'd choose), and any other lights (ACLs if you get 'em, blinders, and so forth) that you'd like to group together to have on one fader. Leave the rest open for individual groups of lights that you set up on a per band basis by listening to their music beforehand and setting up some scenes during sound check.

Again, this is my opinion, you may use a completely different method.

For the color chases, you basically chase across the US truss with a single color. So for the purple chase, you start with the first purple fixture on one end for the first step, the next purple fixture in line for the next step, and so on. If you have 8 of a color, you start with the first and fifth fixtures on in the first step, the second and sixth fixtures on in the second step, etc. I've found that this works well for having some effects on stage. For the color combo chases you can set up different arrangements on the US truss to chase. I never do much with the frontlight, if you hadn't noticed yet, it's usually a wash of warm, cool, and neutral, and lekos or some other sort of spots for the band members.
 
Fast songs=bright: pink (or white). Slow songs=dim: blue (or congo).

That's all there is to it. Bring up your blinders when the lead talks to the crowd. It's nice to have a special (or followspot) on each band member for solos, but not absolutely necessary. Another tip:

Light the Money!
 
Not to be an ass, but seriously;

]to <To> answere <answer> a couple of questions first its a smaler <smaller> venue in a watter <water> park and the music changes for each event_(countery <Country> and rock <Rock> mostly) my biggist <biggest> band will be lifehouse<Lifehouse>.. its <It's>out doors with a 15 foot hang and i<I> just got some good news im <I'm> on a fatfrog <Fatfrog> from here on out_(i<I> know over kill<overkill> but im <I'm> not gona <going to> nock <knock> the exp<exp.>) i<I> noticed its<it's> a pain to locate a manual on the frog series of desks but got lucky digging thru<through> the shop. (if<If> any one<anyone> neds<needs> a copy i<I> will e mail<Email>. it <It>covers<;> frog<Frog,> fatfrog <Fatfrog,> leapfrog<Leapfrog,> and bullfrog,<Bullfrog> issue 6 march <March>2004)_for slow songs i<I> use a basic 4 or 5 count for light changes_(ie <i.e.>blue 2 3 4 5 amber 2 3 4 5 etc.) and have assined <assigned>bump butons for chases and manualy<manually> drum out most of my color changes.<,> with the frog <Frog> ill <I'll>spend a lot more time prog the desk and make my first user profile to be saved to floppy. thank yall<y'all> for the help but i <I>ota <? gota? Have to, Ought to ? >read a nother<another> 200 pages of teck <tech>manuals_(agg)_its<it's> the life tho<though>.<,>wouldnt trade it for any thing<anything>.

Derek, I'm more than a bit surprised at you.:neutral:
 
...Derek, I'm more than a bit surprised at you.:neutral:
I've taken a vow to wait at least one week before scaring off new members, though I did postulate whether that post was intended to give me a coronary. But still, Van, your mother and lieperjp and I are SO proud of you!:lol: Dave-Where'd all the alternate smilies go?

Also Van, it should be a colon after "covers": not a semi-colon; and you overlooked the misspelling of "butons".
 
Last edited:
.........
Also Van, it should be a colon after "covers": not a semi-colon; and you overlooked the misspelling of "butons".

I bow to the greater wisdom.

And Just to be clear. I'm really not being an ass, I screw up spelling and punctuation all the time. Everything in lower case and 30% of words mispelled, however, makes things diffcult to read and results most of the time in me not reading them. I want participation from all. My standards are not as high as Dereks, but please, you are a Technician, not a Tecknition.
Where have all the smilies gone.......... Isn't that an old Hymn?
 
:oops: You got me there. I think maby i use spellcheck to much. Can y'all forgive a little southern boy for the grammer capacity of his high school? No?
Ahh well figurin i auta mosy down to d lokal watrn hole and get a beer to warsh away my sorrow.(all in fun, but next time i won't forget the spellcheck.)


If you can't laugh at your self who are you going to laugh at?(besides me of course)
Also Van thank you for the link.
 
Last edited:
Hey you see some of the posts where Derek has nailed me to the wall for punctuation and grammar.< My Mom was an English teacher, after all. 'Couse that was in Oklahoma.:rolleyes:>

Thanks for taking it good naturedly.
And BTW Welcome Aboard!
 
:oops: You got me there. I think maby i use spellcheck to much. Can y'all forgive a little southern boy for the grammer capacity of his high school? No?
Ahh well figurin i auta mosy down to d lokal watrn hole and get a beer to warsh away my sorrow.(all in fun, but next time i won't forget the spellcheck.)


If you can't laugh at your self who are you going to laugh at?(besides me of course)
Also Van thank you for the link.

You should download Firefox!!! It has a built in spell checker... Saves me!
 
Im on a friends computer so i won't mess with his setings, but my laptop is on the way. It's a must now that I am moving on up to Frogs and Avos, plus I want to keep a copy of wysiwyg with me on site. In the meantime i'll just have to think and type at the same time.(do you cap i in i'll I forget.)I thought about fixing the post but couldn't bring myself to do it.(it looks like dimmer code sorta) And y'all spent so much time correcting it for me.

words to kill 1.gota 2.fixin 3.ain't 4.aughta ,but i'll never give up on y'all
 
Last edited:
Vidfan, first off, I have a minor reading disorder which makes spelling difficult for me. However, thanks to Firefox you'll have a hard time finding spelling errors in my posts. I also have a masters degree and I've worked VERY hard to over come my spelling problems.

Some of the "adults" around here have taken up the cause of encouraging you younger folks to work on your communication skills. One of the most important things you need to be a good stage technician or designer is communication skills. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are an important part of that. If I can't understand what you are writing, you are going to have a hard time getting a job and you are going to have a hard time keeping jobs or getting promoted.

I know that it's just the internet and you are used to using lots of slang and short cuts. But this place is a little different. We have some real pro's who hang out here and people who are known around the industry for their work. We want to raise the level of discussion above the usual text messaging slang. If you were invited to a special seminar where people who are well known in the industry would answer your questions no matter how simple or complex... you would want to try to look good right? You would want to impress them a bit right? Well guess what, CB is that kind of place.

We understand that you are young and will make mistakes in your writing. We all do... except Derek. You also aren't being graded here. But the point is this is that while you are learning about the craft you also should be learning about how to handle yourself professionally too.

And have fun with that Fatfrog! :mrgreen:
 
Im on a friends computer so i won't mess with his setings, but my laptop is on the way. It's a must now that I am moving on up to Frogs and Avos, plus I want to keep a copy of wysiwyg with me on site. In the meantime i'll just have to think and type at the same time.(do you cap i in i'll I forget.)I thought about fixing the post but couldn't bring myself to do it.(it looks like dimmer code sorta) And y'all spent so much time correcting it for me.

words to kill 1.gota 2.fixin 3.ain't 4.aughta ,but i'll never give up on y'all

Ah, Avolites. Hopefully you'll like 'em. As many people say, either you really like 'em, or really hate 'em. I fall in to the first camp. They're great for busking shows with some movers and a bunch of conventionals. I've only worked on a pearl for a short amount of time, but I liked it alot. I still think that the 7532 is the best desk for busking a parcan rig, but if you throw any movers in, it's Avo all the way if the show is busked.
 
This site is a godsend for rookies and I look to allways hold myself to a high standard, whatever the case may be. I am not one of those people who will get bent out of shape becouse people correct me, sometimes you have to learn that way. I'm not realy much of a typer(text or other wise). I will use posting on this site as practice.

You want to hear some thing funny? I was almost a published writer.
 
words to kill 1.gota 2.fixin 3.ain't 4.aughta ,but i'll never give up on y'all

I'm right there with ya! Y'all is an official dictionary word where I grew up.
 
Y'all just sound so much better then "hey you guys"
It's been fun but I think I should get back to reading manuals. It's just getting good, I think the super user is going to over take the submaster.Oh and maby in this chapter the chase will catch up to the flash.Mmmm good stuff.


a book a day keeps the bill man away
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back