Show your Tech Facts !

[SteveB]

Hey folks,

I'm currently starting a project to update our current TekFax. The current version is posted here: Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts - Tech Info

2 things.

1) I'd love to see other versions, so as to steal good ideas, so post here or PM. Note that our CB Collaborative Article Venue Tech Info Packet is somewhat dated and not particularly chock full of stuff, so maybe a good time to add to it.

2) If you want to take the time, read ours and make constructive criticisms and suggestions for changes, comments on stuff that isn't clear, etc... I promise to ignore anything I don't agree with but will take all into consideration.

Thanks in advance.

Steve Bailey
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
Brooklyn College

 

[erosing]

On first glance, the "g" in "House Regulations" is cut off, on the sidebar.


EDIT: Unless I missed it, I did not see any mention as to if/and how much storage space is available in the loading dock, or if that is not permitted.

 

[museav]

Steve, you might want to look at this, Detail Page, it is a free download of the "USITT Guideline for a Standard Technical Information Package".

 

[derekleffew]

Please tell me you just made up the term "TekFax" and then never use it again! Wrong on so many levels...

I've mentioned before that one can tell much about the management and workers at a venue just be reading its "Technical Specifications." SteveB, I'll send you my criticisms privately. A previous one: Did you ever explain that the limitations of starting call times was due to worker parking availability?

Here's a pet peeve of mine I've noticed when looking at various venues on the web--Put the complete address of the venue on every page! Often I'll stumble onto an interesting venue, and then have to dig and dig to find out where Springfield Center for the Performing Arts, 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Hill Valley is.

 

[soundman]

Remember when people are advancing your building it is probably one of 5 - 25 on that days to do list. Making a one page cheat sheet will help out alot. In a perfect world each building would have a sheet with the following info on it EASY TO FIND on their web page.

Section One General Info
Building Name
Building Address
Loading Dock Address
TD Contact
GM Contact
BA Contact - if needed

Section Two - Load in Details
Dock or Ramp?
Does the venue have ramps from truck to street, street to sidewalk sidewalk to theatre
How many trucks at once?
Can the trailers stay in the dock?
Are loaders required?
Dead case storage or backloading?


Section Three - Onstage Info
Proscenium opening
Depth of stage
Apron/pit - adjustable?
Wing Space SR and SL
Number of linesets
Capacity of each lineset
Out Trim height NOT TRAVEL DISTANCE
Location and quantity of power
Crossover?
Any oddities IE ramp down to stage level prohbits linesets 34-45 from coming in until ramp is removed OR Orchestra shells need to be moved into the loading dock after trucks are unloaded

Section Four - Sound and Lights
Is there a fee?
In plain English is your system adequate, well tuned, in place and connected?
FOH lighting info - positions and default hang at each position.
Dry lines for DMX and sound
Com lines?


Section Five - Backstage info
Number and type of dressing rooms
Paging system?
Showers?
Washer and dryer
Rolling access?
Does the house have racks?


Section Six - House Rules
Lagging into the deck
Department heads
Crew minimums
Holding curtain policy

It sounds like a lot but it condenses down pretty easily, and by looking at a sheet like this I could tell what kind of day I am in for when I load in and if I will have to cut anything. As needed additional info is welcome but I need the facts first.

 

[SteveB]

Please tell me you just made up the term "TekFax" and then never use it again! Wrong on so many levels...

.

Ain't my line !. We have a former audio head who's now the systems manager and it was he who came up with "TekFax" oh, so many, many years ago. I hated it then, hate it now and am struggling for a more dignified, yet catchy label - maybe "Tech Facts". As the author of "TekFax" also maintains the website, I'm also struggling with how to diplomatically not have him re-write our stuff and may very well give him the finished product in Adobe format (which he then cannot change). He's told me that won't work and wants it in Word format to convert to HTML and then have available as Adobe. My thought is skip HTML and just have the document open in Adobe in a separate page.

I'm also struggling with how to number and configure sections so that Adobe can find it with a page number search.

I'm currently just re-writing the lighting section and at the very top have a very brief summary for those folks not inclined to read the entire thing and very much like Soundmans layout.

Derek, the worker parking thing isn't us. We used to not start after 8 and before 10, but that's gone by the wayside. It was mostly as the PM and dept. heads (myself included) used to find it easier to commute for a start time of 10AM. That's not as true as it was and I started realizing that a 10AM meant we took a 20 minute break at noon, then continued to 2PM, with no real lunch break - WHEN WE WERE ACTUALLY HUNGRY !. Thus the crew would scramble to get some real food during the break and return late. We now have 8-12, 1-5 or 7-11 slots for work calls, but show and load-in schedules throw that off most of the time.

We also have an odd issue with address, as there is no real postal address for our facility. The college address is 2900 Bedford Ave., but that's not near our building and screws up folks all the time. Thus we give them the 2 cross streets for Google.

'Gonna be a process, but keep them comments flowing !.

SB

 

[llecount]

Soundman, I like your idea. I think I may incorporate something similar in to our tech pack in the future. I always like to make it easy for our visiting crews to get the information they need quickly.
Mine can be found here: Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center - Fort Hays State University
The previous TD created the overall layout, and I've modified the info a bit since then as my inventories change. Hope that helps you some.

EDIT- Just found out the links to my tech documents don't work since they unveiled the new website design... guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow.

 

[derekleffew]

Seconded, for the EASY TO FIND on the website. It seems most venues like to hide this information somewhere under "Rental Information" or some such. Other organizations (I've heard criticisms of Madison Square Garden Properties and Live Nation, for example) seem to think this information is some sort of secret and proprietary, only to be released by contacting the Production Manager or TD.

soundman, I think I like your format even better than that proposed by the USITT document. Although both contain the same information, the USITT was written in 1995 and intended to be printed and snail-mailed rather than today's "everything you always wanted to know on your smartphone" world.

Everyone, please post your sites to this thread as well as adding to the CA: Venue Tech Info Packet. (Though for now, we'll only criticize Steve's, since he asked. Spelling and grammar count!)

 

[Nelson]

Steve, you might want to look at this, Detail Page, it is a free download of the "USITT Guideline for a Standard Technical Information Package".

Does anyone have an updated link to this document? I realize this is an old thread. I looked around on their Web site and couldn't find the document.

I am working on writing a tech specs packet for our auditorium and want to see the USITT example. I've also found other good examples on this site that have been most helpful. I will post the packet for critique when I have it all together.

 

[chausman]

Does anyone have an updated link to this document? I realize this is an old thread. I looked around on their Web site and couldn't find the document.

I think this is it. http://old.usitt.org/documents/nf/u84standardtechinfo20050609.pdf

I did not see the original to tell.

We might want to ink about hosting some of these things that we find useful on ControlBooth.com so if/when they get removed from their original site, they can still be accessed.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Nelson]

Thanks, I now have a copy.

 

[NickVon]

Ain't my line !. We have a former audio head who's now the systems manager and it was he who came up with "TekFax" oh, so many, many years ago. I hated it then, hate it now and am struggling for a more dignified, yet catchy label - maybe "Tech Facts". As the author of "TekFax" also maintains the website, I'm also struggling with how to diplomatically not have him re-write our stuff and may very well give him the finished product in Adobe format (which he then cannot change). He's told me that won't work and wants it in Word format to convert to HTML and then have available as Adobe. My thought is skip HTML and just have the document open in Adobe in a separate page.

I'm also struggling with how to number and configure sections so that Adobe can find it with a page number search.

I'm currently just re-writing the lighting section and at the very top have a very brief summary for those folks not inclined to read the entire thing and very much like Soundmans layout.

Derek, the worker parking thing isn't us. We used to not start after 8 and before 10, but that's gone by the wayside. It was mostly as the PM and dept. heads (myself included) used to find it easier to commute for a start time of 10AM. That's not as true as it was and I started realizing that a 10AM meant we took a 20 minute break at noon, then continued to 2PM, with no real lunch break - WHEN WE WERE ACTUALLY HUNGRY !. Thus the crew would scramble to get some real food during the break and return late. We now have 8-12, 1-5 or 7-11 slots for work calls, but show and load-in schedules throw that off most of the time.

We also have an odd issue with address, as there is no real postal address for our facility. The college address is 2900 Bedford Ave., but that's not near our building and screws up folks all the time. Thus we give them the 2 cross streets for Google.

'Gonna be a process, but keep them comments flowing !.

SB

Regarding your "ADDRESS" Google maps has an address for you even if it's not a Postal/Mailing address.

Address:‎
2900 Avenue H
Brooklyn, NY 11210

I actually noticed on your more main site it uses this address... which is basically the corner of your building. You are actually a Campus, here at BC we are in a town so all our buildings are actually on City Named Streets. So our Building has a legitimate street address recognized by GPS and Map.com websites even though you could never send a letter directly to us.

 

[Sony]

NNHS Technical Specs, Nothing crazy complicated litterally just a description of the spaces and a list of our inventory.

http://www.theatreink.net/crew/NNHSTechSpecs.pdf

 

[porkchop]

These might have been mentioned, but here's my list of questions I'd ask you if I was forwarding your venue.

I would give rough dimensions of your dressing rooms, that's the only info we use on our internal docs about the venues we go to. In this case I'd show both the person capacity and rough size.

Where, relative to the stage, is the load in door, both stage direction and distance are important things to know.

Is there any plan in place to control traffic if the show has enough trucks that one would have to be pulled away and replaced with a new one after 7am on a weekday or 8am on a weekend?

Do you have monitors in the dressing rooms that show feed could be sent to?

If I wanted to hang my own speaker clusters, could I land yours and hang mine from the same points?

Do you have a way for me to send feed individually to your fill speakers so I could use them as delays?

I would give a reason why "NO call shall start between the hours of 8:15am and 9:55 am, Monday thru Friday."

My company would argue with "The actual starting time will be between 8 and 10 minutes after the published curtain time and will be called by the House Manager, dependent on variables such as house size, weather etc. In addition, the House Stage Manager may also hold a curtain due to safety factors." We start promptly on time. I doubt we're alone on this.

Is there any ability for a road show to rig in your house, both over the deck (for a set), just DS of plaster line (speaker clusters), and over the house (a FOH beam)?

 

[museav]

If I wanted to hang my own speaker clusters, could I land yours and hang mine from the same points?

I think the answer for every venue would have to be no, at least not without some qualification on what you intend to fly.

What has always surprised me about the sound portion of venue tech specs and tech riders is how they typically seem to focus on the physical gear and not address the system functionality and performance, device locations, interconnectivity, etc. It's great that you have 100 microphone inputs, not so great of they're all in one location off in the wing stage left. It's great to have nice speakers, not so great if the speaker system doesn't provide good coverage, response, level, etc. One would think tours would be more concerned about whether the system performs as required for their use, if there are inputs and outputs where they need them, how they can connect into and out of the house system and so on.

The argument used to be that system that used Brand X speakers and Brand Y console usually had high quality systems and that is often true, however it doesn't take long for that to turn into venues simply providing Brand X speakers and Brand Y console without that necessarily having any relevance to the quality of the overall system design, installation or performance.

Given that there are some Standards developed or in process to measure and report audio system performance factors such as coverage and frequency response, as well as some related to video system performance, then even those are not really focusing on performance venue applications, maybe they will lead to being better able to incorporate such aspects into venue tech specs and tech riders.