The Phantom strikes again

[SocksOnly]

Hrm. That all makes a lot of sense. I didn't know humans could get in the way of signals like that...although we've had a lot more people in the PAC before, and our entire sound/light board area was raised above everyone's heads.

It wouldn't make much sense for an internal volume control to randomly go down in the middle of a show, and come back up afterwards.

I didn't think of any other devices that could skew the signal- would a video camera maybe do it? That was the night we filmed it. The second night, when we weren't filming, the mics were fine.

 

[SHARYNF]

It is unlikely that the video camera directly interfered, UNLESS for some reason the camera setup/tripod/person was causing direct interference in the signal path to the antenna

Other possibility is that the video equip was on the same power source and for some reason that caused a voltage sag and sothe performance of the rec'vr was affected.

I would probably vote for the person or persons videoing were some how positioned such that they caused a problem with the signal path.

Sharyn

 

[SocksOnly]

Hm, she was right next to the antenna. That could be it.

Oh, btw, we checked all batteries and volume levels when the problems started- they were fine. And we don't have a service tech, it was just the four of us (three of the four, including myself, knew better than to touch anything...the fourth would've slaughtered us)

 

[SHARYNF]

I think you found the problem the person standing by the antenna with a video camera probably on a tripod is probably what did it.

Sharyn

 

[SocksOnly]

I don't quite understand how that would make the mics gradually go out. Like it was one by one- they were pretty much fine at first. I don't know much about the way the signal's sent out or how video cameras actually work, so I have no idea if that makes sense. Thoughts?

 

[SHARYNF]

I agree the going out one at a time is odd

Basically it comes down to antenna interference, where it is not really the video camera, but anything person or thing that blocks the path, BUT I do agree that usually all of them would have gone out

The other thing is another signal in the same frequency spectrum that somehow was sweeping the signal range. Not sure where you are located and if anyone in the area might have been broadcasting in your same space, since it is the free unregulated area, they might have picked up on your signal and then decided to check or play around in that spectrum

Sharyn

 

[saxman0317]

Theres about a half dozen threads on that subject allready, lets not start another.

I use em all the time....high school actors dont know how to act and talk...

And we have our own little ghost.. We call him freddy, in honor of the only perrson that our advisor has ever had to kick out of crew. After wards, he used to come in and mess with stuff, pull pranks, stuff would go missing, etc. But during Julius Caesar, everything went wrong. The computers went nutso on me, both my effcets computer for the projector and everything, and my sound computer running the board (thank god i learned on analog systems) and then the lighting goes nuts, powers lost once, lamps blow, cues wiped (several times for me, to the point where i was just winging it by the last show and hoping i made it) which, not to mention 2 shows in our lead gets sick, the giant statue of Caesar goes missing, and our lights were we pointed... GAhaHAHAHA!!!

 

[Chris15]

My thoughts on volume controls etc. were in relation to Phantom's problem.

Now this is just a guess, but here is what I think might have happened with the radio mic dropout problems. Now if the camera & tripod was right next to the antenna as indicated, the metal tripod would be absorbing a degree of RF signal. Can't recall whether it was said or not, but I am assuming that the radio mics in question were beltpack transmitters. So they were on one side or another of the actor. Now given that the signal is being degraded by the camera / tripod / operator, when the actor turned the wrong way and placed themselves in the signal path also or there was another actor between them and the antenna, the signal strength fell below the squelch threshold and so the receiver muted the signal. Just a thought.

 

[SocksOnly]

Oooh, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks Chris (and everyone else who helped me figure this out)!

We actually had to dismiss a techie this year, he wouldn't stop messing with the soundboard (we were playing music while we were working, and he kept turning it up obnoxiously high). Mostly he just glowers at us these days- I'm glad he doesn't prank us and junk.

It's a nice idea to think that there's some ghost or phantom to blame bad luck on- I guess that's why a lot of theatres have spirits of some sort (real or not) Anybody else have one?

 

[highschooltech]

I had a Shure ULX-P stp transmitting during a show and i was on the lead. It was totally strange. I had leave the sound board and go fix the mic. When i got back there i had to power down the pack after checking all the usualls such as battery and signal and conection. It was like the pack totally stopped transmitting.

 

[herr_highbrau]

I use em all the time....high school actors dont But during Julius Caesar, everything went wrong.

Macbeth - 10 way rack of Sennheiser 5000 series goes completely crazy.

I think most ghost related problems are caused by Shakespeare. Maybe he doesn't like the theatre any more?

 

[SocksOnly]

Hm, good point. You know what they say about saying "Macbeth"...or does that only apply when you're performing Macbeth?

 

[harry1989]

I think that is at ANY performance. If you say "Macbeth", something horrible always goes wrong. Unfortunately, someone at my theater decided to test that... the outcome was funny from my point of view as I hadnt caused it (PS it was just an actor/prop problem (an actor was supposed to run into a bead curtain and get "tangled" in it...pulled the whole curtain down.))

 

[SocksOnly]

Wow. I've always chanted "Macbeth" three times before every show (either where I'm playing or doing the tech) for good luck. Doesn't seem to do anything...just the regular "oops" here and there, with the occasional "I-need-a-hug-mommy" mess up.

 

[cutlunch]

To me the "Macbeth" tradition seems to be one of those traditions without a logical reason behind it. I mean compared to things like not whistling in a theatre which is based on not getting scenery dropped on your head.

 

[SocksOnly]

I think the reason that saying/doing random things like that is bad luck because people THINK it is, and are nervous and thus make mistakes.

I've never heard the whistling in a theatre one before...

 

[Chris15]

The whilsting in a theatre one goes back to the days when sailors were used as flymen. Knowing that it would be hard to hear words, they signaled using whistling. Hence the reason why one does not whistle in the theatre is so that it can't be misinterpreted as a fly cue and as cutlunch said, get some scenery dropped on your head.

If I recall, there is a thread on theatre superstitions kicking around somewhere...

 

[SocksOnly]

lol, probably. Imagine if we used whistles today over the headset...ow, that'd kinda hurt. I guess that's why we use cuelights...

 

[Schniapereli]

We have a lot of weird things happening at our theatre too. Occasionaly our work lights completey lock themselves. All the stations say "locked" but none of the unlock buttons unlock them. This seems to just happen randomly overnight.

We have a ghost named Charly in our loft above the auditorium. A student who has come back to help us who used to be the director's son, and was a tech for her says that he has seen a lot of weird stuff. When he used to lock up and leave, he would hear footsteps, and he could see things occasionally falling from the loft onto the apron. Recently, he was working up there when he heard a loud crack. He turns around, and there's a big pile of drywall on the walkway a little ways behind him. The ceiling is completely metal, and same with the surrounding. The only drywall is underneath the walkway which is the roof of the auditorium seating. We can still see the chalk and dust leftover, and where he shoved it off the walkway. Nobody has any idea where it could have come from.

One of our janitors has other stories about locking up, and seeing an old hobo sitting in a desk in the middle of the hall. He had gone to the school on a report of a minor break-in from the police. He asked the hobo to leave, but it just stared at him. He blinked, and the desk and the hobo dissapeared. It sounds like he was just sleepy, but he still swears that he saw it, and that it was real...

Plus, there's other stories of the tunnels under our school, and other things. The school is 50 years old, so it has a lot of myths. (The tunnels are real, but the stories aren't.)
Most of the stories are fake, but we still can't explain the drywall in the loft.

 

[SocksOnly]

My stage manager and the choir director were staying after school last friday (I was away at an eight-hour orchestra practice, urgh) and both of them claimed that they saw a ghost strolling across the choir room and disappear. Maybe she's the one who turned all the mics off- the choir room is right next to the auditorium, maybe she was stopping by that room for a visit.

Our school just turned 50 two or so years ago...actually, we have myths about secret passages and tunnels too. I know a handful of secrets about the school (how to make the elevators work without a key, stairs to the roof, etc), but in my four years I've yet to find a passage or a tunnel. Though not for lack of looking