This week

[Smurphy]

This week Grease started for me. Hell week was a long one, get in school at 7:30 leave school 2:10 back at 5:00 leave at 11:00 or 12:00. Sleep till 5:45 back to the cycle. Besides being a long week it is a stressful week. I am the audio board operator yay me. Well long story short besides hating the actors for not projecting, (and getting yelled at for it) I began to screw up. 1. I forgot the sound cues 2. I set trim levels wrong ( mostly the actors fault but still partial mine.) 3. I have just generally not been good at mixing the stupid songs. But maybe its better if I explain what the difference is between last year and this year. Last year I worked the schools musical Working, did the same thing board operator. But last year heres what I had attached to the board. 15 body mics, 2 channels for a cd player (just in case) , 2channels dedicated to a computer where someone started the music I just mixed, and the stages monitors lobby speakers, and I was new to the board so i got away with some things. This year I have 15 body mics, stage monitors,lobby speakers, 2 channels for cd player ( once again just in case music fails) 2 channels dedicated for computer, 1 stick mic, and my favorite addition an effects processor, plus for floor mics (I dont like floor mics). So to be frankly honest as sad as this sounds, because I know many of you have it a lot worse I, I am a little over whelmed. Between lack of sleep, stupid mistakes, getting yelled at, and fixing new problems I now consider my self an audio tech, and a bad one at that although I am hoping to get better once I go to college. So I guess the moral to this sleep deprived ramble is that I think since its opening night I am proud to say I have put in a lot of effort and am excited to get this thing going, I am also proud to say I have done audio, or more audio then I did last year.

 

[Eboy87]

It's a great feeling pulling off mixing your first show, isn't it? Stick with it, you'll get better over time. I remember being thrust into sound with my first show being a Miss Missouri qualifying pagent. Input list was

2 wireless mics
1 piano mic
1 EFX return
2 CD playback decks
L-R mains, catwalk rear fills, 2 wedges onstage

Not a huge list, but man what a nerve racking experience for someone's first time. Wait til you're in charge of audio for full battle of the bands and festivals, now that's a trip.

But pulling off mixing a good show's fun ain't it?

 

[Smurphy]

So it's over I have finished opening night only 5 more to go. Actually Eboy this is my second musical. The show went well though it was a great crowd they loved it. Things went wrong but you cant help stupid interference. One of my antennas broke but we found a replacement (twice the size of the others.) All in all though good show.

 

[len]

Some weeks are like that. And you're not the only one. Just to commiserate (not trying to top you or anything).

8 am - 12 pm load in, and figure out depending on the venue, what to hang and where
2 - 7 pm rest, if lucky
2 - 7 pm fix all the stuff the production manager label owner and changed their minds about, usually 2 or 3 times each
7 - 10 pm run the opening acts and write focuses at the same time because the LD was too busy dealing with all the other crap the PM wanted
10 - 11 pm rest backstage, when and if possible
11 - 12 midnight - pack up and maybe get a shower if the venue has one
12 - 2 am - wait for sound to figure out how to load the truck
2 - 4 finally start loading and spend 2 hours yelling at sound guys who took up too much space
4 - 8 am try to get some sleep until the next tour stop

No, it didn't get easier until the third week of the tour and by then there was only 2 weeks left. By then we had gone through 3 monitor engineers and 2 FOH engineers. Yes, it was that bad.

 

[Spikesgirl]

Cant' say that I've had anything close to what you have suffered (or are suffering through). Worst that we ever had was cue-to-cue for "Hair" and that was just long. Paper tech went from 2 - 4 p.m. and then we had a hour for dinner, the started cue-to-cue, (I was running one of four spots) which went until 3 a.m. the next morning. Not bad, except we also had a 7 a.m. call for set construction. Just long and longer still - don't know how you sound guys do it...

Charlie

 

[avkid]

- don't know how you sound guys do it...

Neither do we!

 

[Van]

It's part o' the job. The real trick is trying not to let it show. I really love how Actors and directors make such a big deal out of " 10 out of 12" day.
In Equity thetre you are limited to the number of hours you can rehearse during techs. But you usually get one 10 out of 12. Which means the actors are called for 12 hours and they 2 one hour lunch breaks. Cool!
'Course the actors don't, "want to be there all night." so they push saturday mornings call up to say 10:00 am which means of course techs are called at 9:00 < minimum> to take care of cues that need to be fixed from the day before. Which means the TD needs to have notes all written out and left for the MC either from the night before, < which means not getting home 'till 2:00am> or he has to show up at 8:00 when he got out of notes the night before at 12:30 - 1:00.
Of course The director always wants to "Start with a Run-through, Then we'll work things in the after noon" Great, that Lunch break that the actors are taking? Yeah, that's right, we'll be fixing notes that were given to us during the run-through. Ok, No Prob, I can bring a sandwich, eat and carp, paint, and troubleshoot all at the same time. So 45 minutes later the Director comes back a little early so he can, "talk over a few things", Great, Guess I won't be finishing that note. So we start "working things" and wrap up at say 10 pm. Great Still early maybe I can get home at a decent hour. Nope, See we have a IDR matinee and 11:00 am tomorrow then a four hour rehearsal after that. WHen am I gonna get that note done again ? .....

Tech Week, The Time I really wish I wasn't salaried.


< Whew That felt good>

 

[derekleffew]

I once got to an arena at 9am Friday to start programming and didn't leave until the 2pm Sunday show came down at 5pm. But I had a 30 minute meal break every six hours so no meal penalties!

Another time I walked into a show "cold" as Master Elect. at 8am on Wednesday and didn't leave until after focus 3am on Friday. Then back at 7pm Friday through end of show 11:30pm Saturday.

The kids today seem to poop out after only 12 hours! Once I hit OT, I work 150% harder. Even had double time today, due to a meal penalty.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

Just long and longer still - don't know how you sound guys do it...
Charlie

psh lighting comes in before sound and leaves after....

 

[avkid]

psh lighting comes in before sound and leaves after....

You aren't at the mercy of the "talent" though.

 

[Eboy87]

You aren't at the mercy of the "talent" though.

On the contrary, they are at the mercy of directors, who can be quite incompetent at times, but that's another story for another time.

 

[avkid]

On the contrary, they are at the mercy of directors, who can be quite incompetent at times, but that's another story for another time.

I think this went the wrong way.
If they sound horrible we get blamed for it.

 

[Eboy87]

And if the lighting looks horrible, it's the lighting guys' fault too. we could go on like this for a while you know

 

[icewolf08]

Indeed, the weeks where I work more OT hours than regular hours makes it nice to be on hourly pay! That and the fact that legally I am only required to work 40 hours a week (though I will ALWAYS work till the job is done it is nice to know I could just walk out and be within my rights!)

This turnover into our current show, which opens friday, has been a killer. Last week, which included strike, hang, focus, and tech started on sunday (strike), and continued through saturday. I don't think there was any day that week that I wasn't in the building for at least 13 hours. And of course since we had strike on sunday that mean no day off. Now, this current week we had two 10/12s two previews and opening. I'll be dead at the end of the week, but I will have one nice paycheck! Also nice about this show is that I am not running it for the first week (some well deserved rest before we dive headlong into "The Producers")

This is one of the other things about theatre people. We don't do this job because we like the pay or the hours. We do this because we LOVE it. There is no way that people would do what we do if they didn't just love doing it. Whenever I try to explain how much work I do people think I am nuts, maybe I am, but it sure is fun!