In this topic, I will tell you about working with the tour show on the venue.
What I do primarily when I come over the venue is checking the correctness of the truss system and the placement of fixtures. I walk around the stage and inspect the correctness of the truss system and the placement of the fixtures.
First and foremost what we should draw our attention are rigging system.
Since if they are placed incorrectly, there is the lead time to fix it.
Next step is to correct the location of the equipment on the stage in the following sequence:
1 – Side lighting
2 – Floor fixture
3 – Positions and directions of fog machines, hazes and fans
After we make an arrangement about all the nuances of the stage, I could proceed to FOH.
First of all, It ought to adjust and prepare all settings for further work with show files at the console.
2. Check of the operation of fixtures and the console at the show file of the rental company.
Check of the operation will help you avoid unnecessary questions and inspections of fixtures’s efficiency during transferring data and checking fixtures in your show file.
1. Location and organization of FOH.
It ought to place equipment once in FOH for the entire period of work. So that, you will be not distracted by unnecessary rearrangements. It can allow you to concentrate on the other operations and save your time. It is also worth to wipe the equipment from dust and dirt if the rental company did not do it.
(Decent rental companies keep their equipment clean.)
2. Check of the operation of fixtures and the console at the show file of the rental company.
Check of the operation will help you avoid unnecessary questions and inspections of fixtures’s efficiency during transferring data and checking fixtures in your show file.
For instance: directions of adresses, invertations, offsets, mods, and fixture libraries.
3. The coincidence of attribute’s names during the transformation.
If the rental company provides custom libraries for unknown fixtures, you need to verify whether the attribute’s names match with the fixture libraries on which the show is programmed. For instance, the “Shutter “attribute in your library is assigned as “Shutter”, however, in the custom library it is assigned as ”Strobe”. These channels will work in both cases. But when you do the transformation of your show to new fixtures, the “Shutter “ attribute will not find the same attribute to copy the data to and will be deleted. Instead, it will have the “Strobe “ attribute that is not registered in your show.
4. Network settings.
Pay your attention to the network settings and their stability.
In my shows, I often use control of the media server from the console via Art-net and remote access to the console on WI-FI via MA-net.
In order not to redo all settings and test their stable, I ask rental companies for setting specific IP addresses on network devices.
(With the exception of working in large halls, where a large network is organized.)
5. Assignments of outputs DMX.
In some instances, it happens that for various reasons, rental companies reassigns DMX outputs on the console.
It is better to specify or check these settings in the show file of the rental company.
When all settings are completed, you can proceed to the cloning, transformation, and setting up of the patch in your show file.
When I work with tour shows provided one setup in all cities, I use the transformation system “Change type.”
After transformation of fixtures, check whether all the attributes are programmed correctly in the show.
This is absolutely crucial if you do not want to suffer from that.
If you didn’t notice the wrong function of the attribute and something wasn’t copied and you were continuing working with a show file. It may turn out that the “shutter” attribute will not connected in the show when you start the process. In that case you will have to redo everything or extract data from past shows by using PSR.
After we check that everything is copied correctly then I start setting up inversions and offsets. I always adjust the default position of the fixtures so that while slewing encoder the “Tilt” to the right the fixtures go up towards the hall. And encoders “Pan” are during rotation to the left turn to the left and while slewing to the right – turn to the right.
After I finished settings of the patch, I could proceed to edit a show.
I follow next sequence:
1. Set up positions
This is due to the fact that most often there is not enough time for all processes on the stage. And set up positions may take most of the time when you edit a show.
2. Adjustment of “Beam ” presets”
I store the parameters of “Zoom, Shutter, Prism, Gobo, Focus” in the “Beam” presets.
2. Adjustment of “Color” presets”
After all the presets are corrected, I proceed to verify and configure the video content. If we have got time to spare, I try to play all the songs and make sure that I forgot nothing.
