One of the trickiest things to do when running a show is keeping time to music when you are trying to not only run cues, but also call spots.  The biggest problem is that not only are you listening to music, you are trying to anticipate the cues as you either call them or hit go on the console.  This can be even more difficult when there are no lyrics to go by.

While nothing can replace rehearsal, here are a few tips in tightening up your timing

1 – Take a video of the rehearsal.  Watch the video over and over again till the music is stuck in you head.  Practice hitting go and calling your spots in time with the music.  This will greatly help you in getting your timing better.

2 – Get the sheet music.  If you are working with a band, they will have the music charts available.  Get a copy and mark it up with the cues.  Write in where the cues go and follow the music.  Even if you can’t read music, this can be helpful since the timing of the music is written in the charts.  If you are lucky, you will be working with a musical director that will be willing to help you out with this.

3. When you write the cues, put them in places where they make sense.  Try to make your cues match to drops in the music and movement on the stage.  By doing this, you will be building musical and movement cues to go on.  This will make it easier to memorize the locations of your cues and when to hit go.

4. Practice, practice, practice.  Make the most of of rehearsal.  Listen to the music.  Make the cues make sense.  Since the cues should be motivated by what is happening on stage, weather it is musically or physically motivated, locating the cues should make sense.

Running shows like this takes patients.  There can be a lot of frustration surrounding the design and execution of shows like this.  Try to stay above the Frey by remaining prepared and rehearsed.

Information Technology for the Lighting Professional

I saw a really cool ad from Verizon that shows a great explanation for how bandwidth works. It shows a bunch of people sitting in a room. They are supposed to represent data. Then a door shows up on a wall. This is supposed to represent band width on the network. Since the door is small, only so much data gets through. In the ad, Verizon is trying to say that with their network, you get a much wider door that will allow more data to get through.

I honestly could care less what network you use to get internet on, so this is not a push for Verizon, but it does play to a point when dealing with networks in lighting rigs. We spend thousands of dollars on consoles and fixtures. We want to build the best possible control system for our TCP/IP network to operate on, so we spend the money where it counts most, right? Not always. Take a look at your network routers and switches. This is where the Verizon ad statement comes in. If you grab an off the shelf network switch or router from the big box store on the corner, you are going to give yourself a small door. Even if it is a gigabite switch, it may not be what you are looking for. For lighting networks where every frame of data needs to get from the console to the fixtures in your rig, you need to make sure that the throughput is high enough to allow this to happen properly. Throughput is the rate of production or the rate at which data can be processed. Your console creates a ton of data that goes down your TCP/IP lines. This is especially true when doing pixel mapping and running several universes of data. Finding the correct network management devices is extremely important.

When purchasing network switches or routers for your lighting system, make sure that the throughput is optimized for maximum band width.

A millisecond early, a millisecond late, you hit GO at the wrong time. You know it, the performer on stage knows it, and unfortunately, so does the sound guy. Inevitably, you get the cold sweat feeling on your back and the knot in the pit of your stomach is growing. You are already anticipating the conversation at the end of the show between you and whomever and you are not looking forward to it.

If you can identify with the above, relax, you are completely human and we have all been there. The key is how to recover. You have to let go of the bad energy as quickly as it came up. You have to remember that this is live and there is no going back, so deal with the present. Move on and keep going. Don’t let one bad cue wreck the rest of your otherwise excellent show.

I am not sure why, but people in our line of work tend to be perfectionists. We accept nothing but the best and are down on ourselves when we deliver anything but. The mark of a true professional is not the mistake that happened, but how we deal with it. There is saying that I have heard often and it goes something like this, “I have messed up way more important shows than this!” The point of this saying is not to belittle the show you are working on, but to give yourself perspective.

So, go forth and produce amazing light shows. Do your best to hit GO at the right time, but don’t be too hard on yourself when you miss it by a millisecond or two.