Hi all! I'm working on a middle-school (grades 6-8) production of "Aladdin Jr." My son is playing "Iago," the parrot. I'm helping run the lights and sound, so I'm kind of filling the role of technical director. Going to meet the kids actually running the lighting desk and the mixer today.
I've got a load of questions, though I have already had some answered by looking over this site. The Forms section was quite helpful. A long time ago, I did some very simple sound work for my college theater, but that was in the days of reel-to-reel tape decks. Things are somewhat different now. On the general tech side, I'm pretty schooled up. I'm a computer programmer and a life-long electronics hobbiest (WA4LDA, first licensed in 1974). On the specifics of working in a theater, however, I'm learning as I go, and it's kind of like drinking from a fire hose.
We have a Soundcraft GB2 audio mixer, and a Leviton Innovator 24/48 lighting control console. We're also using about 15 Ars Technica wireless microphones. I've downloaded the manuals for all these things and have been studying them nightly. Next rehearsal is in about four hours, so I'm reading as fast as I can.
For sound cues, I've copies the musical numbers to my computer and am using VLCPortable to play them through a TDIBlox unbalanced-to-balanced impedance transformer. It mixes the stereo to mono, but at least I can bring it in on a channel on the GB2. VLCPortable can be set to play a track once and stop (without going to the next track in the playlist). I was never able to figure out a way to get Windows Media Player to do that. I have a Whirlwind PC/DI box on order, but it's lost somewhere in shipping. I ordered up four Hosa Technology gooseneck worklights so we can see the controls during blackouts (and have already sent two back for exchange, having learned from the GB2 of the existence of the XLR4 connector).
I'll be hoping for any advice anyone can give a noob.
First silly question, that came up at the last rehearsal: We have two fixed battens of lights, one over the stage, and one in the front of the house. I've read that the over-the-stage lights are sometimes called "the number one bar." What do you call the other one? (I Googled "number two bar," but all I came up with was list of self-deprecating bistros.)
Thanks, Stevens