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Tools of the Trade / Re: Wireless Headset Technology
« on: Jun 13, 2009, 12:25 pm »
Moderator note: Split the tangent about the Infocomm trade show to a new topic, which can be found here.
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14 Jan 2021: Happy 21st birthday, SMNetwork! I replaced the old broken mobile theme. -K
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617
Tools of the Trade / Re: Infocomm 2009
« on: Jun 13, 2009, 12:22 pm »
Phil - thanks for the suggestions for sure. Unfortunately don't have a whole lot of time up there, booked fairly solid and probably won't even spend much more than an hour on the show floor. There's not a whole lot there that is mindblowing or revolutionary at this show. Our company is going primarily for networking and we probably will not spend more than an hour or two on the show floor. As far as those specific manufacturers, we are already a Lectrosonics dealer though we don't spec much of their equipment. We spec primarily Shure and Sennheiser mics in our designs and DSP is nearly all BSS for the larger cruise ships or Crestron for the yachting industry. The other two I have never heard of. Danley Sound Labs looks to be more in the church industry which isn't what we do. As far as Dynasonics - analog consoles are not really ideal in the cruise industry. You see a lot of them still kicking around out there, but for new ships 2004 onward digital is a must. Analog consoles require racks upon racks of outboard gear for processing and effects, and they are quite large as well. Digital consoles pack a serious punch in terms of effects and processing in a package that is half the size of an analog console. There is a lot less opportunity for equipment failure there when you can eliminate a rack or two of processing. This is essential in an isolated environment where you don't always have the means to repair your equipment, and flying someone out to your ship to repair something gets very expensive very quickly. Can't beat that when space is limited and you need a self-contained reliable console to last 7-10 years!
618
Tools of the Trade / Infocomm 2009
« on: Jun 11, 2009, 08:21 pm »An A/V tradeshow in a few weeks you say.......InfoComm maybe?
That'd be the one!
619
The Hardline / Re: Interesting Article
« on: Jun 09, 2009, 09:56 am »
Quite interesting indeed. The "Learn to say NO" is of particular interest as I feel like that is how you settle into a rut, especially as a freelancer (though there is something to be said for earning an income). In a lot of ways you can trap yourself into a niche and prevent yourself from getting to the "Hooray!" section.
620
Employment / Re: How much can you find about yourself online without paying anything?
« on: Jun 08, 2009, 12:21 am »
Thanks to a lot of tedious work on my part, nothing. That wasn't always the case though, and let me tell you it's a pain in the butt to erase your digital footsteps. I never had anything necessary to hide, but I am uneasy with anyone being able to find my contact information, history, etc...
621
Employment / Re: Abbreviations on Resumes
« on: Jun 07, 2009, 02:49 am »
The abbreviations you've mentioned are the industry standard. However, out of the theatre industry you may want to be a bit more job/role specific. Depends on the job for which you're applying.
622
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / Re: firearm maintenance
« on: Jun 05, 2009, 10:35 pm »
Cleaning firearms is fairly straightforward. Basically you need a cleaning kit which you'll find at any sporting goods store that sells firearms or ammunition. The kit consists of gun oil, liquid powder solvent, an aluminum cleaning rod, bore brush, and some cloth patches. There will be specific instructions for each kit, but the basics are the same. Also, it probably won't come with a whole lot of cloth. You can use a fine fabric in place of this. Old t-shirts are perfect.
Basically you'll use the solvent with cloth patches and the bore brush to remove residue from the black powder. The gun oil is used sparingly on the action of the firearm to keep all the moving parts well oiled and clean. Finally, a lot of folks also like to use a silicon cloth to wipe down the gun after you're done cleaning. This is mostly aesthetic and removes fingerprints, spots, etc..., which could be desirable for your a staged production, but your LD may not be happy as it will make the firearm shiny
. I was going to get very detailed, but found this website that sums it up quite well and has some pictures and tips, and is a much better explanation than I could provide.
The primary reason for cleaning a firearm is safety. When shooting a firearm, black powder residue is discharged from each round. This is also true in blanks, the only difference between a blank and a live round is that there is no bullet, only a cartridge of black powder. Over time the residue can build up to a point where it causes an obstruction in the bore. As I'm sure you can imagine, an obstruction in the bore of a gun while shooting is not what one would call desirable. Residue also builds up in the action, and if not cleaned regularly the action will not be as precise as it needs to be and can eventually lead to malfunctions of the weapon, misfires, and jams.
Best practice is to clean your firearm after every session of shooting to remove the residue immediately. Now, thinking along the lines of theatre, I'd say that's probably overkill. You won't have any rounds passing through the bore of the stage gun so you don't need to worry about that issue, and you'd be hard pressed to build up enough black powder residue in the span of a week to disrupt the action. I'd say a weekly cleaning would be more than sufficient for the amount of shooting you'll be doing.
Hope this is helpful!
Basically you'll use the solvent with cloth patches and the bore brush to remove residue from the black powder. The gun oil is used sparingly on the action of the firearm to keep all the moving parts well oiled and clean. Finally, a lot of folks also like to use a silicon cloth to wipe down the gun after you're done cleaning. This is mostly aesthetic and removes fingerprints, spots, etc..., which could be desirable for your a staged production, but your LD may not be happy as it will make the firearm shiny
. I was going to get very detailed, but found this website that sums it up quite well and has some pictures and tips, and is a much better explanation than I could provide. The primary reason for cleaning a firearm is safety. When shooting a firearm, black powder residue is discharged from each round. This is also true in blanks, the only difference between a blank and a live round is that there is no bullet, only a cartridge of black powder. Over time the residue can build up to a point where it causes an obstruction in the bore. As I'm sure you can imagine, an obstruction in the bore of a gun while shooting is not what one would call desirable. Residue also builds up in the action, and if not cleaned regularly the action will not be as precise as it needs to be and can eventually lead to malfunctions of the weapon, misfires, and jams.
Best practice is to clean your firearm after every session of shooting to remove the residue immediately. Now, thinking along the lines of theatre, I'd say that's probably overkill. You won't have any rounds passing through the bore of the stage gun so you don't need to worry about that issue, and you'd be hard pressed to build up enough black powder residue in the span of a week to disrupt the action. I'd say a weekly cleaning would be more than sufficient for the amount of shooting you'll be doing.
Hope this is helpful!
623
Tools of the Trade / Re: Wireless Headset Technology
« on: Jun 05, 2009, 12:32 pm »CellCom is actually DECT technology (Cellphones residential kissing cousin).
Indeed! Not sure if DECT is a universal term or not though, I try to go easy on the technical jargon if possible, though most times I fail miserably.
They operate in nearly the same frequency range, and I know that a lot of DECT systems need to be licensed by the FCC as they potentially can encroach on cell phone traffic (not sure how much I buy that, but that's what the FCC says...).
624
Tools of the Trade / Re: Prompt Book Dividers
« on: Jun 05, 2009, 09:13 am »
Token - what did you wind up going with?
625
Tools of the Trade / Wireless Headset Technology
« on: Jun 05, 2009, 09:12 am »
A few folks mentioned wireless headsets as a desired gift in another thread, and just after reading that I got an email about Clearcom's CellCom ("FreeSpeak" outside the US). The system looks amazing - essentially it is local cell phone technology combined with a wireless headset that gives unprecedented flexibility and range. If I understand correctly, you can program the base station to have any combination of "groups" (what we use as channels now) without the limitations of your standard hard-wired system. The technology is likely well beyond the needs of most theatres (and with a list price in the $10,000 neighorhood for the base station alone, I'd imagine well beyond the budget as well), but I'm hoping some of you folks out there on the commercial side of things have used these.
Has anyone used these or something similar? Please share if you have, I'm quite curious. I'll be at an A/V tradeshow in a couple of weeks and I'll try to get my hands on this and report back.
Has anyone used these or something similar? Please share if you have, I'm quite curious. I'll be at an A/V tradeshow in a couple of weeks and I'll try to get my hands on this and report back.
626
Tools of the Trade / Re: Rehearsal via Skype
« on: Jun 02, 2009, 09:01 am »
I have used something similar to this, though it was in an academic setting. Though instead of a skype-type solution, we had a proper webcam set up (not your garden variety Best Buy webcam, but a commercial unit you'd find in a conference room or something along those lines). The idea was that if a certain member of the design or production staff only needed to see a small piece of a tech rehearsal or a run through they could tap in from home instead of coming all the way in to the theatre for one small detail.
The other benefit was that faculty members/advisers could tap in to see how their students were doing, though the merits of that are debatable as I don't really see that as a viable substitute for a physical presence on an adviser level.
It was quite a nice setup, and very secure. The webcam was a standalone solution and plugged directly into a standard ethernet connection. It also had a built in mic to allow for audio. It was a specific web address that was not published and couldn't be found on a search, and also required a username and password as an additional layer of security.
After my production was closed I decided to see what this thing was all about and tapped in from home to watch another production in tech. The video quality was superb, and the audio was passable. One of the major benefits was the level of convenience, and it was nice to be able to look in and see what my peers were doing. For me, the major drawback was that I couldn't wrap my head around the show by watching it on a computer monitor. Maybe this was because I hadn't been involved in the production from day one, but I found it tough to put myself "there" being an additional step removed. I think that would be the biggest drawback for me is you risk losing the context of certain elements or moments.
As far as success or failure, I don't really know. We didn't have this for any specific purpose. The idea was more experimentation and playing around, which is one of my favorite things about academia, the freedom to experiment and push the boundaries of your field.
Anyone else used this technology?
The other benefit was that faculty members/advisers could tap in to see how their students were doing, though the merits of that are debatable as I don't really see that as a viable substitute for a physical presence on an adviser level.
It was quite a nice setup, and very secure. The webcam was a standalone solution and plugged directly into a standard ethernet connection. It also had a built in mic to allow for audio. It was a specific web address that was not published and couldn't be found on a search, and also required a username and password as an additional layer of security.
After my production was closed I decided to see what this thing was all about and tapped in from home to watch another production in tech. The video quality was superb, and the audio was passable. One of the major benefits was the level of convenience, and it was nice to be able to look in and see what my peers were doing. For me, the major drawback was that I couldn't wrap my head around the show by watching it on a computer monitor. Maybe this was because I hadn't been involved in the production from day one, but I found it tough to put myself "there" being an additional step removed. I think that would be the biggest drawback for me is you risk losing the context of certain elements or moments.
As far as success or failure, I don't really know. We didn't have this for any specific purpose. The idea was more experimentation and playing around, which is one of my favorite things about academia, the freedom to experiment and push the boundaries of your field.
Anyone else used this technology?
627
Tools of the Trade / Re: Twitter.
« on: Jun 01, 2009, 03:14 pm »
I never understood the purpose of twitter, and frankly I think the word "tweet" is mildly moronic! (Just a personal opinion, though!). There's no funtion on twitter that can't be done on facebook, so to this point I have not created a twitter.
628
Tools of the Trade / Google Wave
« on: May 30, 2009, 05:30 pm »
So, just in case you weren't all sick of my talking up Google's products I thought I'd throw another one out there for SMNet to chew on. For the record - I have no affiliation to Google and I gain nothing personally from talking about their products. They just seem to be amazed by how people communicate information, which is one of my favorite topics when discussing Stage Management.
This new tool seems to be pretty cool, though it is early in the process. I think this would be excellent for collaborating with a production team. From the website:
Have a look, what are your thoughts? Do you see any use for this in a production? How about tours? Rep shows? Opera?
This new tool seems to be pretty cool, though it is early in the process. I think this would be excellent for collaborating with a production team. From the website:
Quote
What is a wave?
A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.
A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.
Have a look, what are your thoughts? Do you see any use for this in a production? How about tours? Rep shows? Opera?
629
Tools of the Trade / Re: Drills?
« on: May 30, 2009, 09:51 am »
What will you be the primary use of the drill?
If you're looking towards set construction, you may want to have a peak at this thread.
If you're looking towards set construction, you may want to have a peak at this thread.
630
Tools of the Trade / Re: Blocking Software
« on: May 28, 2009, 05:14 pm »
I've heard of people using the comment feature in Microsoft Word to do blocking and/or cues.
Also - if you have Microsoft One-Note, it enables you to write directly over a word document. Though if you're doing it in your own handwriting, I suppose that would kind of defeat the purpose of digitizing it.
I played around with a few ways of doing this when I was SMing but never found anything that saved me any time, it just created loads more work in formatting and editing.
Have you found any methods that work well?
Also - if you have Microsoft One-Note, it enables you to write directly over a word document. Though if you're doing it in your own handwriting, I suppose that would kind of defeat the purpose of digitizing it.
I played around with a few ways of doing this when I was SMing but never found anything that saved me any time, it just created loads more work in formatting and editing.
Have you found any methods that work well?