LX Show Part 2
A couple days ago, I finished my Lighting show of a full song which I decided to make and program from looking at the visualiser I have with the lighting control software on my laptop which is American DJ MyDMX3.0, which I will add a link too if you wish to take a look at the software. Below is the end scene which finished as Zara Larsson finishes singing the final few lyrics. In two weeks’, time, I will be spending two days in the theatre to pre rig the 24 lighting fixtures I want to use for this light show which are 20 ETC colorsource spots, and 4 Martin MH2 wash moving heads and the second day will be show day, inviting other students if they wish to see it and the things you can achieve with lighting, and I will also be taking lots of pictures and videoing the full LX show. I have programmed every scene to the timings of certain points in the song and used intimate colours to display the feelings and emotions felt in this song, and also related the singers to colours such as cyan, orange, and blue.
From spending time on this 3-minute project, mostly in my own time, I have learnt how to get the timings right and putting in more effort into learning more of this software than I have before, which I am now very proud of myself for achieving to make this light show and get it rolling and recorded in the theatre in a couple weeks’ time.
This is a time I’m really getting to know my creative side in terms of lighting design, I feel I am getting to know myself more, learn a lot more and get into the zone I want to be in and get more involved, certainly with my current project with the robot arm, this will be great for moving images and videos around on a wall, on most or any projectors.
We have also been to visit the royal opera house backstage in Purfleet which was great to see the sets being built, the amount of costumes, wigs, hats and shoes that are mostly handmade or handpicked from a shop, and to get to see the amount of work that really goes into those sort of shows was amazing to see, and to learn about various types of fly systems and walks such as the cat walk and the netting that you can walk on safely, which makes it so much easier to rig lighting, sound, AV or any other equipment or set pieces.
Sound and Sound Effects
So the past two Friday afternoons I have learned more about sound, speakers, different types of microphones and audio effects. You can get Active speakers, which have an amplifier built into them, so you can control the Bass, Treble and sometimes other attributes of a speaker, so there is no need to have an external amp or mixer a lot of the time if its not a big event / show, for bigger shows, passive speaker systems tend to be used more, as certainly with line array systems, you can direct different sounds to certain speakers, for example, if there were certain locations in a show you can place a speaker in or close to the space, and direct the specific sound to that speaker. Passive speakers are used for when larger sound setups are needed, Active speakers are used for more small – medium sized shows or events, all though from medium events upwards, they may use passive with active speakers and control everything from the sound desk in the control booth or another control point next to the stage in the wings perhaps.
The picture above is of a larger Line Array system, used mainly for bigger venues that also have bigger budgets to suit the needs of various things such as how many actors / actress’s, how many instruments for the band / orchestra, and sound effects. these also have Subwoofers attached to them in order to reach audience at the back or up in higher levels as subs on the bottom level wont exactly reach as far, so its important to spread the sound evenly around the whole venue. for smaller venues / venues with lower budgets, there are smaller versions of line array systems, like the QSC KLA line array system, which is great for smaller venues with lower budgets.
How do you control all of this?
The main way is from a sound desk, which there are two types, analogue and digital. Most venues have changed to Digital, as they can be smaller than old more larger analogue desks which can be very bulky and have lots of channels, where as a digital desk, can be more compact, easier to find different controls, effects and send audio communication to certain speakers or sound equipment from specific faders, knobs or buttons. This males controlling audio so much easer, as there will also be little screens on them that go from green, to amber to red, green being “all is okay”, amber being, “pushing it a little”, and red being, “TURN ME DOWN”. if you stay in red for too long, some or all your speakers can blow, which causes hassle for the whole show.