Touring shows with combo inhouse rig and specific rig
Posted: 18 Jun 2012, 08:41
I recently did a small tour with an artist where there would be an "inhouse" rig for supporting acts on the stage before and after, and then I had a small lighting rider that was exclusive to the artist. For each venue I would arrive, check the setup, and then have about 2 hours to patch in, correct pallets, etc.
For the "Exclusive" rig, I had the venue set it up on a separate universe with my addresses and fixture setting, and specific placements. So all I had to do was correct position pallets and then I was good to go with it.
But for the "Inhouse rig" it was always different - different manufacturers, different fixture models, different positioning, etc. So I would have to re-patch/fixture exchange from the previous show, re-do groups, colour pallets, gobo and beam pallets (including strobes and effects), position pallets etc. This would usually take up most of my 2 hours.
I had originally hoped that I could have a fairly pre-programmed show, and even with the majority of the rig being different each night, I would at least have the groups (all spots, all wash, odd, even, etc) updating the programming and doing the same thing. But the groups did not seem to work like pallets, and updating them did not seem to update the programming, so it was down to busking the house rig and I could only run my cue lists for the "exclusive rig".
Is there a better way around this?
If you have a show where there is a "inhouse" or festival rig, and the suppliers are not able to give you a plot and patch list before hand, but you know there will be various spots, washes, beams, generics, etc. How would you handle it onsite? Is busking the only way?
I also noticed that when fixture exchanging fixtures with cells, the cell groups were lost. Sometimes, instead of just re-patching and entering a new DMX address, I would exchange the a fixture for the same fixture at a different address. In this case all groups and programming for the fixtures was lost. If I just re-patched the DMX address for the fixture, then the cell groups and programming seemed to be fine.
For the "Exclusive" rig, I had the venue set it up on a separate universe with my addresses and fixture setting, and specific placements. So all I had to do was correct position pallets and then I was good to go with it.
But for the "Inhouse rig" it was always different - different manufacturers, different fixture models, different positioning, etc. So I would have to re-patch/fixture exchange from the previous show, re-do groups, colour pallets, gobo and beam pallets (including strobes and effects), position pallets etc. This would usually take up most of my 2 hours.
I had originally hoped that I could have a fairly pre-programmed show, and even with the majority of the rig being different each night, I would at least have the groups (all spots, all wash, odd, even, etc) updating the programming and doing the same thing. But the groups did not seem to work like pallets, and updating them did not seem to update the programming, so it was down to busking the house rig and I could only run my cue lists for the "exclusive rig".
Is there a better way around this?
If you have a show where there is a "inhouse" or festival rig, and the suppliers are not able to give you a plot and patch list before hand, but you know there will be various spots, washes, beams, generics, etc. How would you handle it onsite? Is busking the only way?
I also noticed that when fixture exchanging fixtures with cells, the cell groups were lost. Sometimes, instead of just re-patching and entering a new DMX address, I would exchange the a fixture for the same fixture at a different address. In this case all groups and programming for the fixtures was lost. If I just re-patched the DMX address for the fixture, then the cell groups and programming seemed to be fine.