I sometimes wonder, “Why don’t people concentrate on making new, cooler versions of existing gear?”…I walked into Upstaging Inc.’s lighting shop outside of Chicago and saw truckloads of something new rolling into their shop. It was truss. And that made me smile more than any new moving light possibly could, because someone had reinvented something old and done it properly.

— Nook Schoenfeld, from LD-at-Large, PLSN, May 2008. 

These new high-tech mega-spectaculars have taken traditional theatrical techniques and have morphed and augmented them into something new. So why do so many college programs act as if theatre is still the only game in town? How many college programs are covering these new technical subjects adequately?

— Prof. John Huntington, on big-budget theatrical productions, quoted by Dan Daley, The Biz, PLSN, April 2008

Luminance is an important concept in this age of video-heavy production. The amount of light being reflected from a surface area dramatically affects how the camera reacts to it. If we have a large, highly reflective surface on the set, then the reflected light can cause the camera iris to close, rendering all of the other areas of the set very dark.

— Richard Cadena, Focus on Fundamentals, PLSN, April 2008

If I have the option, I use a different console to program media servers than when I’m programming a bunch of moving lights.  I find that one suits me very well for the first task, while another gives me the ideal tools for working with the second. While many consoles are designed to do many tasks well, a few of them shine in some very specific scenarios.

                 — Phil Gilbert, Technopolis, PLSN, April 2008

What makes club lighting work? Energy! The visuals in the room should match the energy of the music. A wash fixture with a shutter chase is usually a great way to keep the beat of a song. It wouldn’t be prudent to tell you not to use your frost, focus and all of the other attributes, but they don’t really have much punch. And club lighting is all about punch.

— Morgan Landrum, from “So You Want to Run Lights in a Nightclub?” PLSN, March 2008

Lighting designer John Broderick once taught me that it is important on the first day to fully test the spare console.  He stressed that I must turn it on, save a show on the main console, and load this show on the backup console.  Then I need to connect the spare to the rig and confirm DMX512 output.  This way I have established that the spare console is in working order early enough to order another if necessary.

 
— Brad Schiller, "Feeding the Machines," PLSN, March 2008

Bob Peterson and I didn’t use a single LED or piece of video gear on the Bob Seger tour last year, but it was not for lack of trying. We set up panels of Soft LEDs and hi-def video walls for the manager to look at over at the Upstaging shop in Chicago. When the manager walked in, he looked at us like we were out of our mind and told us to "take that crap down, just use good old-fashioned rock lighting," he said. So we did, and in the end I have to admit, he was right.

— Nook Schoenfeld, from LD-at-Large, PLSN, March 2008

There are times when a conventional desk needs to trigger an automated desk or vice versa.  The most common type of console triggering automation is MIDI Show Control (MSC).  A device ID is required for each device in a MSC system.  If you want your automated console to trigger your conventional console, the automated desk must send out MSC messages for a specific device ID and the conventional desk must be configured to receive messages for the same device ID.  If they do not match, then the triggering will not occur.

--Brad Schiller, from Feeding the Machines, PLSN, Feb. 2008

Everyone knows that networking skills can help with a job search — at least the kind of networking that circulates your name, abilities and career ambitions to potential employers. But what about computer networking skills? John Huntington, author of Control Systems for Live Entertainment, says a full answer to the question isn’t yet clear, but he adds that networking skills certainly won’t hurt. “Are we going to end up more like the film industry, where you’re just a camera operator or a grip? Or will everybody work on everything? Because working on a variety of things is what makes it interesting for me. But if you’re the person who knows networking, or you’re an expert in it, then that’s another way to help guarantee you’ll get work.”

—        John Huntington, from PLSN Interview, Feb. 2008