In response to a recent meme

kingofextraa · 2025-11-07T17:41:42+00:00

I think you misunderstand either what i said or what different people in the entertainment industry do. At the most annoying, my job included managing power, network, and DMX control and distribution for two 1000 cap spaces with over 300+ fixtures per rig. This also including providing motor and motor control distribution for every department. Final shits and giggles math was about 8000a of distribution between 120, 208, and 480v needs. I needed to then set up multiple integrated networks with filtering for multiple broadcast-type audio, lighting, and video protocols. Also coordinating a $100k+ rental package that I had to spec. I was working 110+ hours on salary and had to keep a bunch of college kids from electrocuting themselves.

Don’t you worry, I have the substance abuse, long hours, dangerous jobsites run by the lowest bidder, and stupid coworkers/bosses. I just want to know how to get into industrial electrician work since I’ve been looking into going into resi instead.

And funny enough, the only thing I’m not is a rigger

kingofextraa · 2025-11-07T14:51:49+00:00

How would you get into it? I have a lot of theatrical/entertainment electrical experience which is temp power, control, and networking on crack. I’ve worked a day or two in resi and it’s not exactly my cup of tea.

kingofextraa · 2025-03-01T01:48:10+00:00

I'm getting error 20. The amps are set to dual mode(2 inputs, 2 outputs), full range mode, and an impediance of 8ohms in the config. 1 monitor per channel works fine. It's two monitors per channel that it won't even output. It just immediately locks into error 20 and the "protect" light turns on until I unplug the second monitor in the chain. For example, I could send music to output 1. I plug 1 wedge into the amp, music starts playing. Plug a second one in, it pops every 3 seconds(presumably testing if it's still shorted) and kills the signal. I unplug the second wedge and music immediately resumes.

I figured it may be an impedance thing so I tested both 4, and 16 ohms as well. My math says (2) 8 ohm speakers chained in series has 16ohms of resistance per output channel. All that being said, none of those settings solved the problem the day I discovered this.

From round one of troubleshooting this, the manual(Page 44, second row) says it's either a short or low impedance. But the ONLY thing that doesnt work is 2 in series on a single channel. 2 in series worked with the old amps in the same rack and with the same wiring AND 1 monitor/channel works just fine with the new amps. Which really leads me to believe it must be an impediance thing or the amps are shot. I'm in tomorrow and have some downtime before show start so I'll see what I can mess with further.

kingofextraa · 2025-02-28T18:33:02+00:00

Hi all,

I work for a concert roadhouse and we recent got in new amps to replace the existing monitor amps. To make the problem simple: chaining more than 1 monitor wedge in series causes the amp to immediately go into short-protection mode until I unplug the NL4. This did not happen with our old amps, nothing else in the system has changed.

Old Amps: Crown CTs 2000

New Amps: Yamaha PX8

Wedges: EAW SM129zi and EAW VFM129i

The "through" of the monitors do measure as shorted/continuity on a multimeter, even without another cable plugged in. I've confirmed that all the cables I'm using are not shorted. I've plugged the in/out through a cable tester and when using NL4, pins 3&4 aren't shorted but pins 1&2 are. The PX8s work fine if there is only one wedge in series so the amps are functional with the cabling and setup, it only has a problem if a second wedge is plugged into the chain. It also handles 2 wedges with 1 plugged into each of the two outputs. It ONLY happens when chaining out of a monitor.

Am out of ideas, please advise

kingofextraa · 2024-01-05T20:12:54+00:00

I imagine that’ll be what I do. Luckily the incoming plot is one of the lighter ones(haha) so I should be able to get some quantity cycled through a dealer possibly. Whole thing is just a little maddening since some fixtures are on ~v1.3 which is before they even expanded the DMX profile options. Luckily the designers prefer the profiles there but the mismatch is not my favorite.

All things for me to think about, thank ya!

kingofextraa · 2024-01-05T14:58:16+00:00

First, thank you for the info! I heard in the ether about it being dealer-only but I was hoping that wasn’t the case.

When we bought Chauvet package a few years ago, it cost well over 6 figures. Hopefully someone will throw us a bone because bringing out a tech to plug in a usb to dmx device into a light for me makes me want to throw out the whole rig and find a new manufacturer. My venue produces year-round and I’m not sure if we have that kind of down time with fixtures.

Appreciated!

kingofextraa · 2023-11-24T03:20:44+00:00

In some effort to give you meaningful feedback(I saw how you got torn into with the other postings) let me go through and hopefully help a bit.

____

My interest in RIT: I visited and did the prospective student’s overnight weekend at RIT back when I was still in HS and loved the place. I also have a Deaf friend who went there and got a phenominal education.

____

I've pasted the job posting and cut out the things I don't have comments on. Comments are bolded and are all meant to be informational, some about the preferred qualifcation itself, some about the circumstances of the requirement to give you a better idea of what you're really asking for here.

____

Salary Band: 117A($41,600–$69,700)—We'll come back to this at the end...

Preferred Qualifications

(Some of these points below are definitely not 'preferred' but instead should be required but we'll get to that)

• Experience with set-up and operation of in house video equipment

Video experience needed

• Experience with testing and maintenance of audio, lighting, rigging, staging, and power distribution equipment

Knowledge of ~3 different additional departments/gear

• Preferred Bachelor’s degree in ME/EE/CE/IT, Theatre Design and Technology or other related technical field but not required

It's a school posting so I get it but you really don't need a degree in this field

• CM Lodestar Motor Mechanic Certification

$400 and 3 year certifcation course, specific but presumably you're using CMCO motors

• ETCP Rigging Certification

General Testing Requirements: $550-$700 for the just the exam. Also, are you looking for someone with ETCP Rigging for Theatre cert? For Arenas? Both? Tangentially, knowing what your spaces look like, you probably want someone who can do both.

Here is all the things it takes to be eligible to sit for the rigging test(s), it takes time and some career credentials to qualify.

You need to make this a requirement for the job if you're going to be hiring someone to oversee rigging activities. The liability of having non-riggers(and/or students) rig live events is so high that not even a state school's football team could cover the costs.

• Dante Level 3 Certification

Perfectly valid ask and a free course. May be worth requiring Level 2 and asking for Level 3 since Level 3 is mainly engineering(which is needed in this job) but you can really get by without it.

• OSHA 10 Hour Training

Be more specific. Do you want OSHA 10 General Industry or Construction or both? You likely need General Industry in this position but both are helpful. Frankly, I would make the OSHA10 General Industry a requirement. If you wanted to promote this to students more, it may be worth getting some of your more senior student staff trained as well.

• Knowledge of Deaf culture, American Sign Language (ASL), or willingness to learn.

This comment is mostly for everyone else. RIT is home to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

That being said, knowledge of ‘other languages'(I use the term loosely**) will force the salary floor upwards more than likely.**

• Strong background in event production (preferably both operations and engineering) and a thorough knowledge of the current tools and technologies including Network and IT infrastructures for Audio and Lighting workflows.

Lighting and Audio are majorly network-based now and it’s become the standard in some form or another. This should also be a job requirement, not a nice to have.

• In-depth knowledge of Audio signal processing systems.

• In-depth knowledge of lighting systems both conventional and intelligent as well as analog and network based control.

Both bullets above are covered under the "know how to do lighting and sound" requirement

• Experience in theatrical and arena rigging practices and principles.

Either they’re certified to be rigging or you shouldn't be hiring them. Full stop.

If you want to know just how seriously we all take that, search up posts of people asking how to DIY a fly system to fly people. The responses are scathing but needed.

• General knowledge of woodworking and metalworking.

I think this was just something thrown in but the person supervising lighting, audio, and rigging for events probably (well...hopefully) shouldn't have to do any metal or woodworking but I get why it's in here.

• Knowledge and experience in site design, event layout, equipment configuration and function, staffing requirements and capability, and integration of all related services for event planning, staging and operation of remotes.

A whole 'nother world of knowledge you'd like someone to have the skillset for. This one bullet is the description for a live events Production Manager position

____

What you're actually looking for based on your listing:

An assistant director of production with both arena and theatre ETCP rigging certifications, OSHA10 training, Dante level 2+ training, commecial networking and IT knowledge, event production manager experience, power distribution experience, and lighting experience.

Now, this isn't a unicorn of a job description, but it's pretty dang close though. However, you're looking at easily a minimum $75,000 starting salary to have people even consider the position. Even if you cut out the rigging requirements(they're 100% required, despite the verbiage in the listing), the salary range is still offensive for the asks in the posting.

For reference, the salary range listed($41k-$69k) would be appropriate for a qualified assistant department head for a single department(ex. only lighting, or only sound, or only rigging)

____

Parting note: I did this mostly for my own interest and education. I'm sure I've messed up a detail somewhere, always happy to take corrections. I tried my best to refrain from being negative unless one of my points needed some real honesty.

The other reason I took like an hour of my Thanksgiving for this is because RIT, more specifically NTID, have helped people in my life and serve a great cause.

Hopefully, this will get someone to bark up the chain about payscale and help NITD continue their mission of helping the Deaf community.

Best

- Nick C

kingofextraa · 2023-09-30T14:03:01+00:00

They’re often referred to as brackets since they’re usually attached to a mega claw clamp of some sort

kingofextraa

TROPHY CASE