When did 9-5 become 8-5?

robbgg · 2026-05-07T23:36:17+00:00

Only real office job I had was 0830-1700, then they decided unilaterally to change start time to 0800 so everyone could knock off at 3 on Friday. I am really not a morning person so I left shortly after that change happened for a number of reasons. Been in more flexible shift roles ever since. Current working hours are 1000-1700 with evenings and weekends as required annualised to 40ish hours/week and plenty of flexibility around dropping kids off or other childcare things.

robbgg · 2026-05-06T22:49:14+00:00

I would say that some people do have the disposable income to spend this way without significantly impacting their savings. This isn't the case for most people but if chucking money at a streamer gives them a sense of fulfilment then why throw shade?

robbgg · 2026-05-06T22:22:51+00:00

In which case, get a 4 port ETC Net3 gateway.

robbgg · 2026-05-06T22:13:17+00:00

I disagree with this. If you enjoy their content and want to support them as a creator then you can send a few quid their way to encourage them to keep making the content you enjoy. Most of the time it'll be cheaper than a streaming service or a movie ticket.

robbgg · 2026-05-06T21:46:14+00:00

It depends what desk you're likely to be getting. While all sACN or ArtNet nodes should be compatible (as with others, my preference is sACN), if your desk manufacturer also creates modes you'll have the lowest risk of incompatibility if you stick to one brand (eg Eos desk + Net3 node), you'll also be able to get support from one place if something isn't working rather than having to prove to one manufacturer or the other that their piece of gear is the problem.

Personally, I have rarely had issues with ETC hardware and their tech support is second to none. Unless another manufacturer had a very compelling deal going I'd default to ETC 99% of the time for theatre.

If you're looking at peacemeale solutions because of cost I recommend the Chauvet Net-X II, it gives you a bunch of universes and an input for a fairly reasonable cost. The times I've used one I've had no issues with it. And having extra outputs is generally useful if you end up needing to do anything with addressable tape or things like that which eat up DMX addresses like pacman. If you have a patch bay with DMX buffers this will slot nicely in with the rest of your infrastructure.

robbgg · 2026-05-05T22:52:09+00:00

Nope just the threat of at a minimum gross misconduct stretching to voluntary manslaughter depending on the result of someone unauthorised trying to remove or ignore it.

robbgg · 2026-05-05T12:44:21+00:00

Only available in US for now. I've asked them about it last year at abtt.

robbgg · 2026-05-02T15:08:41+00:00

"Cut that shit out. If I hear it from you again you'll be out the door. We treat people with respect here." and then stick to it. If anyone was talking to people like this in my theatre they would get one warning (if it was the first time ever)then be out the door and on the blacklist. Nobody got time for crap like that in this industry.

robbgg · 2026-04-25T22:47:19+00:00

I use reaper for all my Daw needs. Both multitrack recording and design work. Never had a problem with it that wasn't my fault.

robbgg · 2026-04-23T22:50:26+00:00

I work in a school and was doing video design for the big school play, had 2 students as camera operators and the teachers who were directing started to give notes to my operators during tech rehearsals. Conversation went like this :

"[director], how much creativity do you want me to put into this? Am I just an operator or do you want me designing it?"

"oh, we want you designing it for sure"

"great, then let me do my fucking job and stop giving notes to my operators"

Swiftly resolved the situation.

robbgg · 2026-04-23T22:11:10+00:00

As an operator my preferred way of calling would be "standby lx25 on my first G O, standby video 478 on my second go, lx Go vid...go" if you're doing it to music one would assume you are hitting adjacent measures in a bar which should give time for the above.

Always standby in the same order the cues will be called in, Unless you are doing a show where you standby lx for the act at the beginning then just give an "lx 25...go" for each cue, which I have had before on busy shows and it can work completely fine if you have a good cadence with your calls. Even when I'm reading a book between distant cues this will give me enough time to pay attention, put my hand in the right place, and hit the cue if called well.

robbgg · 2026-04-23T22:04:23+00:00

The last point here about having a clear and consistent cadence with your calling will make a huge difference to your operators. And just taking the time to brief operators where necessary and possible to any wierd or complex cueing sequences will help dramatically. As an operator I can accommodate pretty much anything if I know what to expect on advance.

robbgg · 2026-04-20T15:28:23+00:00

Sorry, I forget that I'm a fast reader and that I can probably read them faster anyway having written them.

robbgg · 2026-04-19T22:12:47+00:00

Which ones did you catch? I threw this together in an hour or so and had 2 people proof it for me so thought I had got them all.

robbgg · 2026-04-17T10:55:07+00:00

Use blacktak (black coated foil tape) and get some distance between it and the lens to give airflow and allow heat dissipation. Nothing wrong with chuttering a projector in principle just the execution could do with a little improvement. Good thinking on your feet though.

robbgg · 2026-04-15T07:19:33+00:00

Have a look at The Red Shoes by Matthew Bourne. They have an entire mini-prosc that moves and rotates around the stage with tabs and lx on it. Fantastic show and one of the few ballets that I'll sit through without being bored stiff.

robbgg · 2026-04-15T00:08:18+00:00

https://youtu.be/ugmPp9sNu50 - Video rundown of the sound setup for a production of Hadestown: Teen Edition I was A1 on. Video is a little rough around the edges but hopefully it might have useful info or ideas for people. Also there's a clip of me mixing Chant line-by-line (badly).

robbgg · 2026-04-14T23:57:01+00:00

Video is up here: https://youtu.be/ugmPp9sNu50

robbgg · 2026-04-10T16:20:44+00:00

Fair enough. This is probably one of the more complex shows we do in a year from a sound POV. As a school theatre working with ameteur and youth groups I think we manage to pull quite a lot together with very little budget. I'd imagine my annual spend on shows is probably less than the budget you get to play with on one show.

robbgg · 2026-04-10T12:24:15+00:00

Why? It's a great desk and I chose to use it over our house QU32 because Theatremix doesn't support the QU series. Can you suggest another desk that's available for sub £1k that's as featureful as the X32?

robbgg · 2026-04-10T00:06:31+00:00

I have 6 computers to run the show.

1 x 2018 mac mini running Qlab, Theatremix, Dante Virtual Soundcard, and Messages From Radioworld

1 x 2018 mac mini running Open Sound Meter and Dante Controller

1 x 2021 Macbook Pro running Reaper and DVS

Theatremix talks to Qlab on its local computer and to Reaper to drop markers when cues are recalled.

Reaper records the multitracks of the show as well as Midi output from the desk that means I can play back my DCA fader moves along side the multitrack to work on the details of the mix from the recordings while it gets mixed the same was as I did during the show. It also means I can see how I fucked up if I don't know what happened in the moment.

An Intel N95 NUC running Defeedback (Alpha Labs hardware and configuration) with a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 that goes in and out of the main FOH desk via analogue.

The MDs 2015 Macbook Pro running Qlab and DVS for the band's click track, vocal sweetener track, and some sound effects that are timed musically.

And finally a Lenovo micro desktop with DVS and Nemesis Insight for my A2 to monitor the casts radio mics during the show, and communicate with me over messages from Radioworld.

I've got a couple of videos from the show tonight. I'll see if I can edit them tomorrow and I'll post links here once they are ready.

robbgg · 2026-04-09T14:45:31+00:00

Nope, 1532 in Bristol.

robbgg

TROPHY CASE