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"Hear me, see me."
Words from Tommy-The Rock Opera by The Who
Welcome to Part Three of this 3-part series on Monitoring
Sound and Lights: Case Studies
Case Study 1: A well know country artist is hired to perform a private outdoor party on a small stage. The initial lighting rider had a few problems with it. The original rider had over 165 pars and lekos hung on a truss over twice as wide as the stage at a trim height of 25’. The system exceeded the weight limit on the roof by 1000 pounds and the roof was only able to accommodate an 18’ trim height. Also because the show was in a difficult outdoor location to get to, truck access was limited.
Solution
The event management and design teams went to the artist’s people with the problems. We showed them our site plan, stage drawings and honestly explained the issues we were facing. The system everyone agreed upon shortened the truss so it fit on the stage, and reduced the conventional system to 75. The artist agreed to accept a small conventional system but required the addition of 12 moving lights to supplement their downsized rig.
Result
We provided a system the artist was happy with, and one that took into account the logistical challenges of this event. The audience had a great time and the event went off on time and on budget.
Case Study 2: A well-know pop star hired to perform a one night private party. The lighting rider called for an all moving light system of over 80 fixtures. The event was scheduled to load in the day of the event allowing practically no time to program the system.
Solution
Utilizing the most recent Pre-Visualization lighting software the lighting plot was drawn in 3-D. A lighting controller was connected to an interface that allows the user to program the lighting looks on the computer as opposed to in the venue. This enabled a majority of the cues to be preprogrammed off site a few days before the event began loading in.
Result
The production saved thousands of dollars by not having to hire the venue for a second or third day so lighting programming could be done. It also saved on other related costs, equipment rental, labor, and per diems. The production and the audience got a well-planned and professionally executed show.”
Quality Control for the Technical Side of Your Events
You are a meeting or event planner, not a lighting technician or designer. So how do you ensure a quality visual effect, and for that matter, aural effect for your meeting or event? Use The Cherny Model.
Bob Cherny’s three considerations to keep in mind to ensure a quality performance in your meeting:
1) Choose experienced vendors with proven track records in the specialized functions you need.
2) Choose vendors who routinely work together well.
3) Don't beat them up over the price. Remember the quality triangle. You can have good or fast or cheap. Pick any two. However, if the vendors do not have adequate information, you will get none of the points on the quality triangle.
How do you guarantee the technical quality of your events? If you wait until the gear is rolling off the truck, it is too late. Other than standing next to the audio technician and beating him around the head and shoulders every time the system goes in to feedback there is not a lot you can do. The key is to check out your vendor and their technicians in advance. The best way to do this is on an event they are doing for someone else. In lieu of this, check to make sure they carry liability insurance, are members in their professional trade associations, including their local Convention & Visitor’s Bureau (CVB).
When you go to evaluate the vendor, what do you look for? The most obvious thing is the condition of the equipment. How old is it? How well is it maintained? Cases get beat up pretty quickly. A few battered cases means little, but if all the cases are battered and all the latches are gone, that's not a good sign.
When you are watching the load in for the event, what are you using to check out a potential vendor? There are several specific things to look for. How good is their documentation? Do they know the room? Is someone in charge? Is the crew working at a steady pace? Is there lots of "standing around" time? Is the amount of labor appropriate for the size of the event? Are the crew members fighting amongst themselves or are the various sub-groups working well together? Remember that if you see problems on your own load-in it is too late.
One of the best ways to ensure quality is to review the vendor's documentation in advance of the event. This means different things for different crews. For the video projection crew and audio, the documentation is little more than an equipment list, and a few boxes on the floor plan where their gear goes. The scenic crew will have renderings and detailed floor plans. Lighting will likely have a plot, an equipment list, and a patch list. It is not as important that you be able to understand the documentation when it is presented as it is for you to ask that the documentation exists and that the planning has been done. The more planning the vendors do in advance of your event, the smoother it will go.
Having said that, there are some limits. If the lighting for your event is just a front and rear truss with eighteen pars on the front, twelve on the back, and a half dozen or so specials thrown around, most reasonably experienced lighting designers could do that in their head with a few notes scribbled on a yellow pad. The bigger the event and the more demanding its needs, the more important the documentation becomes.
There are some basic technical concepts that many people in the meetings and events industry seem to have forgotten. The proper angle for lighting is 45 degrees up, 45 degrees left and 45 degrees right. Lighting a stage with two units on a 12 foot boom stand from 80 feet away is not good lighting. It is cheap lighting. The height of the unit above the speaker is as important as the angle from the side. This almost always means attaching lights to the ceiling or to a truss hung from the ceiling. That is expensive, but it is the right way. Furthermore, unless you are lighting for video, white light is ugly. Pale pinks and pale blues make speakers look much healthier.
When looking at audio the two big questions are volume and intelligibility. Can you hear the speaker and do you understand what is being said? How it gets there is not really your issue. It either works or it doesn't. In that regard, ringing and feedback in the system are totally unacceptable. Once rehearsals are over, there is no excuse for feedback unless a person with a microphone walks directly in front of the main speakers. Even then, with the new digital processing equipment now coming on the market, that problem can be mitigated as well. Given a proper rehearsal, feedback means only one of three things, either the speaker is so far from the microphone and so quiet they are beyond help, the wrong equipment is being used for the job in the wrong places, or the operator is incompetent.
When evaluating the video, first check out the projectors with the room light on. If the projectors are properly matched to the screens, the image should be visible with the room lights on. As with lights and sound, look at the quality of the equipment and the attitudes of the crew. Unless you are a video specialist, you are not going to know the specifics of the equipment they will be using. There are a couple of things to look for, though. How smoothly did the load-in go? How quickly were they set up? Did all the equipment work when it was first turned on?
These thought provoking questions and general body language will give an indication of what is to come. Problems and complexities may be a part of all events, problem solving is another aspect of a professional vendor you have hired to make you look and sound great!
Looking great. When you want to see what is on the cutting edge of sound or lighting, check on the ultimate road shows, the quintessential single engagements, the rock concert.
Click here for this issue's
Industry News: One Hour Webinars Created for the Busy Professional
Click here for this issue's
featured artist: Phil Vassar
 Mark
Sonder, CSEP is the Chief Entertainment Officer of Mark Sonder
Productions, a leading national entertainment agency designing
headline talent and production services for large venues,
corporations and associations. In addition, Sonder sits on
the faculty of The George Washington University, Stratford
University, Northern Virginia Community College, University
of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) and The University of the West
Indies. Event
Entertainment and Production is the book published by
Wiley authored by Sonder.
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