A career in the entertainment and performing arts industry?

I meet a fair amount of people who desire to carve a technical career in either the entertainment or the performing arts industry. A lot has been said about this industry that I've been involved in for the last 15 years professionally; comments I've heard range from it being physically tough to limited financial prospects. Personally, I do not think that this industry is any harder than any other industry or business out there.

Before going into the nuts and bolts of the industry, a key issue for anyone interested in being involved in the industry must be aware of is the convergence of technology. Technology is moving at an extremely rapid pace and this convergence is happening before our very eyes. It doesn't matter which industry you're in; computer and communications technology are moving at a rapid pace and innovations are creeping into every area of life. Some of these advances makes our lives a little easier, some actually make it a little more difficult due to the learning curve involved. Networking technologies are changing the way devices are communicating with each other, allowing flexibility and control that was never thought possible before. No longer is audio about choosing a microphone, or lighting about why type of fixture is most suitable for a scene, but knowledge about computer software, networking protocols and various other technological options are becoming necessary for the person involved in the industry.

The other important issue to note is that there are no shortcuts in this industry. Everyone will need to pay their dues to get to a level of competency that is recognised by folks in the industry. That includes people who think that they are god's gift to the industry. Be prepared to start working from the bottom upwards; I started by setting up my church's audio system every weekend for over a year, waking at 6.30am, long before anyone was in church. That year gave me a good foundation in putting a system together.

Some qualities I think are needed for this industry include :
Patience and perserverance - keep focussed on what you believe in.
Humility and humbleness - come to the table with the desire to serve, to make things better, not worse.
Desire to learn - lifelong learning is crucial in this rapid advancing age of technology in many different areas.
Willingness to serve - I call this fulfilling the vision of others - in the technical field, often we are called upon to bring the producer's vision to reality.
A thick hide - all of the above requires a dogged persistence to see the end result.

A good question to ask yourself is, "What do I see myself doing in ten years?" I believe that you're on track if you can come up with a good, solid answer to that question. Take a step back, look at what you're doing currently and do a little evaluation on how the present is going to take you to your goals in the long term. If you're wanting to be the technical director of a performing arts centre, then look at what that job entails and start growing your skills in those areas. The same goes for other areas like audio, lighting, staging, etc. Each area requires a certain set of skills that can only be developed over time via education, experience and a fair amount of mentoring by others who have been doing it for years.

I have heard of people saying how fortunate they are to be involved in a job they love, and it's no longer feels like work. In retrospect, I can attest that there are many moments that I have felt that a lot of the projects and events I've been part of really do not seem like work at all. It's a great feeling to be doing something that you love and be paid for it!

Q and others

One item that I've found to be extremely useful in live sound reinforcement is the Whirlwind Qbox. It's an audio testing and utility tool that does several things - cable/line tester, mic, tone generator, and monitor. I use it most of the time to check mic lines on stage by sending the 1khz tone down a line back to the mixer to confirm that it's working. You can also switch it over to the mic and speak into the channel. If you have two Qboxes (often the case when another audio engineer carries one with them), you can have an intercom between two points!

The Qbox also has the ability to detect phantom power, which is a quick and dirty way to double check if a line is connected to the mixer. The monitoring mode allows me to check outputs from mixers, guitars, keyboards and dynamic mics; there is a little loudspeaker, although small, but allows for basic checks. If you need to hear a little bit better, then just plug in your headphones into the headphone socket. This beats having to run back and forth between the stage and console, checking for the signal, especially if you're working alone. Did I also mention the ability to monitor a three wire production intercom?

There are other different types of testers out in the market, but I reckon the Qbox is generally one of the best mic/line tester out there since its debut in 1997.

LEDs

I'll reproduce a little 'essay' on LED lighting that I wrote on a technical listserve today.

There has certainly been a lot of interest in LED lighting in the last
couple of years, with proponents spewing out the cost efficiency as
it's major plus point. In the last decade, improvements have been made
to colour rendition, effifacy(lumen to watt ratio), and cost. However,
there are a couple of major issues that remain when compared to other
light sources - capital costs and colour consistency. Both these
factors are closely correlated as the process to achieve the colour
consistency for any batch of LEDs is extremely difficult, resulting in
higher manufacturing costs. You can almost be assured at this current
moment that the cheaper LED fixtures will have less colour consistency
among each other, than a higher priced unit. Having said that, it is
cheaper to buy a 1 or 5 watt LED today than it was five years ago, but
colour consistency remains a major challenge in the industry.

Capital costs for installing LED fixtures is approximately three to ten
times higher than similar incandescent(tungsten, halogen) or high
intensity discharge(HID - metal halide, mercury or sodium discharge)
fixtures. There are a few reasons for this besides the higher
manufacturing cost as mentioned above. Other issues resulting in higher
cost include the narrow coverage and efficiency of the individual LEDs
- this results in a higher number of LEDs needed to cover a stated area
and to achieve a specified lighting level.

As an example, the cost of using LEDs is about 5 times higher than a
conventional design in one of my current architectural lighting
projects,. About 10-15% of the total cost is spent on procuring extra
spare LED stock in the same batch to ensure future replacement will
have the same colour consistency.

For lighting an auditorium, the cheapest method with the highest
efficiency would be to use HID type fixtures, followed by flourescent
or compact PL type lighting, with incandescent lighting coming in last.
However, the cheapest method is usually not ideal for the purposes of
auditorium type functions as colour temperature and dimming is usually
an operational requirement for these spaces. The only type of lighting
that can be dimmed without higher infrastructure costs is the
incandescent fixture. All other types of lighting will require
additional wiring infrastructure and additional equipment to achieve
dimming in a satisfactory manner. This will result in higher
installation costs, but there will be lower operational and maintenance
costs due to the lamp efficiency. For the moment, the exception is LED
fixtures - due to its higher installation cost, it will take a longer
period of time to recoup the capital costs compared to other type of
fixtures. In a nutshell, you will need a lot of LEDs to cover an auditorium, and still will not be able to get similar light output levels at this point in time, when compared to other types of lights.

For stage theatre lighting, LEDs have popped up as various incarnations
of the PAR64 or floodlight type fixtures, complete with colour mixing capabilities at
fairly attractive prices compared to other lighting methods. These
fixtures usually use the RGB(red, green, blue) method of colour mixing.
There are two methods to achieve this - tri-colour RGB, where the three
colours are integrated into a single LED, and a combination of
multiple numbers of RGB coloured LEDs into the fixture. The tri-colour
LEDs have the advantage of slightly higher output with no colour
fringing effects due to its point source characteristic. Again, the issue of
colour consistency pops up in the lower cost fixtures as these manufacturers generally purchase the lower quality LEDs. The colour
consistent and higher output fixtures such as the PixelPar may
cost as much as AUD3,500.00 per fixture, putting it out of the
financial reach of most theatres and churches.

Having said that, I would have no qualms using some of the cheaper
China-made LED par cans that come as low as AUD300.00 each to light up
the stage as colour effects and washes. They are also good for places
where getting adequate AC power supply is an issue, as these LED
fixtures have relatively low power consumption. I am currently
assembling a touring LED lighting system as most of the smaller
community halls that we go to do not have adequate three-phase power
supply. With this setup, I am able to run a bunch of LED Par cans from
a couple of 10 amp power points with a laptop for control. This is only
feasible if, colour consistency is not critical for your application.

There are some advantages to using LEDs - longer lifespan, lower
maintenance and energy costs, less heat generation, and smaller size.
With LEDs, I'm able to put lights in spaces that would have been
impossible with conventional fixtures. It is my opinion that efficient
LED lighting is still a luxury and a bit of an experiment for the
moment, although this will change in the coming years with improved
manufacturing processes.

Interior lighting

One of the often ignored areas in an office is interior lighting. Most often, design considerations for interior lighting is often based either on functionality or aesthetics. However, poorly designed lighting can often cause health and safety issues in the office, resulting in errors, reduced productivity, and various health problems. I had a chance to work on a relatively simple project recently. It was a small office and the client had complained that the original down lighting was casting a harsh light on the work surface causing glare and other health related issues.

After discussion, I decided on a diffused light source in order to soften the interior. I surveyed the office, entered the dimensions into the lighting program, selected the appropriate luminaire and crunched some numbers. In the end, I settled on a large diffused pendant, with two 24 watt TC-TEL bulbs, giving an illumination level of 100 lux at the working plane with a gentle wash falling off the walls. Below are the illumination plot and lighting simulation :



Lighting measurements confirmed that the work plane was within the simulated output of 100 lux at working plane. The client was extremely pleased with the final result :
The diffused lighting eliminated the glare at the work surface and other health related issues.

Big Picture

Recently, on one of the listserves that I was on, a church sound operator was asking for opinions on the audio system that was put into the new hall which they had just moved in. This was an existing system from the old place and the bloke wanted to get a new pair of loudspeakers that had 'tighter' coverage in order to overcome the highly reverberant worship hall.

That kinda got me thinking a bit because, a while back, I wrote about priorities in this blog. I was describing how the loudspeakers should be the first priority, in view of other technical equipment purchases. I reckon I should now include acoustical treatment as a high priority in the mix of things.

Now, I need to explain that in certain cases where heritage and architectural issues are involved, it will almost be impossible to provide these spaces with the ideal acoustical treatment needed. In the case of cathedrals and churches with strong liturgical and traditional backgrounds, higher reverberation times are oft the preferred choice. However, in the case of more contemporary type worship services, where modern musical instruments such as synthesizers, electric guitars and drumsets are involved, a much lower reverberation time is required as the tempo of the music is much faster.

It is the latter that is more common in modern day buildings and I have been dealing with these type of spaces for over 90% of my projects in the last 15 years. Any good sound system designer will tell you that the audio system will only be one half of the entire sound equation. The other important factor is appropriate acoustical treatment. While there are audio systems that are designed to 'overcome' acoustical issues, none of those that I've heard sound as good as the conventional loudspeakers that can be installed in a space that is well treated.

Now, back to the original line of thought..... in the listserve, I tried to convince the bloke to consider acoustical treatment instead of spending more money on getting new loudspeakers, as the acoustical treatment would make a improvement for the sound in the hall. Unfortunately, the leadership felt that too much money had been spent on the decor and was not willing to invest any further in the short term. Instead, getting a technical solution was deemed to be a 'better' solution for them. The reason why another set of loudspeakers would not solve the problem lies in the fact that all two- or three-way, small format type loudspeakers are fairly wide in coverage despite their marketing claims.

A real loudspeaker system solution would entail using a multiple line driver design with adjustable directionality to direct the sound into the audience area. More drivers, usually equal more money....hence, on the logical end, spending the money you would normally spend on a pair or regular two way boxes for acoustical works, will yield much more satisfactory results in the end.