Ynot

I have a couple of full 300 setups that I'm donating to the Historic Lighting Collective when I get a visit, and that includes a couple of fader panels. They may well be interested in adding yours - who knows... 🙂

I think the key is going to be the trailing edge dimmer approach tbh. I used one on a set piece a couple years ago with some LEDs and they were fine - even had a nice imming curve.

I'll need to check with them whether 'dimmable' is on a regular dimmer or if they needs an LED specific trailing edge option. That said, with only a dozen of these in circuit it might be worth investing in a DMX trailing dimmer module just for them...

Looking for some LED PAR lamps for our house lights - PAR 30 that are dimmable from the Zero 88 Betapack 2s. Not going to be an easy task, but anyone got any thoughts?

THIS... I seriously doubt that you're going to get anywhere that will re-plate the existing stock reflectors or supply a replacement for anything less than silly money. Unfortunately this is just what you get when you 'invest' in knock-off gear. Bin them and look around for 2nd hand S4 lanterns. Although ETC are discontinuing some of their tungsten kit now, I don't think the profiles are on the list that are going, but I'd be pretty sure that they'll be able to supply spares for all lanterns for at least the foreseeable future.

I sort of agree with the theoretical assumptions of what may or may not work, BUT if someone has experienced an improvement by doing something unusual/unexpected I tend to think to myself "Worth a try"... 😄

That's something I'd never considered... And something I might play around with as I have a 3D printer on loan... What size baffles?

On stage there was (last week) 2 wired sets and 4 wireless. There were times when several sets were in close prox, but that didn't seem to affect the incoming levels. And hell yeah, when the chorus get into full swing it gets pretty near impossible to communicate effectively but that's the same with wired vs wireless anyway 😞

Hmmm... The wireless kit isn't very old (12 to 18 months I think) so the batts should be pretty good still and get charged overnight between shows. No idea on the termination status - will check with our noise boy who set it up at install. Headsets - mainly the Canford/Tecpro full-ear jobbies, though a couple prefer the lightewight equivalents that seem to be doing the rounds of late.But the problem seems to be the same across both types. We do seem to have one or two sets that have VERY quiet transmission and it's on the summer list to check and replace any dodgy mic capsules.

I've had a lot of success with the PCC160 but as with all things you need to position them right, with adequate padding to prevent direct pickup of stage noise, and balance them well with other mics in use. Too many people seem to discard them as an option without doing the work

Not always true - this will depend on the school, and how they deal with events on the stage. Over the years I've helped out (and occasionally been paid to do so) at several schools who have een happy to fund rental costs for productions/dance events and have taken in anything from ETC LX desks and LED/movers to radio mics and pyro. Never say never. 🙂

School situ - HIRE every time. Buying kit that only gets used 2 or 3 times a year is a huge waste. Talk to local am-dram groups to see if you can get experienced techs n to help, but don't spend good money on gear that's hardly utilised.

Now then. Not for the first time I'm experiencing issues with on-stage comms. We run a combination at the moment of wired Tecpro and wireless Altair beltpacks. Running stage this week has ben a bit tricky as the audibility between those on the TB system hasn't been great. OK, when you have a full band belting out over foldback it can add some difficulties but of late I've noticed that there's been rather muffled reception when others speak. Yes - I've told crew to have the headset mic closer to their mouths when conversing but that seldom helps. Any thoughts on how to improve this?

Anyone Midlands based have 2 or 3 Altair wireless belt packs available for Lian or hire this week?

Quick update on this one - noise isn't my primary discipline, so I leave that sort of thing to those who are more versed to assess, but from what I can gather so far, our guys have fallen in love with the Avantis. We'll see how it performs for a full show with 12 ish piece band, 13 rad mics and stage feeds plus SFX next week, but I think we'll be spending the approved budget 🙂