Stuart91

14 minutes ago, HarryTHP said:

The PowerCon cable was very weird. The inner part was rotated so it just didn't fit in anything, not an issue though as I have others.

It wouldn't happen to be a mis-coloured connector of the wrong type? 

Kosher PowerCon connectors are blue for the supply and white for the drain. As well as the different colour, they're keyed differently to avoid misconnection. 

But meanwhile in the wonderful world of AliBaba etc. it's possible to get either type in whatever colour you fancy. 

(My personal favourite was some black and yellow coloured ones that would pass for TrueOne at a glance...)

1 minute ago, richardash1981 said:

The induction loop wasn't connected to either - it was fed from microphones on the front wall!).

A school near me had a loop system arranged like this. Problems arose when an incoming production put a stack of D&B C7 directly in front of the loop microphones. 

The loop amp seemed to be kept permanently turned on, and the analogue multicore had been laid directly beside the induction loop cable for most of its run. 

Instant feedback through the PA, at quite exciting levels. 

14 minutes ago, Simon Lewis said:

 I would probably look to either fly something centrally or if placement was really constrained consider discreet stand mounted speakers either side of the front area with good wide dispersion. Martin Audio CDD boxes seem to work well in this application...

Another vote for CDD - we've had very good results from them in similar situations. 

https://www.sennprospares.co.uk/shop/search?keywords=XSW

They seem to stock the covers but not the buttons, nevertheless it's probably worth asking. 

If this is a full refurbishment of the building, then the cost of a (properly designed and installed) PA system will be little more than a rounding error in the overall bill. 

However you might be battling against the mindset which many churches have that audio is something they expect volunteers to conjure up on a shoestring. (Funnily enough, they rarely take the same approach to, say, central heating or electrics...)

What's the room like? Is it a modern building or a traditional gothic pile? Ceiling height is going to be crucial here. As others have suggested, a centre cluster (or single speaker) will almost certainly work best with the seating layout. Whether it can be accommodated physically is another question entirely. 

Depending on denomination you may have to gain approval from a church committee higher up the chain - might be worth bearing in mind. 

TBH I'd be tempted to find a wall-mounting version of suitable size and find a way to bodge it onto a blank panel...

12 hours ago, mark_h said:

Are you planning to discard the set after the Fringe?

Disposal costs would need to be considered

It's a good point. 

The OP could consider talking to someone like https://resetscenery.myturn.com/library/ They're Glasgow-based but might consider an Edinburgh run, especially if they have other Fringe jobs. 

I doubt this would be a way to recoup the purchase cost of the set, but might defray the disposal costs. 

I've had both good and bad experiences with Shiply. The couriers using their network seem to struggle more with flightcases etc. compared to standard household items. 

Never got the chance to meet Brian in real life, but he was undoubtedly one of the good guys. Always helpful and generous with his knowledge. I was always pleased to see a reply ping up from him on one of my threads. 

2 hours ago, kerry davies said:

I was the same with sound checks, you have to draw a line where enough is sufficient and not let the perfect become the enemy of the good.

Haven't you realised that what you're supposed to do is spend 45 mins soundchecking the kick drum, then do a quick line check of the lead vocal 20secs before the doors open?

Klark Teknik DN200?

Not cheap but seems to do what you want. The link through outputs are jack rather than XLR however. 

The other possibility would be to speak to Orchid Electronics about getting something custom made. 

18 hours ago, Bryson said:

 "powerCON TRUE1 TOP"? 

Everyone I know calls them "Truecon" in order to distinguish from the blue and white "Powercon"

14 hours ago, paulears said:

I really can't see why any emergency system to tell people vital info generated so much bad feeling. 

Without straying too far into politics, there's a more of an assumption amongst many people these days that the government are incompetent and/or self-serving. The actions of a few during Covid has only exacerbated that.

Plus unending media attention that often seems to spin negative.

It seems that the "test" was more of the service providers than the general public (and Three clearly flunked it). I wonder if there would have been a more positive response if that had been made clearer from the outset?

30 minutes ago, paulears said:

It's probably about time that the Government reviewed the phoenix resurrections, especially now the process of shutting a debt ridden company down and starting again, debt free - the so called SpongeBob Plan, is so common.

What really sticks in the throat is when it's clearly a pre-engineered plan, that the company have followed from the start with the clear intention of dodging debt. 

(Hint: any festival that has the year as part of their company name may well be planning this kind of manoeuvre)

Back to pyro/fireworks and safety - how common are accidents in the industry as a whole? Is it common for fireworks factories to have a fatal accident every decade or so? Or are the various incarnations of Le Maitre all particularly inept?

As others have said, if this is a one-off show, hiring Steeldeck or similar might be cheaper and less effort than buying and installing all the materials to go on top of your existing deck. 

I understand why limited liability exists for companies. Very few people would start businesses knowing that they would be personally ruined if it failed. 

But as Gareth has said, there's something amiss in this kind of situation. 

A "phoenix" manoeuvre can stick in the throat. I had one customer do that to me, a "college" no less. They owed enough money that we issued a winding-up petition, and they instantly liquidated. Then a new company took everything else on - premises, students, accreditation, etc. - and carried on as if nothing had happened. 

I was annoyed enough about that, having knocked my pan in for a good few shows without payment. Not sure how I'd react if a company had been responsible for the death of a family member and then seeming to carry on regardless. 

Good to know that Jem / Martin are still going strong. Might be a bit of a stretch for their budget, but they have several thousand pounds worth in their smoke machine graveyard at the moment...

Tim makes a good point about haze, but I think they're after the excitement factor of a big cloud of smoke scooting out at the appropriate moment.

The Spaceball looks like an interesting option - certainly very compact. Could be a good buy for my own stock...

I've been asked by a nightclub owner to recommend some decent smoke machines for them. They have had an unhappy succession of cheap models, most of which have broken within weeks. I figure they need something a bit heavier duty, but it's a while since I've bought anything for this kind of scenario. 

The space isn't particularly big, I'd guess around 300 capacity. The el cheapo machines are fine in terms of output, they keep ahead of the air handling fine. It's just the longevity that's the issue. If it were 15yrs ago I'd be recommending a Jem ZR20, but I'm not sure what current models are properly built and which are still trading on the reputation from years gone by. 

In hire stock I've got on quite well with the Chauvet Hurricane 1600, and whilst this would have ample output for the room, we've only used them for occasional events rather than 6hr shifts four nights each week. 

Anybody got recommendations? Or are they better sticking with the cheapies and treating them as consumables?

3 hours ago, ianknight said:

I don't know if it's still there but there was a big feck off siren mounted on a mast at Broadmoor Hospital in Crowthorne. 

There's something similar at the State Hospital in Carstairs, Lanarkshire. I think they still test the siren, although less regularly than every week. 

So the top tip for escaping from Broadmoor is to do it at 10am on a Monday, that way everyone will assume it's just a drill...

8 hours ago, bruce said:

@Stuart91 how do those arcus ultrasonic machines behave with smoke alarms ?

They're fine until the smoke rises (which it will as it heats up). At that point it's no better than a standard smoke machine, albeit a bit more diffuse. 

Some unfortunate customers of ours managed to empty the Doubletree up on Cambridge St with one of the machines. They'd had the detectors in the suite isolated, but had the machine sitting at an entranceway and hadn't thought about the detectors in the corridor outside. 🙄

I'm wondering the same as Keith, but coming from a different angle. I have one A1031-U and one of the A2003 directional paddles that are "broken". They are demonstrably not working (reception doesn't improve any compared to having nothing at all plugged into the receiver) but I can't see any physical damage. Continuity on the BNC connector perhaps?

Certainly our Arcus machines run from a standard 13amp supply with no problems at all. I can't remember the exact power consumption off the top of my head but I doubt it's vastly different from a standard smoke machine. 

We have some of the Arcus 2000 which seem to have done well. I'd guess the design is similar to the Briteq.

A few quite serious theatres have hired our machines in order to avoid the headaches associated with dry ice. They have all been happy enough.

It might be worth seeing if you can get a demo, or at least buy from somewhere that will accept a return without quibbling if the machine doesn't quite do what you want. 

13 hours ago, partyanimallighting said:

I know if the trigger temperature is too high the heater block can overheat and actually melt so we don't want this happening do we?

The first smoke machine I ever owned (as a fairly clueless student) suffered from this problem. 

I'm guessing the thermostat failed completely because the machine overheated spectacularly, with acrid black smoke coming out of the vents on the side. 

I grabbed it to take it outside, revealing the smoke-machine sized hole that it had burnt in the carpet underneath. 

The local disco shop were quick with a replacement which lasted for a decade or so afterwards, but I always sat it on a case lid or similar. 

58 minutes ago, dosxuk said:

Converters like the Decimators / Blackmagic don't support HDCP

Also worth mentioning that SDI doesn't support HDCP either, which can catch people out.