Com's problems

[lampytrev]

hey guys got a little problem with our Com's system where everyone answers at the same time and delaying important messages being passed. does anyone no a way of communicating to a selected position, say with a panel of lights to show who you want to contact?

[Dj Dunc]

the word zoning comes in to my head, but one of the "boffins" can elaborate

[Rob]

Your question is a bit unclear. What make / model / type of system do you have? Is it faulty or are you asking for ideas on how to build a new one?

 

With normal systems (Techpro / Canford / Metro / RTS) you can set up different rings to build quite large networks. You could have all the stage management on one ring and lighting on another with the DSM being able to talk to both rings if they want for example...

[mackerr]

hey guys got a little problem with our Com's system where everyone answers at the same time and delaying important messages being passed. does anyone no a way of communicating to a selected position, say with a panel of lights to show who you want to contact?

Yes, say the name of the person you are addressing. This is as much a crew training issue as a technical comm problem. There are comm systems that allow very specific direct communication, but they are very expensive.

 

Mac

[lampytrev]

We currently have a canford system with a added strobe call notification however when this goes off everyone dives 4 comms and answers with there position which with a 10 man tech crew takes a while to speak to the person u require. would canford be able to advise me on how to build different rings?

 

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[JimWebber]

As Mackerr says, discipline is the thing, The person making the call should specify who he wants to talk to, either by name, or even better by department, ie LX, FX, Flys... Whatever.

 

Similarly No-one should answer a call unless addressed directly by the person making said call.

 

PS does it take as long to reach the right person as it does to read your post? A bit of punctuation goes a long, long way...

:)

 

Jim

 

++EDIT++

 

PPS I've served on a crew with a Jim, Jamie, James and a Jimmy... You think You've got problems... :)

[lampytrev]

Do apologise for my crap English, the main problem is, during shows our stage crew, sound and sound 2 op's are off comm's usually chasing up mics that have gone walking so when coms go off we all answer. its a very strange set up and works to a degree but can cause problems when for example a mic has gone down

 

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[paulears]

ah - all gets clearer. Two things arise. I guess you could install a proper cue light system so then you could flash a light in the appropriate are. The snag is that you'd then have to introduce a kind of rule that says, when the call light (or strobe) flashes, look for another light, and if this is on, talk?

 

This seems to make the system even more complicated. As my old LX op had a need to talk to the stage manager, who had a habit of forgetting to put his cans on (don't ask), she simply said "Alan, Alan, Alan, Alan......." over and over until he answered when he saw the strobe flash or the yellow light. This is incredibly annoying, but always worked. In your case, the comms discipline could still work. When the strobe/flash goes, people without their cans put them on, and the person doing the calling does the "alan" thing - "dave, dave, dave... etc" anybody putting the cans on who isn't dave won't speak, hopefully.

 

The question that does arise is, why do they take the things off - isn't the idea they wera them all of the time to stop exactly these problems?

[lampytrev]

We take our comm's off because we run 6 set shows every week and they usually have a set change after about 3 numbers, which you can imagine there is a lot of set for a one hour show so during that time we are changing set frames over or in the roof supervising ab-sailing. all a little complex and stressful at time :)

 

ps see your from the same lovely town as me!

 

 

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[Bobbsy]

Two suggestions:

 

First, as has already been mentioned, you need to institute some comms discipline. Nobody should speak except on "business" and all transmisssions should be preceded by a standard format to alert the person you want. You're probably better to use job titles rather than names. You can decide a format; the only important thing is that everybody does the same.

 

(Semi OT aside. The biggest comms party lines I know are the Eurovision Production and Technical coord circuits used during news exchanges...pretty much every TV station in Europe is online at the same time. Their format is to start with the "name" of the person who wishes to speak, followed by the details of who they wish to speak to. For example, it might be "ARD Hamburg for SRG Geneva". Then a brief pause, then the message.)

 

In your case, this could be "LX Op for Stage Manager" or whatever.

 

My second suggestion is that the Sound 2 person backstage rarely benefits from being on the main intercom circuit since their job is pretty well exclusively handling mic swaps and problems. I tend to have a separate means of comms with my S2, often just a PMR radio, which allows them the freedom to wander all over backstage. I have a matching PMR radio and both are equipped with earpieces.

 

Bob

[mackerr]

the main problem is, during shows our stage crew, sound and sound 2 op's are off comm's usually chasing up mics that have gone walking so when coms go off we all answer.

If the crew are not wearing their headsets I don't see how any comm system can solve your problem. paulears suggestion of a separate comms cue light system so the stage manager can signal specific areas might help. Breaking the system up into multiple channels with the SM having all channels and the ability to call by dept might help. Using wireless headsets so the crew is always on comms would definitely help. I know the RF regs in Europe in general and the UK in particular are much more stringent then they are here in the US so I don't know how easy it is to implement RF comm. There are RF comm systems with 2 channel capability so the SM can talk on a production channel that everyone hears, and the second channel is a departmental iso. Of course, the more separate channels you need the more RF spectrum you need. There are systems that operate in the UHF like the HME Pro850. the HME DX200 uses 2.4Ghz, and the Telex BTR800 is also UHF. The HME DX200 is single channel with an iso that is among the RF units only, the HME850 and Telex BTR800 are fully 2 channel. As Bobbsy points out, PMR radios may be just fine. In any case it is hard to talk to crew who are not wearing headsets.

 

Mac

[lampytrev]

thank you guy lots of info to take to my tech manager :D

[paulears]

One other possibility is a in-ear system - and give the people a receiver each. additional receivers are pretty expensive, but you can buy cheap scanner receivers on ebay that have a wide band setting. I have a system like this I carry around with me to venues when I'm the production or company manager - I have a couple of adapters to patch into canford 3 and 6 pin outlets usually doted all over the buildings, and I just stick the tx in a corner - a simple belt pack feeding the transmitter is all that is required. This means I can stick just one ear piece in, under my suit jacket and sit in the audience to watch the show - but hear the cans traffic - it is amazingly useful when ####-ups happen. Normally, I'd see something go wrong and worry about it being sorted - or even sometimes if the crew had actually noticed the disater in the making. The in-ear gives me the confidence that people are sorting it. I often give the asm one too if they have to do lots of running around. The ability to talk back isn't needed.

[dbuckley]

There are some traditional options, as well as creative ideas like Paul's.

 

You can split up your intercom circuits, and have beltpacks and/or base stations that can work on two or more circuits simultaneoulsy without them becoming mixed.

 

You can also get packs with smarter than average signalling, see these for for four calling groups whilst remaining compatible with standard cans.