Stephen Bailey Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Hello, can I get some advice from you chaps. I'm looking for a course(s) in moving light programming. I work in production and need to brush up as I don't feel able to run a programming session and not make mistakes. Also a moving light maintenance course would be useful too. Ideally the course would be no longer that 6 weeks and a crash course would be ideal. I mainly do theatre so my preferred consoles are strands and etc's. I am based in London. I would also be willing to work at a reduced rate if satisfactory training was provided. many thanks please help stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bleasdale Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 ETC do training at thier london office, I am down there next week. I have a friend that has been to do congo training and they say that its good. Stage electrics and white light hold strand training last time I checked. Martin have maintainence and service courses in there maidstone office, courses are usually a few hundered pounds each, depending on what you do. Websites: www.lxstore.com - white light ltd www.etcconnect.com - ETC www.stage-electrics.co.uk -stage electrics www.martin.dk or www.martin.com - Martin BR member lichwicht profile: http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showuser=8071. This guy actually works for mrtin, so maybe he can help you out. hope this helps you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
son of lx dad Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 I would also be willing to work at a reduced rate if satisfactory training was provided. Statements like that make me boil. If you receive training you therefore (in theory) have a higher skill level so why would you: a) want to work for less,b) devalue the work of every other technician who has received this training. There are many 'freelance' technicians out there struggling to make a living at the moment. None of us should want to "work for less" we should all be continually pushing rates forward. So do every technician in the UK a favour and don't bother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacet Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 If you receive training you therefore (in theory) have a higher skill level so why would you: a) want to work for less,b) devalue the work of every other technician who has received this training.I think Stephen Bailey was saying that he'd be prepared to work for less in return for receiving training or as a form of payment as opposed to gaining the skills and then working for less. This seems to be similar to the way an apprentice would not get paid a similar wage to that of their master / trainer (I'm not quite sure of the terminology) or someone who is already a master of their craft such as those 'freelance' technicians who are struggling to make a living at the moment.At least that's the way I read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeStoddart Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 I certainly interpreted the "willing to work at a reduced rate if satisfactory training was provided" as an offer that in return for some on the job training he would accept a lower rate. Fairly sensible to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Bailey Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Cool your flames lx dad. You have misinterpreted what I have said. I am an experienced technician and production manager, I have been in this game for going on twenty years and I'm not about to start selling myself short now. An example scenario would be that I work as a supervised programmer at a prod lx rate, which is fair as a skilled programmer is still required on the project and my skills as a prod lx would still be utilised. And as far as dropping rates in general goes, it is a free market out there and sometimes it is better to knock twenty quid off if it means the difference of 5 days work instead of 2. A lot of technicians rates are based on their ego and don't consider the specifics of the project. They usually end up with a career of corporate turds. A recession is coming, which means employers will, more than ever be expecting their moneys worth and placing stricter values on the actual work required. I agree that we all should be vigilant about rate drops but we should all also be flexible or we might find that the industry changes its model as it becomes too expensive to staff in the way is has been doing for the last 8 years. Thanks techguy, I had looked at these usual suspects, however their training seems to be a bit basic and I'm looking for something a bit more in depth. I work at mainly at some high profile london venues and I'm in the familiar position of not getting much of a chance in a live situation as (quite rightly) the house programmer is on the desk and with the artist involved, ######-up are not an option. Are there any decent short courses at drama schools, somewhere where I can actually plot a show and not just learn in a hire shop. thanks lads, for your support stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamchristuffin Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I'm sure how possible this would be in London, but I just asked at my local receiving house if I could watch in on a programming session, and then the next time I started to program just little bits when a new Am Dram production came in, and gradually got better and faster at it. Might work for you? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Bailey Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 and it appears that you can't even say c.o.c.k in a forum these days! ..tcha thanks chris for the input, the venues I work at tend to only have the big shows. I guess I could try and find a smaller venue to practice and hope the techs know their stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Foley Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Same query pretty much but I am based in the North of England. Are there any courses people would recommend for moving lights a bit closer to home? or am I best making the trip down to london for a one day course? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erroneousblack Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 I've done various courses, but am firmly behind the old Russian saying, "repetition is the mother of learning"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 And NOTHING beats sitting at a desk with moving lights and just playing with them. For the cost of a one day course that taught you virtually nothing you could buy a cheap desk and disco light and play to your hearts content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Or hire a bigger desk and a couple of fully featured movers and play! Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley R Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 And NOTHING beats sitting at a desk with moving lights and just playing with them. For the cost of a one day course that taught you virtually nothing you could buy a cheap desk and disco light and play to your hearts content. Or hire a bigger desk and a couple of fully featured movers and play! Josh As someone who has done both in one way or another * (read below for story) I would suggest that you go for the hiring of a larger desk and better movers, if your friendly with some local hire co's I know of occasionally some loaning gear for free, for just half a day, pick up and return to thier factory as its just spare stock, or loaning it to you for next to nothing, so I would suggest going with what Josh has suggested, and go for a more pro console and bigger movers. * 3 years ago bought both a cheap Dj style DMX controller and some Dj style 4ch DMX scanners, total package was arround $500, had fun playing with that for a while, but the skills lerned on it dident really transfer to well to anything larger (some concepts did though, certain movements to create this effect and so on), then about a year ago bought a 2nd hand Jands HOG 250 (or in your case hire one) using this for the past year only occasionally has tought me more about the layout and the feel of more pro consoles overall (and thus felt more confident to play with various consoles at Entech this year), also had plenty of fun learning the HOG's fixture Library coding language, as I currently type all of the profiles by hand (the ones that I cant find on the net), also arround the same time bought a series of mid range 250w movers to play with/hire out (MH660's, Shark 250/c, PR Solo 250) which have given me some basic skills, enough to be able to use a mac 250 without any problems so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossmck Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 And NOTHING beats sitting at a desk with moving lights and just playing with them. For the cost of a one day course that taught you virtually nothing you could buy a cheap desk and disco light and play to your hearts content. Couldn't agree more - definitely better if you can get a local hire company to loan you something. I was lucky enough to come across some cheap (faulty) movers - Mac 250 Kryptons and Clay Paky Stage Colours and first had to learn to repair them, then spend some time learning to use them properly :) Something like MagicQ and a cheap touch screen would give you a good control environment that's very close to what you'll get on a 'real' console (and you can always hire a Chamsys MQ desk if you need them in the future) - I had a Hog 1000 which I really quite liked, although it's a bit dated compared to modern desks (I now have an Avolites Titan Mobile as my own 'desk', and hire a real desk when needed) You'll also find there's free downloads of various visualizers (e.g. WYSIWYG, Capture Polar etc) with demo showfiles (i.e. you can't change the rig) for particular consoles - download one of these and try it out - it's not as good as the real thing but it'll let you work with a much bigger (albeit virtual) rig than you could ever hire or set up in your back room :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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