Comms Procedure

[GridGirl]

"Call signs" as you call them (I've never referred to them as that!!) may differ slightly from theatre to theatre although they're fairly standard. Lighting should always be LX (although I did work with a DSM who called "electrics" - why bother with the extra syllable?!) and when I'm calling sound (effects cues only - radio mic operator is never called) I call "Sound Q 34", but one of my colleagues just calls "Sound 34". Flys are usually called as just "fly Q" - sometimes with a clarification tacked on the end - ie "standby fly Q 14 which is the gauze to go out" but usually they'll have their own cue lists so they know what each cue is. Followspots are the same - "standby spot Q 16" and they have cue lists as well so they know who they're picking up, size of spot, colour, brightness etc etc. Sometimes here in NZ you might find spot cues being called as "dome" cues and I have heard them called "lime" cues in England - but I always think so long as you and the operator know what you're going to be calling their cues as, it's fine. People-flying cues I always find an interesting one - you can't call them fly cues, so what do you call them? Usually they end up as "aerial" cues for me. Pyro cues are just "pyro", AV just "AV" and smoke/dry ice/any other effects are just called by name.

 

I don't ever bother with warning cues unless it's something like people-flying where you need to get someone up in the air into position to fly, or maybe a dry ice cue where the operator needs to load the basket. Other than that I just give "standby LX35, sound Q 12, fly Q 3 and spot Q 15" and wait for all operators to acknowledge with "LX standing by" "sound standing by" etc etc. Then they'll get "LX 35, Sound Q 12, fly Q 3 and spot Q 15 GO".

[mackerr]

Somewhere, I've got the evenings comms for one of my pantos - this could be quite useful for beginners to hear how things really are - although I suspect I shall have to sanitise it a bit, I think I've also got the TV OB comms for a show at the same venue which some people could find interesting. I'll see if I can dig them up and make them available.

 

This link isn't quite the same as it's a live TV broadcast, and you really only hear the director and the AD, but if you watch the screen shot of the panels you can see when other people are talking by the tally lights coming on. This was an interactive broadcast for a corporate meeting between New York City, Washington DC, Atlanta Georgia, Dallas Texas, and Chicago Illinois.

 

Each of the 6 locations (there were 2 in NY) had a digital matrix comm system like Reidel or RTS Adam, and all the sites were tied together over 5 conferences that took place over an IP system called Intracom.

 

It is a 30sec loop, so don't bother watching longer than that. I'm the Mac in Washington DC.

 

Mac

[themadhippy]

From th

e perspective of a receiving house crew, if the incoming person/people who have to give cues use anything other than the 'standard' mentioned above (where even if people know it's a cue, it's still called one) it's a pain, and can sometimes result in cues being run early/late or not at all!

Ah yes,fond memores of

"he's coming on clock side "

"which f****** side is clockside"

"the side with clock on it"

"what f@@@@@@ clo, too late ive missed the entrance"

[Bobbsy]

As said, there can be variations in what various operators are called. On my first job at a regional theatre down here in Aus, I was a bit confused that the DSM was calling cues for something called "Dome". It was quickly obvious that this was referring to the follow spots (and some Googling showed that this is a fairly common alternative, just one I'd never heard before).

 

There's one other procedural variation I should mention regarding sound. On a microphone-heavy show it can be awkward for the sound op to wear cans at the same time as mixing multiple mics live. Pushing back one ear cup can help but still doesn't make for the best mix. In this case, it's pretty common in my experience for the sound op to agree in advance when he'll be on cans and when they'll be off for mixing purposes. A variation on this in theatres with a cue light system is to agree "flashing light" cues, visuals and actual time on cans. All can work--the important thing is to agree procedures in advance.

 

Bob

[abbotsmike]

On the school crew for our last show, where everyone had to have a job for fairness's sake (I mostly sat at the back waiting for things to break, ever tried repairing a followspot iris when it's glowing red hot?) there was a set of cans for virtually everyone. The sound op was next to the guy cueing effects on the PC. PC guy stayed on cans and alerted op if there was anything he actually needed to know. He knew his cues so it worked just fine, and he only went on cans when necessary.

[GridGirl]

ever tried repairing a followspot iris when it's glowing red hot?

 

I had to stop a colleague spraying WD40 onto a jammed (and red hot) followspot iris. I don't think it would have ended well...

 

The sound op was next to the guy cueing effects on the PC. PC guy stayed on cans and alerted op if there was anything he actually needed to know. He knew his cues so it worked just fine, and he only went on cans when necessary.

 

This is almost exactly what we do. When I have a dedicated sound operator (we don't often use radio mics and effects are always run by the lighting operator), he positions the comms pack so he can see the signal light, so if I need to get hold of him I can just hit the signal button and he'll put his headset on. He'll always be on headset at the start of each act so I know he's good to start, but after that he's only on comms if something is wrong.

 

Just as a sidenote, who gives the MD comms on a musical? I know a few people that don't like it, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

[TomHoward]

Academic theatre but we give the MD comms on a musical, although usually only for cueing the overture, start of an act or playing into a scene - we don't call all the music cues.

[GridGirl]

Yeah, I should have explained that - we don't call music cues, the MD has comms for starting the act and so he can talk to us should anything go wrong.

[CharlieH]

Thanks everyone, this is really interesting!

 

who gives the MD comms on a musical? I know a few people that don't like it, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Our MD would never wear comms! :huh: He got angry when we put a Mac 600 5m away from him, but it was raised and designed so it wouldn't ever shine on him or his band. It would have been useful if he did wear comms though as many of our cues where when music started and it wasn't as easy to watch him - if we got an LX Q5 and Music Q9.....GO it would have been so much better! B-)

[GridGirl]

Our MD would never wear comms! :huh: He got angry when we put a Mac 600 5m away from him, but it was raised and designed so it wouldn't ever shine on him or his band. It would have been useful if he did wear comms though as many of our cues where when music started and it wasn't as easy to watch him - if we got an LX Q5 and Music Q9.....GO it would have been so much better! B-)

 

I very much doubt you'll find an MD anywhere who will wear comms during the show - they like to be able to hear....comms are just for starting the show and if problems come up! We're drifting slightly off-topic here, but the trick with being able to see the MD so that cues can go with music is to get a small camera and mount it on the MD's music stand and then run the feed to a monitor at the prompt desk (or in the lighting box, wherever you need it) so that you can see the MD and therefore the downbeats clearly. Managing the musical director is an art and a skill; it's something you'll get better at with time and as they learn to trust you! I've worked with the same MD for four years now and we understand each other now, after a couple of misunderstandings - you'll learn the right way to pitch things to them (like the Mac 600 problem!) so that they will be OK with it....the last musical I did we had LED strips rigged above the band so they had their own little lightshow - we talked to the MD about it first and his only concern was that they would have constant white light on their music stands so they could still see their music - other than that he was fine with pretty much anything we wanted to do.

[CharlieH]

you'll learn the right way to pitch things to them

Fair point, although he agreed to it beforehand! But that is another story for another thread :huh:

I might try that thing with the camera though. Did you use a wireless one or wired?

[spartacus]

Our Standardized procedure is something like this:

 

FOR LIGHTING CUES

 

SM: LX11 Stand BY

OP: Standing BY

SM: 3... 2... 1... GO

OP: GONE

 

FOR STAGE CUES

 

SM: LX19 Stand BY

OP: Standing BY

SM: Stand By SR with Table, Bed, SL with Chairs and picnic Rug on LX19(This obviously changes between scene changes :P )

SR: Standing By with Table and Bed on LX19

SL: Standing By with Chairs and Rug on LX19

SM: LX19... 3... 2... 1... GO

OP: GONE

 

***This is school and we like to get the stage crew to read back the scene changes so they've got exactly what they're doing.***

 

WITH SOUND CUES, these are often not called because the sound guy has enough to listen too without an extra headset. However, he has a direct (two-way radio) link with an assistant on stage who is responsible for making sure all the wireless microphones are on the right people, turned on etc.

 

We also have two special suffixes, URGENT: This is when someone requires to speak to someone urgently about the operation of the show. And EMERGENCY, which is only used in an emergency situation (eg. Thick Smoke, Medical Emergency that requires the house lights, etc.)

[Stan Hope-Streeter]

As said, there can be variations in what various operators are called. On my first job at a regional theatre down here in Aus, I was a bit confused that the DSM was calling cues for something called "Dome". It was quickly obvious that this was referring to the follow spots (and some Googling showed that this is a fairly common alternative, just one I'd never heard before).

 

Interesting, I've never heard of Dome cues, is that an antipodean thing? It was always "Lime" cues here.

 

Up until the 80's many DSM's would give "pan" cues for sound. Old traditions die hard in theatre.

 

My university had a rather nice panatrope, with a couple of Garrard 301's and the Metrosound Cuematic (I think) cuing bars. Would be worth a fortune these days...

[GridGirl]

I might try that thing with the camera though. Did you use a wireless one or wired?

 

Wired - much less possibility of failure! We did use a radio transmitter on it for a production of Guys and Dolls where the two keyboards and drummer were on trucks being pushed around the stage, and the double bassist following along, but it was our usual wired camera and we just bought a seperate wireless kit. It was OK, but it had to work for us - no other option - if you can use a cable, do! Even if you can't get a small camera (we call them bullet cameras), a bog-standard video camera will probably be fine - bung it on a tripod and put the tripod behind the music stand. Most of the time on musicals from decent amateur level upwards, conductor-cam will be going in anyway for monitors in the house and the wings, so it's not difficult to get an extra feed out of the splitter to go to the SM.

[Andrew C]

SM: LX11 Stand BY

OP: Standing BY

SM: 3... 2... 1... GO

OP: GONE

Standby first, as once the word is spoken, everyone shuts up and listens.

 

Thus:-

Standby LX 12

 

Lx then acknowledge somehow "Thank you", "Standing By", "Whatever"

 

LX 12 Go.

 

And you go on G, not O!

 

Gone / Going Unless it is blindingly obvious that is has happened.