akersa Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 I am wondering if anybody out there has done a mic plot for the musical Hairspray in the ch designs Mic Plot software. I am getting ready to do the show and am looking to try to save some time and would be willing to make it worth your time $$ if you would share the file with me. Thanks,Adam Akersadamlakers@gmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Welcome to the Blue Room! Even if someone else has done the show, and used the same software, surely it's fairly unique on a show by show basis? For example a lot of this depends on the number of mics you have available to you! Someone else may have done it with twice as many mics which would mean a very different plot! I honestly don't think it'll take you that long to draw one up - do you have mic techs available to you to assist with quick changes and the like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommulliner Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Hell, I make you one for a tenner! :P Seriously though as Tom says, it does' t take long to draw one up. I've read mic plots for the same shows that I have done and they've been nothing like how I've done them, which proves that shows are unique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Even if someone else has done the show, and used the same software, surely it's fairly unique on a show by show basis? For example a lot of this depends on the number of mics you have available to you! MicPlot is rather more clever than that. What you feed in to it is the cast list and when characters enter & leave the stage (or rather, when they have their first / last lines etc.) It then tells you how few mics you can get away with, depending on how long you specify you have for swaps. It generates spreadsheets of all kinds of useful info. You can juggle various parameters to see how that affects the outcome. The author has made available various show files that I think should be pretty transportable to different productions of the same show, with minimal editing. (Not hairspray though!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akersa Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 Even if someone else has done the show, and used the same software, surely it's fairly unique on a show by show basis? For example a lot of this depends on the number of mics you have available to you! MicPlot is rather more clever than that. What you feed in to it is the cast list and when characters enter & leave the stage (or rather, when they have their first / last lines etc.) It then tells you how few mics you can get away with, depending on how long you specify you have for swaps. It generates spreadsheets of all kinds of useful info. You can juggle various parameters to see how that affects the outcome. The author has made available various show files that I think should be pretty transportable to different productions of the same show, with minimal editing. (Not hairspray though!) Yeah that is why I like the software mic plot. I was hoping that someone had spent the time to enter in all the entrances and exits the "moves" in mic plot to where I could plug in my cast list and let it auto allocate the number of units, and assign them etc. etc. I talked with Chris from CH designs and he didn't know of anybody that had done a plot for it yet, that is why I posted here hoping maybe somebody had. Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I suspect that as we're mainly a UK forum - few of us over here use it. Just one of those things where the info didn't spread that much here, so we're still doing it manually. However - what you have done is introduce the software to us, and I'm sure people who hate the process may well look at it seriously. As yet - we're not seeing huge numbers of groups doing it on the amateur circuit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingatall666 Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 The mac installation made me chuckle.. Can your programs be used on a Mac?Yes. The following guide has been written by one of our customers who regularly uses both MicPlot and Palladium on his Mac: Using MicPlot & Palladium On A Mac. ...follow the link to the PDF.. Both programs run nicely under Parallels, a virtual emulator program that allows multiple operating systems to run on Intel based Macs. might have a look at this program when I can be bothered with the hassle of starting up windows on the mac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 I downloaded it and I'm pretty unimpressed. Sure - it's clever, but it's just a database, as such, to get it running effectively needs a lot of work, but you can export a nice spreadsheet showing who is active on each page of the script. The downside, as I see it is that it would take exactly the same time to enter the same information, directly into excel. In fact, the spreadsheet is already virtually the same format as the one I tend to use. So my question is simply that the benefit appears to be that you can print out little tickets showing who to give the pack to next, and you can set parameters to indicate the 'importance' of people to have mics when it gets busy. I do this from the spreadsheet. Let's assume you go through the script, adding a vertical column for each character, and each page of the script gets a horizontal row. If the person is on stage - even if not speaking on that particular page, you put in an X. It's pretty easy to spot who has the most need - then you do whatever you need to do. The only important element is accuracy in sticking in the X's. I'm scratching my head trying to see how the programme would help me - most of the conclusions about distribution, understudy potential issues and that kind of stuff can be seen pretty easily by eye. It's not a big problem to write swaps on a spare excel page - I don't think I need the database sorting functions this software does quite neatly. The manual is also written in a very unfriendly style - it doesn't attempt to even tell you what to do, just assumes you understand what the features are for. It doesn't even explain very well how to enter the script info. It is there, but people new to it might not even spot it - or worse, realise the implication of entering certain data. Many beginners record when their characters speak - but forget that just because a pack has no dialogue doesn''t mean it's available - the person may well have finished their chunk of speaking - but until they exit, the mic's not available - and potential swap points need to have time considered - if they exit left, and the next wearer is right - is there time to get it around, and on? The programme needs this considered manually - so is less useful than it appears. I guess if you don't have a clue it might be thought to be handy, but it's not a bit of software for beginners, it's designed for people who already know? If they know, do they need it? Rather like automated sound playout software when the entire sound effect content of the show is one thunder crack. Does this really need specific software for something so simple? I cannot see me wanting to ever use it - nothing wrong with the software, it's quite good - but I don't need it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boswell Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 I tried this last year and came to the same conclusion, does not save any time.It might save a small amount if the show file is already available, but it will still need tweaking to suit you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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