Dimmers

[JeffVanVelsor]

I am curious as to how many dimmers everyone has in their theatres and
whether you find you need to rent additional dimmers for your shows.
Here at PDS we have a 400 seat theatre, 2 Catwalks, 2 Box Boom
Positions, an Apron Pipe and 3 electrics over stage with Two dead hung
pipes for Cyc lights and occasional back light. We had 80 dimmers
until last spring when we finally filled out our rack to the 96 we
have now. As we are working on our Transformer Upgrade our lighting
designer asked if we could plan for a future additional rack of 96
dimmers. How ever Buildings and Grounds questioned if that was
necessary. I wont get into the ensuing argument, but it has made me
curious as to what other schools are working with...
Thanks for your time,
Jeff Van Velsor
Technical Director
Princeton Day School

[Matt Breton]

Related questions:  How many instruments does the theater own?  (Or, how many instruments are usually hung per show, if you rent additional gear in.)  How many different hanging positions do you have?  How large is the stage?  Do you have a separate dimmer set up for house lights, work lights, run lights, and so on?
 
Without being in your space, it's difficult to say exactly how many dimmers you should have; in any case, it would only be my opinion.  But opinions -- and ease of use -- matter, and your B&G staff should respect that.  I'd suggest aiming for 192 dimmers, with perhaps an additional panel for the times you might need three phase (or 240VAC) service.  Better to have too many than too little, neh?
 


Matthew Breton 
Design for Theater and Dance 

-



 
> Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:50:02 -0700
> Subject: [hstech] Dimmers
> From: jeffva...@gmail.com
> To: hst...@googlegroups.com

[JeffVanVelsor]

Well, our lighting designer suggests we could use an additional rack
of dimmers and he has been lighting the shows in there for the last
four years. This is my second year onboard, and I am more of a set
designer/tech director than lighting guy. Im not really looking for a
recommendation, but I thank you for your insight. I am just curious
as to what other high school programs are working with, just to get a
sense of where our school stands. As I said, its a 400 seat house.
The stage opening is 38 wide with a 15' apron and 20' of stage depth
US of Plaster. We use 2 dimmers to run the house lights. Everything
else is plugged into the ONE wall circuit (worklights, run lights,
sound system...we can not listen to music while hanging anything with
the lights on!) . We own 30 s/4, 25 ERS, 20 s/4 Par, 8 Pas 64, 8 sky
cyc. We rent about 10 instruments for the plays, 20 for the musicals
(including movers). I know our LD would rent more if he was able to.

Jeff Van Velsor
Technical Director
Princeton Day School

On Oct 25, 9:03 am, Matt Breton <mrbre...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Related questions:  How many instruments does the theater own?  (Or, how many instruments are usually hung per show, if you rent additional gear in.)  How many different hanging positions do you have?  How large is the stage?  Do you have a separate dimmer set up for house lights, work lights, run lights, and so on?
>
> Without being in your space, it's difficult to say exactly how many dimmers you should have; in any case, it would only be my opinion.  But opinions -- and ease of use -- matter, and your B&G staff should respect that.  I'd suggest aiming for 192 dimmers, with perhaps an additional panel for the times you might need three phase (or 240VAC) service.  Better to have too many than too little, neh?
>
> Matthew Breton
> Design for Theater and Dance
>
> -
>
>
>
>
>
> > Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:50:02 -0700
> > Subject: [hstech] Dimmers

> > From: jeffvanvel...@gmail.com

> > To: hst...@googlegroups.com
>
> > I am curious as to how many dimmers everyone has in their theatres and
> > whether you find you need to rent additional dimmers for your shows.
> > Here at PDS we have a 400 seat theatre, 2 Catwalks, 2 Box Boom
> > Positions, an Apron Pipe and 3 electrics over stage with Two dead hung
> > pipes for Cyc lights and occasional back light. We had 80 dimmers
> > until last spring when we finally filled out our rack to the 96 we
> > have now. As we are working on our Transformer Upgrade our lighting
> > designer asked if we could plan for a future additional rack of 96
> > dimmers. How ever Buildings and Grounds questioned if that was
> > necessary. I wont get into the ensuing argument, but it has made me
> > curious as to what other schools are working with...
> > Thanks for your time,
> > Jeff Van Velsor
> > Technical Director
> > Princeton Day School
>

> _________________________________________________________________
> Windows 7: Simplify your PC. Learn more.http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/windows-7/default.aspx?ocid=PID24727...

[kho...@mac.com]

Jeff-

We have a 765 seat theater with a 60' X 18' proscenium, 34' from
plaster line to back wall with a smallish curved apron. 4 electrics,
8 floor pockets around the stage floor we use for side lighting
(mostly for dance) 1 catwalk position, 2 box boom locations, and a
pipe at the back of the theater I use for low angle front washes. We
have 192 dimmer (2 racks) 8 of which are used for house lights and 3
for work lights onstage. We do have a 100 amp company switch
backstage for a portable 24 dimmer pack I use every once in a while
when I run out of circuits on one of the electrics or sidelight. I
feel like it is a good amount of circuits and dimmers for most of the
things we do but as you can see I do use a portable rack occasionally
but usually just for the musical.

Hope more people chime in with what they have, this could be a
fascinating thread.

Yours.

Kevin Holly
Technical Director
Libertyville High School

[Undershaft]

I am rolling over here at Stratford High School with 37 circuits for a
dimmer rack of a whopping 48 AMX dimmers. Boo Ya.

We have a 40' proscenium, 12' apron and 36' deep to the upstage rag.
2 electrics above the stage and one above the house that has neither
catwalk nor rigging. Takes about two days to get there to hang and
focus the dozen elipsoidals we actually have.

But as we theatre folk do, we make it work. Dimly, but we make it
work.

[Ken Zinkl]

In my theater I have a rack of 96 and a rack of 12. The rack of 12 is used for house lighting (10 dimmers) and a relay module for aisle lighting leaving one non dim wired to nothing. The rack of 96 has 90 dimmers for stage lighting, 4 dimmers for work lights and 2 non dim relays for follow spots. As a lighting designer I always want more dimmers and fixtures but your designer needs to be able to explain why he/she wants more dimmers. For me right now I want/need more fixtures and more circuits on my electrics. My inventory is 30 S4 PARnels, 10 19 deg S4, 10 26 deg S4, 5 36 deg S4, and 5 Altman 3 cell ground cyc. My stage is 50' wide at the arch, 12' DS of the arch, and 28' from the arch to cyc. I have 1 catwalk with 40 dimmers, 4 electrics (3 with 12 dimmers + work light and one with 9 dimmers) and 4 floor boxes with 2 circuits in each on 4 dimmers. House is 696 seats.

I have also worked in spaces where 96 dimmers is fine for some of the users and not for other users. In this case I was part of the company that needed more than 96 dimmers. When we moved in for our 5 month season we would bring in a rack of 96 and a rack of 12. We would then have to pull multi cable all over the space and it took us about 3 or 4 days to load in working 8-10 hours a day. I also work in another space (1200 seats) that has 7 racks of 96. I think one rack runs house and work lights but we have been know to run out of dimmers in certain locations and have to pull multi.

Over all it is not a matter of how big your stage and house are but is more of a how do we use this space. It is also very expensive to get another feed to power a second rack. I would not put less than 400 amps 3 phase (1200 amps total) to a rack of 96.






Kenneth Zinkl
Auditorium Manager
Fort Zumwalt East High School
600 First Executive Ave.
St. Peters, MO 63376
636-477-2400 ext. 2490
Fax: 636-926-3345



NOTICE TO RECIPIENTS: Any information contained in or attached to this message is intended solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient of this transmittal, you are hereby notified that you received this transmittal in error, and we request that you please delete and destroy all copies and attachments in your possession, notify the sender that you have received this communication in error, and note that any review or dissemination of, or the taking of any action in reliance on, this communication is expressly prohibited.>>> JeffVanVelsor <jeffva...@gmail.com> 10/25/2009 7:50 AM >>>

[RickR]

Jeff,

The magic number is one dimmer for every fixture. For some a dream,
but it's the ideal. Existing schools have an incredible range of
systems. I've seen everything from 6 to 200 for similar stages.

As a consultant that designs lighting systems for high schools and
others I wrestle with this all the time. Often the question is just
how sophisticated the shows will be. After all a music concert is the
most common performance, but just needs up/down control. Does a
community group use your space? Are there other theaters in town that
do the "really good" shows? Are you keeping up with another school or
district? All these can influence the importance of the program and
are what most schools look at when deciding budgets.

I've tried find some formulas, like 4 dimmers for every 100sft of
usable stage. (3 McCandles + special for 10' circle) The answer still
comes back; "More is better, but budget trumps all!"

Good Luck,
----
Richard Reid
Silhouette Lights & Staging

> > Windows 7: Simplify your PC. Learn more.http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/windows-7/default.aspx?ocid=PID24727...- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -