So I have been running light and sound for A Christmas Carol at Kudzu since the beginning of December. Now we are down to the final week (seven shows in six days). This past weekend, I finally felt really comfortable doing this. (I still prefer to be onstage instead of backstage.)
There are well over 120 light and sound changes during the show. And there are many simultaneous light and sound changes. I stay very busy during the entire show.
Of course I have it a lot easier than most with modern technology. I don’t have a 24 channel light board that I constantly have to adjust. My lights are programmed on a computer and all I have to do is hit a single button to go to the next light change. It?s nice.
The sound is on a Sony MDS (MiniDisc system recorder/player) and all the sound is more or less in order that I need to play them. There are times when I need to jump back to earlier tacks. Actually I have 3 disks on two decks. The second MDS has some sound affects for each of the spirits and two voiceovers. The second deck is fun. It will not stop and queue up the next sound track. It is in loop mode, so I have to stop the sound or else it will repeat. I have had that happen several times until I get better.
Now for the sounds I do have to adjust the volume on a sound board. I have had it too high at times and sometimes after fading out music, I forgot to turn the volume backup when I started the next bit of music. A lot of the music is for songs.
There have been lots of fun times when I mess up. Even with the modern technology it is not easy. Timing is a lot of it.