How about a Time Machine show?

Julius’s call for a “roadie museum” last CX issue got me thinking. Whilst my involvement with heritage and museums over the millennia indicates his dream will probably stay just that (a dream) unless a way can be found for it to sustain itself, it revived an idea I had years ago. The problem with museums is they’re very static things. In order to inspire, we need to really demonstrate things working – kind of like a steam loco shown cold and lifeless in a museum Vs. in steam and screaming down the track.

After reviewing Jands’ excellent growing section on their website (http://www.jps.com.au/company/history/) on rock technology, my dream is a bit different and more specific. A show.

A charity show, with all of the gate going to (insert name of worthy charity here). But this gig will be different. Very different. For want of a better name I’ve called it “the time machine”.

How many “old rockers” are out there still belting it out today? Imagine if you could walk through a time warp and experience a show exactly the way it was done back in 1982? No line arrays, no digital, no wireless, no orange vests!

I think it would be possible to get enough “big names” enthusiastic about doing this kind of “once off” show. We’re talking outdoor, probably capacity between 10k and 20k, at a heritage venue (Fox’s Entertainment Quarter comes to mind, previously the old “Sydney Showgrounds”). Festival style gig, one day, about six main vintage rock / pop acts plus a few supports, maybe even one of them international.

So.. what are the rules? OK. Now obviously we can’t really use 30 year old gear exclusively to do this gig. A lot of the stuff coming out of the trucks is going to have to be much, much newer than that. But hey that’s OK because if we have just walked through a timewarp and it’s 1982, most of the gear on stage would only be a few years old anyway.

I’ve chosen December 1982 as our technology cut off point. I did this because this point represents a pivotal time when the tide of locally produced gear began to be overcome by imported gear and a lot of things soon after changed in the industry in a very short space of time.

Here in 2012 some things are going to be very hard to replicate. Others are still in daily use and we can buy them over the counter almost anywhere (take the humble PAR can for example.)

In 1982, three or four way ground stacked PA (W Bins, 4560s etc) were still the mainstay but composites (The S4 and Jands’ “Concord” box) were just beginning to make a stand. Amplification was still limited to around 300w per side with Jands dominating the local manufacturing scene and Phase Linear, Crown and ZPE the only other choices out there.  Lights too were all analog, two preset affairs with very limited intelligence. Generators were rare with power provided mostly from local grid hookups.

The overriding rule is:

“Every piece of equipment used must be of a type that was available for hire or purchase either in or prior to December 1982”. It would make sense also if the musical material on stage was subject to similar constraints although in this case the rule could probably be relaxed to include most of the ‘80s.

Obviously this rules out anything digital, anything that moves (except for followspots), anything LED, any sort of video and anything without wires. Chain motors? Hmm. Going to have to research that one. Token Patt. 23’s welcome.

Stuff which really will need to be 30 years old and restored to it’s former glory:

-       Mixing desks, Outboard, EQ, Compression, Crossovers.

-       Amplification & Backline

-       Dimmers & Lighting Control

-       Followspots

-       Speakers FOH & Foldback (if available)

Stuff which can be much newer but built to near original designs:

-       Speakers (if originals unavailable or not in enough quantity)

-       Talkback & Comms

-       Staging, Platforms, Scaffolding, Truss

-       Light & Power distribution

Stuff which should be new or modern (same style still available today):

-       Par cans (with 120v lamps & splitters or wielands)

-       Microphones & Stands

-       Leads, Cables & Multicores, Gels, Consumables.

Where is this stuff going to come from?:

Obviously the rig is going to depend on what’s available and plenty of prior planning to get it into tip top shape before show day. There’s a lot of old gear still out there and I’ll hazard a guess that laying hands on it isn’t going to be a problem, given time. Plenty of old timers are going to really like this idea and plenty will want their name on the credits.

Lighting controls will be the biggest challenge as this kind of gear has been well out of circulation now for over 20 years. Amplification is going to have to be restored and well tested. The potential to produce a documentary telling the story of “the time machine” is high, as is the likely media attention such an event will bring.

Who is going to produce it? At the end of the day whose bank account do the cheques have printed on them? And.. who will rise to the challenge so a generation can, once and for all, find out where it all began?

Paul Matthews.

Tech Training - another view

This response to John Maizels’ “Toss the Dice with Training” (April CX) is by Paul Matthews.

John brings quite a few issues to the forefront in his blurb about the reworking of CUE03. After having experience with both this and also the far more popular industry training courses for electricians, here’s my $0.002.

John mentions the need to “keep up with technology” in our training courses. Certainly it’s important for students to be exposed to current technology otherwise they’ll be useless in the modern workplace. However learning skills with modern technology is something quite different altogether.

To consider this more carefully. If you’re a 40 or 50 something industry veteran like me, take a moment to think back into your past career life and determine where you truly learnt your skills. Chances are, like me, most of your skill was learnt using grossly inadequate equipment (by today’s standards) in impossible situations with no budget or training whatsoever and surrounded by completely ignorant amateurs, many of them probably considerably less than sane or sober.

Things worked or you crashed and burned. When they worked, we learned. When they crashed we learned even more. We learned what things did by playing with them in an imperfect world. In many cases we learned that stuff could do things that the original designers never imagined (anyone ever used a disco strobe to light up the port a loos?)

Now fast forward to today. We shove the orange vests on,  “teach” our future crews on the latest equipment and strive for things to be as much like the “professional industry” as possible. They pop out the other end knowing how to push buttons, follow the bouncing ball and make it work. But they still lack the SKILLS which now separate generations.

Why? Lack of opportunity, that’s why. Our modern vocational training system is completely starved of the experience opportunities which existed in spades in the industry 20 to 30 years ago. It’s not about getting a bunch of the latest gear in a room, getting students to set it up and make it sound and look great. Anyone can do that.

Give them a horrible, noisy, heavy, unreliable, under powered and dangerous 20 year old stack of gear. Give them a deadline, light blue touch paper, stand back and watch your students rapidly gain the SKILLS THEY NEED to solve problems, work within limits and get the best results from what they have at hand.

Only by NOT HAVING everything at your fingertips, can you truly learn how individual components work, why they are there and why we still use the digital equivalents today. Imagine trying to teach 30 years of experience to a student in less than a year. That’s what you’re trying to do with students in CUE03 – and that’s why the industry is not responding to your calls to “fix” the system. It’s not just that you can’t squeeze this kind of experience but the fact that even if you could – the opportunities to experience them in today’s  perfect digital world have long vanished.

Now I’m not advocating that CUE03 include units of competency on how to tune Concord boxes or focus Patt 263’s. What I WOULD like to see though is a measure of ability to do the “impossible with nothing”. Sort of like “Here’s a pair of Mackie 12’ boxes, three mics, a 5 piece band and a footy field. Now make it sound good”.

Now that’s the sort of “competency” I am interested in as an employer. Let me worry about teaching them about the new stuff  - on our jobs. I need you guys to give them the opportunities that I can no longer give them myself because we just don’t do things that way anymore. The stuff that I learnt back when those opportunities were still everywhere.

Paul Matthews.