Subject: [NEXTEL-1] TIMMY......CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2003 23:55:41 -0400

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
August 4, 2003 10:34am
Entertainment Design

How many times have you been forced to sit through the cellular phone commercial
with the geeky technician smugly asking,
“Can you hear me now? Good!”? Anyone who actually uses cellular phones might see
these commercials and experience the
desire to promptly smack the irritating character with a dose of reality, or
perhaps something from the cartoon world, like a
satisfying iron skillet accompanied by a resounding clang! I don't know about the
rest of the country, but cell service in Manhattan is closer to “Can you hear me
now? No? Damn.” We have been forced to accept nasty cell phone realities like
dropouts, black hole zones, digital echo, and flutter signals. They are
commonplace problems in this modern world. Let's not forget the damage to a good
tower signal from clouds and rain, which will render your valued cell phone
useless, albeit only temporarily (like those critical moments when you have to
negotiate your design fees or royalties). Talk about your fair-weather friends,
indeed! But can we drop this technology like our calls are dropped? No way; we're
married to our phones, two-way pagers, Nextels, and PDAs.

Our Wi-Fi is a way of life.

Face it, we're connected. Either by choice or by the demand of our clients,
designers are constantly available for communication. Who works in this industry
and does not have at least two personal communication devices such as a cellular
phone, Nextel phone, two-way pager, laptop, PDA, pager watch, high-speed/broadband
internet wireless network cards, and whatever the most recent wireless technology
is about 16 seconds from now? We seem to thrive on being plugged in, be it wired
or wireless.  Designers are a group that by our very nature must be constantly
available for many modes of communication. If we're not available at any one given
moment, we might lose a job or client. So, should we be surprised that
communications systems are expanding at an exponential rate to match our personal
lives?

Whether in the theatre or theme park, from network studios to local access cable
TV, our communications needs and systems
are growing and improving. It is more and more common for smaller shows, theatres,
and events to need and seek out
increasingly large communications, as well as more types of systems that often
fall, somewhat surprisingly, to the responsibility of the sound designer. For
starters, there is the IR (infrared) Assisted Listening System. The American
Disability Act mandates
enough assisted listening devices/headsets for 4% of the theatre's seating
capacity. The infrared mix is easy enough to achieve apply a compressed console
mix of footmics or post-fader wireless mics with a balcony rail mic, ensure the
emitters are focused correctly, and voilà! It's a shame, though, that the ADA is
unable to mandate that the patrons use them correctly.
Next, color and infrared camera shots from the balcony rail are more and more
common, especially when mechanized or moving scenery is involved.

While stage managers who call from onstage positions might be able to see the
action from offstage, a front picture is almost imperative. The infrared shot from
the balcony rail allows the stage manager to see the stage in darkness and
determine if a scene change is complete. These tools are imperative for the safety
of actors and crew alike.

As our personal lives become more complex, our workspaces reflect those changes.
More and more people want flexibility and connectivity; web resources are
constantly needed, as well as e-mail. Ergo, while tech tables are sporting more
and more computers, they are also upgrading to high-speed internet access. The
cable modem and wireless access hub have become commonplace recently, just like
the espresso machines in road boxes during the 1990s.

But nowhere is the change in communications as great as in our interpersonal
communications. In the entertainment industry, this
means PL (party lines), better known as com. Not simply Clear-Com lines, but the
concept of “com” now includes wired and wireless, two-way, and RF interfaces.

Doesn't it seem like yesterday when we all worked wired together, on a
single-channel Clear-Com system? Remember when the stage manager's stern warning
for headset etiquette kept dozens of technicians quiet on a single-line system,
and the only other piece of communications was the Aiphone? We recall the Aiphone,
a basic battery-powered telephone/intercom device, commonly used for two to three
locales within a venue, such as from house manager to the calling booth, or from
office to office.

Aiphones were more common back in the golden age, when doctors would leave their
pagers with the coat check attendant in
case of an emergency. These days the Aiphone is still alive and well in many
theatres, while the single-channel party line is more
akin to the dodo bird. Eventually, com evolved into a two-channel system, with
lighting isolated from the other disciplines. Now, two-channel com systems are
like the spotted owl — sometimes found in reclusive areas of antiquity, but still
rare.
Why do we need so many channels when a single channel used to be enough? It all
started with the need for a separate channel for different departments to
communicate within their own subgroup, isolated from the whole yet available. So
we added party lines — stage management on a channel, carpenters and flyman on one
channel, lighting on a channel, sound and the musical director/conductor on a
channel. Then the carps and flyman wanted to communicate privately, as did the RF
tech and FOH engineer, as did the LD to the programmer, so we added private
channels. Now, a party line has a DC voltage applied to pin 2 of its XLR to
provide power for the com line. You can add many individual positions (beltpack
positions, also called drops) simply by looping additional cable from one headset
to another. By upgrading to a two-channel beltpack, the user can have a public and
a private channel. But for the private channel to work properly, it also needs a
dedicated “wet” or DC-powered channel. So, we might elect to use a second main
station or a matrix master station to create the private channel on an unused
channel (on a master station) or on a matrix output set to the off position (from
any matrix station). This is a commonly used design for modern productions, and
the sound designer incorporates special hardwired 1×6 XLR blocks to allow for easy
patching and multing of com positions into various channels.

The next evolutionary step is to upgrade a wet channel system into a
point-to-point system. The most basic of these includes a
computer-control station with user keypanel stations of various sizes that allow
great access and flexibility, while using standard
Cat-5 interconnect cable. The central controller in point-to-point systems is a
digital mainframe host computer control terminal which can provide hundreds of
user stations with complex gain control, alphanumeric labelling, point-to-point
accuracy, and complete privacy to boot. Some of the finest systems available are
the Clear-Com Digital Matrix, Zeus, RTS's Adam, and the McCurdy interface, often
used on remote trucks.

Remote television trucks are equipped the way most shows should be. Often they
have nine or more wet channels, point-to-point stations for every location within
the truck, and a few additional main stations for any key personnel (like lighting
designers) who may need to sit in the house yet communicate with many channels
simultaneously. While these systems are expensive, they allow for variable,
comprehensive communications setups with computer-recallable accuracy. Knowing
that the hardware component stays the same and the software interface is easy to
save and recall, it makes PL systems pretty easy to deal with. Another com feature
one sees regularly on remote trucks but less often in theatre is the two-way radio
interface. This allows the remote stations to interface directly with a channel of
walkie (two-way radio) with comfort and ease, which America seems to have
accomplished quite easily on its own.

While Motorola likes to advertise them for families on vacation, the real users of
two-way radios are the attractions that
vacationing families like to see: Movie lots, production companies, galleries,
museums, theatres, national parks, theme parks,
circuses, corporate industrials, rock-and-roll shows, the Barney tour, you name it
— they're using two-way radios. Sometimes
these walkie-talkies carry up to 16 channels! And they've gotten small. Those cool
wrist mics on personal bodyguards and the
headsets you see on Green Berets? They're connected to the latest two-way radios.
Come to think of it, I'd bet it was the
walkie-talkie that pushed communications manufacturers to develop full duplex
wireless com systems. While the early versions of simultaneous talk-and-listen
wireless com sounded not much better than a tin can, these days they sound great —
like two tin
cans with a string! Seriously, a well-tuned RF com system is a fantastic piece of
machinery and technology — a veritable modern working wonder — and today we have
dual-channel, dual-listen systems which are quite flexible and powerful. When
wired, and RF PL is combined with a two-way RF interface, all the com elements can
be tied together for an immense system with users in distant locales.

Not only do we increase our coverage zone, but we allow more potential for easier
communications with fewer
devices at an overall lower cost and a greater number of people in constant
communication. The Nextel wireless
telephone/two-way radio is a widely used combination communication device on the
marketplace, especially for small-to-medium businesses, like the entertainment
industry. If you don't believe me, check out what your favorite rental shop is
using.

For those who are still wondering about the plethora of wet PL channels I'm
suggesting, let's look at the requirements of the
lighting designer. LDs can have somewhat complicated communications needs. On
Broadway, many LDs are often surrounded
by one or more associate designers, one or two assistant designers, a moving light
programmer, a conventional light programmer, a lighting board operator (aka road
electrician), a house electrician, a deck electrician, a dimmer rack/patch
electrician, plus two to three spot operators. To further complicate this
conundrum of com needs, the stage manager needs to be able to speak with most of
these people.  How do we accomplish this? With a single four-channel matrix base
station, we can provide two party lines: a main lighting channel and a main spots
channel that are the primary channels for the SM to talk to the LD and his/her
team.

Next there are lighting private, programmers private, and spots private lines to
allow the subgrouped teams to talk amongst themselves yet remain isolated from the
rest of the com system. And, of course, lighting is only a single example. Our
modern shows have wired stage manager positions in conference with wireless stage
manager com; deck positions including carpenters, fly rail, property persons;
electrics (LD, assistant LD, lighting board ops, programmers, moving light
programmers, house electrician, road and deck electricians, spot ops), sound
(sound designer, assistant sound designer, conductor, production sound engineer,
RF tech, house sound); let's not forget the video folks — how about graphics,
video director, video tape op, camera positions, teleprompter, and … uh oh, I
think I had better specify some more wet channels. And I suppose I'd better call
the producer or GM to warn them how much the additional PLs will cost.

Can you hear me now? It's the future calling … and it's saying CATCH UP!
Jim van Bergen is a sound designer and engineer whose career started without any
electronic support. He can be contacted at

[email-masked].

ATTENTION

All Designers, Technicians, Manufacturers, Distributors, Groupies, Hangers-On, &
Entertainment Technology Geeks:
Got an idea you want to share with your peers? An important industry issue you
want to address? Or something you just want to get off your chest? Entertainment
Design is always looking for more contributors to its monthly On Lighting, On
Audio, and On Projection columns. If you can write and want to share your views
with ED readers, please send your ideas to David Johnson at
[email-masked].

http://www.hoovers.com/free/news/detail.xhtml?ArticleID=NR200308042500.4.4_f63500cf54954297

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/sO0ANB/LIdGAA/ySSFAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/