Or – The Machines are Out to Get Us.
It happens to everyone at some point. That crucial bit of kit fails at the wrong moment. The radio mic on the lead has sweat in the mic head or the connector. Someone in the Brass section has knocked water into the stage box. The touch screen is out of alignment and instead of hitting save you hit load new session. It’s going to happen the machines are out to get us, and you better have a backup plan. The show must go on because if it doesn’t, the audience gets their money back.
When did you last save the desk file was it sometime in the distant past or was it the last time you changed something that you did not want to lose. Did you start a new file this session with a clear date and time and show in the title? Maybe with an indication of what’s different “New vocal subgroup routing” You didn’t name the last desk file you saved as “use this one “ did you.? I have also seen “ Opening night final”, Final, and Final show file”, etc. All bad news if you are trying to work out which file has the monitor routing that you changed that morning or two days ago. Or you’re trying to work out which one really is the last save.
It is common in musical theatre for people to be double-packed. Two mics, going into two packs tuned into different frequencies in two different frequency bands.
Each with their own desk channel multi-line, etc. Sometimes you realise the only thing you haven’t swapped out is the actor. This post comes with a big thank you to all the cast members who when they realise a mic has stopped working will grab the actor they are on stage with and sing into their head mic. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
How many running backups do you need? A full set of painted spare mic heads for each member of the cast? Double packing on the leads and a spare waiting in the wings for the ensemble and another for the smaller named parts. Another throw-on mic that can be shoved in a pocket and clipped onto the chest if things get really bad.
What happens if that reverse radio in the actor’s pocket that’s pretending to be a phone doesn’t ring? Will the play come to a halt? Should there be SFX ready to go on a hot-key routed to a nearby speaker?
What about playback? Dual redundant is the norm. Two computers each triggered by the same button both feeding into a MADI Bridge or audio interface that can easily be switched to the inputs from the second computer should the first stop working.
Pit keyboards that trigger a Mac will have two Macs running in tandem that both have lines up to the desk and often also an out from the keyboard itself for those days when things go really wrong.
Have you allowed for spare lines on the multi or inputs in the stage rack? How much spare XLR do you need? What happens if an amp fails, can you patch around it?
Comms are they your responsibility to keep going. Do you have spares? What happens if the base station fails do you have enough point-to-point radios to get you through the show?
Not every eventuality can be covered. Sometimes the Iron (Safety Curtain) gets stuck in at the interval,
Or the road catches fire,
but that’s someone else’s department, and you get to go to a pub woohoo!
So is there a plan B?
Can plan B be implemented without a show stop?
Does everyone on the team know what plan B is?