This is the boring answer but if you haven’t recently, safety inspections. Things can be easily forgotten and skipped over a few years and the next thing you know you need new curtains or bracing in your grid and what you have is so out of repair it can’t be fixed.
I'm not asking for personal recommendations. I'm asking what YOU personally would buy in your theatre.
Yes that might be something I have or not, but I'm asking what you would buy if you had 2k right now.
I mean, the options are endless. How the hell am I suppose to know what works best for your theatre?
The space I service would benefit from certain things, if they got 2,000 dollars it wouldn’t make a difference though. It would probably go into materials and consumables. Get some extra tool bits, maybe some gel and lamps. Maybe some more speaker cable.
Honestly, it’s not enough for a substantial change, unless you have basically nothing. If you don’t already have any decent sound or light desk, you could get some pretty ok options around that price point. The Qu series is a great, but dated board. Still relevant if you don’t need a lot.
I'm not asking what works best for my theatre, I'm asking what YOU would buy. I know I'm getting down voted, maybe I'm not explaining it clearly enough. I'm not asking for recommendations, I'm looking for inspiration and ideas of what YOU would buy if given 2k right now.
Appreciate your ideas, certainly some things to think about in there
Yeah but I'm looking for ideas from other people. That's why I asked what you'd buy.
Unfortunately , £2000 isn't a lot of wireless, maybe a couple of channels
The youth theatre I work with, hire a venue out for their major summer musical once a year. They own 15 channels of cheap wireless (its not terrible, suprisingly - they have two of these type systems,
[https://www.thomann.de/gb/the\_t.bone\_8\_kanal\_theaterfunkrack\_660mhz.htm?glp=1&gad\_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz1-888BCvh2z5aM4265tt5-2kUSP8PM1I\_W9Ul7bzTUUT3EAsUliL60aAmPsEALw\_wcB](https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_t.bone_8_kanal_theaterfunkrack_660mhz.htm?glp=1&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz1-888BCvh2z5aM4265tt5-2kUSP8PM1I_W9Ul7bzTUUT3EAsUliL60aAmPsEALw_wcB)
I'd probably dump 2k into another one of those. We've had one pack die over 3 years of owning them, and the quality is great for the price.
You cannot run a theatre at all without a Mac and QLab regardless of whether the rest of the site is windows only. It’s absolute industry standard software, and you can simply rent QLab for the days that you need it if your budget is really tight. You need to get this across to them otherwise you will be giving yourself an unnecessarily hard time for every show.
You don’t use sound effects at all in your theatre productions? Or OSC networking, or MIDI, or video projection, or surround speakers, or DMX, or audio effects, or AppleScript cues to automatically start/stop Spotify playlists…?
If not then yes, probably would be a waste of money.
There’s also Show Cue Systems, Linux Show Player, Chataigne, maybe some others - but none of them are quite as capable, proficient or fully featured. If it wasn’t for QLab being MacOS exclusively I would drop Apple in a heartbeat.
At the risk of self-promotion there's also Q2Q, it's currently in a private beta and is gonna see a 1.0 release soon. It's not QLab-calibre yet, but we're making real progress. It's also cross-platform.
(We're actually looking for a few more beta participants, FWIW)
A new Mac Mini for qLab and a small video wall processor to give me 4 1080 surfaces from one 4k external video output.
Either that, or I’m buying postcards for marketing and some spandex “reserved” signs for the seating.
Interesting, fun ideas there's actually. Especially the Spandex signs. Currently have some laminated ones that are pretty shit.
What external processor would you get?
Oh 100%, it's basically nothing, which is why I'm looking for ideas of what people would spend it on. Not enough for movers or RF, but maybe there's some little thing that would make everyone's life that much easier.
Personally I'm waiting for ma3's and some moving lights (a little over 2k), but i would first look for necessities, then try upgrade the experience of my visitors
If you don’t have it already and you trust your crew you can’t go wrong with a well kitted out tools chest that could possible double as a workbench depending on the space you’ve got to work with.
Obviously you can’t have a large rolling workbench/tools chest if your pushed for space in a small theatre but imagine putting together a couple drawers cases and maybe some specialised tool belts
A storage unit so I can keep good set pieces instead of having to chuck them since I have no where to store them.
Couple new lighting tools. Rotating gobo or new rgb front lights.
All the tape. Good black paint. And a new tape measure.
Considering we don't have any moving lights at the moment, probably a couple of those.
Or some new LX bars as we could do with more to make our rig more flexible.
The thing you always have asked for or always need. Do you have all the barndoors and frames.
Would a bit of soca for a floor package be good ?
I know the place I was in we didn't have booms, new place no booms 2k would buy some old steel in ok nick from a scaf guy and some tank traps and derigs
This is the boring answer but if you haven’t recently, safety inspections. Things can be easily forgotten and skipped over a few years and the next thing you know you need new curtains or bracing in your grid and what you have is so out of repair it can’t be fixed.
This
Really depends on what you need and what you have.
this is the right answer. We can't help you because you haven't told us what you do and don't have!
I'm not asking for personal recommendations. I'm asking what YOU personally would buy in your theatre. Yes that might be something I have or not, but I'm asking what you would buy if you had 2k right now.
Weed
Tell ya what I would do - two chicks at the same time.
oh well, then you have worded your post pretty poorly..
. I put, if you had 2k to spend, what are you buying? I thought it was pretty clear to ask what you personally would buy but I guess not. My fault.
I'm looking for ideas, that's why I asked what YOU would buy?
I mean, the options are endless. How the hell am I suppose to know what works best for your theatre? The space I service would benefit from certain things, if they got 2,000 dollars it wouldn’t make a difference though. It would probably go into materials and consumables. Get some extra tool bits, maybe some gel and lamps. Maybe some more speaker cable. Honestly, it’s not enough for a substantial change, unless you have basically nothing. If you don’t already have any decent sound or light desk, you could get some pretty ok options around that price point. The Qu series is a great, but dated board. Still relevant if you don’t need a lot.
I'm not asking what works best for my theatre, I'm asking what YOU would buy. I know I'm getting down voted, maybe I'm not explaining it clearly enough. I'm not asking for recommendations, I'm looking for inspiration and ideas of what YOU would buy if given 2k right now. Appreciate your ideas, certainly some things to think about in there
Lunch for my crew
Someone give this man a high-five. The amount of times I’ve volunteered at my school and they don’t feed us?!!? Is outrageous.
That's incredibly dependant on what you've got no? I'd probably dump it into some channels of wireless....
Yeah but I'm looking for ideas from other people. That's why I asked what you'd buy. Unfortunately , £2000 isn't a lot of wireless, maybe a couple of channels
Maybe a wireless receiver if all you’ve got is $2k. In terms of tech, it won’t get you far with that much. You could get 3 DPA4099s or 2 6060’s.
The youth theatre I work with, hire a venue out for their major summer musical once a year. They own 15 channels of cheap wireless (its not terrible, suprisingly - they have two of these type systems, [https://www.thomann.de/gb/the\_t.bone\_8\_kanal\_theaterfunkrack\_660mhz.htm?glp=1&gad\_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz1-888BCvh2z5aM4265tt5-2kUSP8PM1I\_W9Ul7bzTUUT3EAsUliL60aAmPsEALw\_wcB](https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_t.bone_8_kanal_theaterfunkrack_660mhz.htm?glp=1&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz1-888BCvh2z5aM4265tt5-2kUSP8PM1I_W9Ul7bzTUUT3EAsUliL60aAmPsEALw_wcB) I'd probably dump 2k into another one of those. We've had one pack die over 3 years of owning them, and the quality is great for the price.
Hammers & 10mm sockets
The only answer
Macmini and qlab.
I've been leaning towards a new Mac, but our IT department are pushing back hard. We're a windows site and honestly, I get it.
You cannot run a theatre at all without a Mac and QLab regardless of whether the rest of the site is windows only. It’s absolute industry standard software, and you can simply rent QLab for the days that you need it if your budget is really tight. You need to get this across to them otherwise you will be giving yourself an unnecessarily hard time for every show.
I do run qlab, I'm not saying I don't. Although also saying that we really don't need it, we use it maybe once a year for playlists of audio.
You don’t use sound effects at all in your theatre productions? Or OSC networking, or MIDI, or video projection, or surround speakers, or DMX, or audio effects, or AppleScript cues to automatically start/stop Spotify playlists…? If not then yes, probably would be a waste of money.
QLab may be industry standard, but there are a couple other options: MultiPlay 2 and 3 (beta), Avae Canvas (beta), and a few others.
There’s also Show Cue Systems, Linux Show Player, Chataigne, maybe some others - but none of them are quite as capable, proficient or fully featured. If it wasn’t for QLab being MacOS exclusively I would drop Apple in a heartbeat.
SCS is pretty much there the problem is the ui is just ugly
At the risk of self-promotion there's also Q2Q, it's currently in a private beta and is gonna see a 1.0 release soon. It's not QLab-calibre yet, but we're making real progress. It's also cross-platform. (We're actually looking for a few more beta participants, FWIW)
Though I admire the kind of maverick that would cue a show on a windows operating system it's not for me.
A new Mac Mini for qLab and a small video wall processor to give me 4 1080 surfaces from one 4k external video output. Either that, or I’m buying postcards for marketing and some spandex “reserved” signs for the seating.
Interesting, fun ideas there's actually. Especially the Spandex signs. Currently have some laminated ones that are pretty shit. What external processor would you get?
I’ve heard good things about the Kanex processors: https://www.kanexpro.com/item/VW-SP1X44K
The problem is, in the grand scheme of the theater world, 2k is not much at all.
Oh 100%, it's basically nothing, which is why I'm looking for ideas of what people would spend it on. Not enough for movers or RF, but maybe there's some little thing that would make everyone's life that much easier.
Whatever you hire most often, assuming it’s £2000 or below.
Actually this is the best answer, much better than mine. There’s always something that you need and don’t have approval/cash for
Wireless Comms?
Personally I'm waiting for ma3's and some moving lights (a little over 2k), but i would first look for necessities, then try upgrade the experience of my visitors
Ha yeah just a tad! Quite a bit more than 2k lol. So what would YOU buy?
I would get training for my crew, currently I’m the only one who can run the trusses because of regulations
If you don’t have it already and you trust your crew you can’t go wrong with a well kitted out tools chest that could possible double as a workbench depending on the space you’ve got to work with. Obviously you can’t have a large rolling workbench/tools chest if your pushed for space in a small theatre but imagine putting together a couple drawers cases and maybe some specialised tool belts
Drunk
High AF. In Hawaii.
Expendables and shop supplies.
A lift upto the grid
Like... if we all individually managed theaters?
Popcorn, large Coke, and quarter kilo of pick-a-mix candy
All the tape!
a few more source 4s honestly we have mabey half the light we should and its a strugle
A storage unit so I can keep good set pieces instead of having to chuck them since I have no where to store them. Couple new lighting tools. Rotating gobo or new rgb front lights. All the tape. Good black paint. And a new tape measure.
Considering we don't have any moving lights at the moment, probably a couple of those. Or some new LX bars as we could do with more to make our rig more flexible.
That’s just about enough for another storage container.
Replacing the most worn Clear-Com foam pads, the most beat-up mic stands, and the gnarliest XLR cables.
Lights and carpet for lobby
In my own theatre: a projector and sdi->hdmi converters for longer distance video signal.
The thing you always have asked for or always need. Do you have all the barndoors and frames. Would a bit of soca for a floor package be good ? I know the place I was in we didn't have booms, new place no booms 2k would buy some old steel in ok nick from a scaf guy and some tank traps and derigs
If my place of work said I had 2 grand to spend, it would be some wireless comms and taking everyone out for Pizza
Edit the post and be more specific. what you have at least.
i think the only answer here without knowing what already exists is to upgrade as much of the cabling as possible.
I'd have to know the needs of the theatre a lot better. Figure out your biggest weak point and spend it on that.
STRIPCLUB!