A Sound and Video Production Company
TL;DR: Sync your computer with the rest of your team when you receive a Google Drive share. The Story: As I will cover elsewhere, Google Drive is king of all of the sync services out there – plenty of space for free, everyone has a Google account, and the Apps for word processing, spreadsheets, etc …
Continue reading “Google Drive and syncing your show with Backup and Sync software”
TL;DR: QLab has a function that quickly and easily archives/bundles your show, copying all of the files you used, so you can remove it from your show computer or move it to another theatre…with a caveat… The Story: In an earlier way-too-long post, I described my Type-A method to organizing my files as I design a …
Continue reading “Archive/Bundle functions in QLab (Save your show after it closes)”
TL;DR: Cover your assets by working with versions The Story: I talk a lot about Qlab on this blog, but today’s installment applies to working in any application. I’ve always been pretty organized, even before I started using computers. (You know, before entering college in 1994…) Keeping things straight is critical to knowing where you …
The director chose this as an ensemble piece. It was for tech, too! February has fallen into a pattern over the past few years. It’s when things start picking back up from the quieter January. The gradual changeover between maintenance, and repair throughout the theatre leading into prep for my usual season of shows coming …
Continue reading “An Occasional Midsummer Night’s Dream (David Bowie)”
TL;DR: Color-code cues in Qlab while they are highlighted, during your run, so you can go back to them later, using Hotkeys. The Story: I love books. But I hate paper when it comes to the production process. Partly because I’m a geek and want to find cool ways to do things. And partly because …
TL;DR: Calculate how long a list of songs is in Qlab. The Story: In my early days of sound design, I would play my house music in iTunes. What could be easier? It was a drag and drop interface I knew well, and people who weren’t me could also control/change it. Of course, as I …
TL;DR: Writing a script in Qlab that will turn on or off your computer’s wifi, so you don’t have to remember to do it. The Story: Most people agree that your show computer should not be on the Internet – either because of downloading applications or updates that will impair your workflow, or because your …
Continue reading “Get your computer off the Internet during a show”
TL;DR: Use Qlab to play physical DVDs The Story: I was called in to be the lead video for a small event, located in a beautiful, historic ballroom. It was the preview screening of a very popular television show’s final season, so I was pretty into it, all things considered. This was the hall before …
TL;DR: Talking about templates from one last angle, and ensuring your show files don’t get lost. The Story: After I graduated from college, I started working on a number of websites, big and small. This was before things like WordPress and other CMS platforms were out there, organizing your work for you. Back then, you …
TL;DR: Speed up your workflow – and your learning in QLab – by making a template. Here is mine. The Story: I created a template that I use to start all of my shows, and contains the most commonly used scripts of mine. It isn’t cluttered with EVERYTHING I’ve learned, just something to help me …
Continue reading “What’s in my Qlab show template? (Templates, part 2)”
