lx - rsmck

My ETCnomad Setup (2025)

A few people have asked about my ETCnomad setup, so I thought i'd put a little list here (together with, shamelessly, links that may earn me a tiny amount in referrals if you buy anything you see here!) Firstly, I do still really prefer

theatre

Follow Me Faders...

(Or, how to cope with performers that wander about without a followspot on a budget) I've been dabbling in automatic followspots for a while, trying to make my own hacky solution as I don't have the budget for the likes of ZacTrack, Blacktrax, Follow-ME

theatre

LaunchControl XL 3 for Eos?

As evidenced by my various posts on #techbodgery, and my design and development of lxkey, I'm often dabbling with different ways to control lighting either in live environments or simply to make programming easier when I don't have a full console available. I usually

techbodgery

Contour ShuttleXpress as EOS Encoder

Another classic bit of #techbodgery, a simple encoder option for ETCnomad (or an Element!) is the Contour Shuttle Xpress. This is a decent quality encoder that's priced about £50 (2024) aimed mainly at video editors but it works as a great encoder for other

theatre

EOS Timecode Companion

I often (well, reasonably often) work with timecode and ETC Eos. The excellent CuePoints has revolutionised this work flow, and exports files suitable for ETC Eos (and most other desks) to import. However, I wanted to be able to get these cues into an

theatre

Rosco Opti-Sculpt Calculator

I've recently (re)discovered Rosco's excellent Opti-Sculpt filters, there's plenty of good resources online about them and some wonderful reviews from others waxing lyrical about these magical pieces of plastic. However, it surprises me that the official calculator for the resulting beam angle is

theatre

Big Designs for a Little Theatre

Everyone is looking to reduce their energy consumption, either to reduce costs or their carbon footprint or both. And there are grants available from organisations like the Energy Saving Trust to achieve this. Working with a local community theatre, we knew we could benefit

techbodgery

Pi Prompt Corner Display

Another in the #techbodgery series on using technology (on a budget!) to deliver features typically usually found in big venues to smaller theatres and entertainment venues. Today, we visit Prompt Corner, and look at how to make our SM (Stage Manager)'s life a

theatre

What a bunch of amateurs.

"We're not «insert big theatre name here»" or, why shouldn't amateur theatre strive to be as good technically as the pros?

qlab

QLab HTTP Trigger

This is a quick (and rather dirty!) hack to trigger cues in QLab by an HTTP request, I wouldn't recommend using it in a production environment.

theatre

(Re-)Opening the House

I am not an epidemiologist, just someone with a good understanding of risk assessment and generally pragmatic approach putting a few personal thoughts out there on re-opening some of the things we love aiming to provoke discussion, here I look at theatre and how we can safely return.

qlab

On-Stage Telephone Ringing with QLab

There is an excellent article in the QLab cookbook for how to simulate a ringing telephone in QLab - and it's far better than playing back a simple sound effect. However, sometimes you can't beat an actual phone. Indeed, even in TV and film,

lx

Eurobeat: Moldova!

I have provided voting for numerous (almost 20 now!) productions of Eurobeat: Almost Eurovision and am pleased to announce that one again I am providing the voting for the new professional production of Eurobeat (and the visuals are looking better than ever!) And the