A successful tour or festival relies heavily on the creativity and on-site precision of lighting designers, directors and crew. With the summer touring season underway, discover the must-have tools that every member of the lighting team should carry to ensure a flawless show, no matter how hot it gets out there at FOH or backstage.
Essential Accessories for On-Site Adjustments
You never know exactly what you’ll find once the trucks unload and you step foot into the venue and start to run cable. However, with the right essentials in your toolkit, you’ll be prepared to handle even the sketchiest house rigs, toughest sightlines and whatever other lovely surprises the live events world can bring.
Small-yet-essential accessories can make a big difference. Whether you’re a veteran tourer or it’s your first time out on the road, don’t leave the bus without these items:
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Professional multitool (like this one by Dirty Rigger)
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Gaff tape in a variety of colors and widths
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DMX testers (like this one by City Theatrical)
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Reliable flashlight (like this one by Maglite)
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Appropriate PPE for rigging, such as protective footwear, harnesses or helmets
Keeping these tools handy ensures that the team can swiftly and safely address any technical issues that arise, minimizing downtime and keeping the show running smoothly, from soundcheck to the end of the encore.
Digital Tools & Best Practices
Granted, sometimes troubleshooting happens with your hands on a keyboard instead of a lighting fixture, so keep these tips in mind, both to remain efficient during on-site setup or testing, and to remain ready to make programming adjustments between tour or festival dates as rigs and set lists change.
You may have programmed an entire show in pre-visualization software such as Capture, Depence or Vectorworks, and are seeing it for the first time “for real” at rehearsal—or even the first show date. Aside from fluency in and access to the pre-vis tools you prefer, be sure to also have backups of your show file, both on physical media (e.g. USB or external hard drives) and in the cloud. This also applies to fixture profiles and console firmware files, of course!
You may not have reliable internet access at every venue, so prepare for every show assuming you’ll be “off the grid.”
Specialized Tools for When Lasers Are Involved
If you’re lucky enough to have a rig that includes X-Laser projectors for special effects, additional tools exist to ensure both creativity and compliance.
Circling back to pre-vis, X-Laser offers the free XLERATE tool for virtual visualization and rig management, so you can see how lasers will interact with the rest of your show when they’re programmed using X-Laser’s Mercury firmware. It’s also compatible with Capture, Realizzer, Depence, and WYSIWYG in real time. Learn more and download XLERATE here.
On the hardware side, X-Laser’s Mercury-equipped lasers also include a built-in DMX tester mode (seen below at 0:18) that works to diagnose common signal issues and gives you a readout of every DMX value, so you can pinpoint any networking or programming issues with the press of a button.
Another essential item is X-Laser's Laser Operator Notebook. This notebook helps you keep detailed records of your laser setup, ensuring that your show remains compliant with applicable safety regulations where your shows are, while also providing a space to jot down creative ideas from one venue to the next.
What are your personal touring must-haves and the go-tos in your gig bag? Let us know in the comments if we missed any.
Stay cool and safe gigging and rigging out there this summer. We can’t wait to see what you create!
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