A Beginner's Guide to Technical Theatre
Not sure what a DMX cable does, or what the difference is between a Profile and a Fresnel? This guide is a straightforward introduction to the key terms and equipment in theatrical lighting and sound — put together by our team to help students, school technicians and theatre groups get started with confidence.
The key reference material from the guide, as text (the annotated photos and diagrams are in the viewer above):
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Lanterns, fixtures, instruments — the theatre names for the lights we use, including automated moving heads.
Moving heads — lanterns focused and colour-changed remotely from the console. LED lanterns — no lamps, colours change under desk control. Conventional lanterns — traditional lights needing lamps and dimmers, focused by hand.
Lighting console or desk — controls lanterns remotely. Dimmer — fades a lantern up and down. Lamp — the bulb inside the lantern.
Focus — where a fixture is pointed; rig — hanging a lantern on a bar; DMX — the control cable between desk and dimmer or fixture; 15A and 13A — power cables.
A profile spotlight throws precise hard- or soft-edged beams over distance, with shutters, a gobo slot and a colour frame. A fresnel gives a soft, diffused wash over short distances. Accessories: barn doors shape the beam, colour frames hold gel, gobos project patterns.
DMX addressing: every dimmer and automated lantern needs its own address, LED lanterns use several channels, and two lanterns on the same address will come on together.
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Recording a memory: masters at full, press Memories, build the state on the Preset A faders, press Program; bring the manual faders down and play back on the Playback Master.
Recording a submaster: press Submasters, build the look, select the target submaster, press Program; play it back on that fader.
Recording a chase: Memories master down, choose a free cue number, hold Mem Type to pick Chase, program each step from the Preset A faders, set the Shots count (0 repeats forever), then Finish and Enter.
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Active kit has power built in — active speakers need no amp; passive kit needs external power and an amplifier.
Analogue mixers need outboard units for what digital desks (with built-in effects, gates and compressors) do internally.
An effects processor adds echo, reverb or delay; a noise gate mutes a channel below a set level to cut ambient noise.
Low frequencies are the deep sounds (bass, kick drum); high frequencies the harsh ones (cymbals, violin). Peaking or clipping is the distortion when a signal is too hot.
Mixer basics: gain sets the level entering the desk, EQ shapes each channel, pan places it left-right, channel faders set each level and the masters the overall output. Set gain with the fader at zero so meters top the green — red means distortion. Power the desk on before the speakers.
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QLab, by Figure 53, is the industry-standard free playback application for sound and video (the free tier is limited to two audio channels, with a rent-to-own Pro licence). Space starts the selected cue, Escape fades and stops everything, and the arrow keys move between cues. Add cues from the icons under the GO button and set each cue’s target file in the Basics tab. To fade, add a Fade cue, drag the audio cue onto it as its target, set the fade’s level (zero to fade out, ticking Stop Target When Done), and change the Action time to set duration. Cues can auto-follow so two start together.
Want hands-on training on any of this? See our technical theatre training and the free ETC Eos video series, or get in touch.