A few years back in the mid 90's I was doing a panto for a village society at their local village hall. Nothing strange about that now is there?
Well, this show seemed to have a bit of a jinx on me. Things went a bit pear shaped when I got to the venue a bit late (me early to anywhere? not a chance - well usually not!) for the second show which was a Saturday afternoon as I recall, and I'd forgotten to bring a couple of bits which I needed for a little experiment I was doing...
So, as it was less than 45 minutes to curtain up and it was 25/30 minutes each way travelling to get these missing bits, I decided to see if I could get my other half to bring these bits which I'd left behind (subject to her answering her phone!) which she did... bless her little white cotton socks. So with about 10 minutes to kick off I'd sorted out everything including this little experiment of mine...
Now back in the good old days when radio microphones were about as reliable as a bloke telling the wife "I'm only going for a swift half then I promise I'll be home for sunday lunch on time!" I sat back (as you do) and waited for the opening of the show...
The experiment I was doing was with a newly made high gain antenna for the radio microphone systems to boost the reception of the signals to the receivers, as back then we had lots of fun (not!!!) trying to get a decent reception so people didn't sound as if the "..ipping .icrophone ..sn't .n" if you get my drift?
Right, first mic comes on (they were switching them on and off themselves back then) and I'm thinking hang on something ain't too clever here, as it seemed a worse signal than ever, even though it was working ok, it had a very weak signal (I was feeling worried). The next microphone was an off stage mic with lots of effect added for a spooky deep voice, so it really had to work well. Because I'd forgotten some bits I'd not had time to do a full test on this new antenna you see...
On came this second microphone with a terrible signal (now I was worried!) and I had no more than 30 seconds to decide if to switch back to the old system or chance it. No good, we have to change over was my executive decision, which meant unscrewing wires then screwing other bits in which would normally take say a couple of minutes... a challenge shall we say... Time for a cross between the "A Team" and "International Rescue". I had a lighting guy sitting beside me in a smallish box we were in above the front entrance to the hall, and I can tell you he kept his head well down during this mad half a minute, as bits were flying everywhere... don't panic don't panic (quiet Jones!) well as this radio mic was desperately needed, desperate measures were employed!...
I had the radio mic receiver in my hand as up went the fader with the other hand, and the problem was solved... The lighting man said something like... very interesting that was seeing just how fast that could be done, though I didn't like to say anything while you were doing it...
It turned out the cable was not connected to the new antenna in a splitter box which for once I will admit was my (yes me!) fault as I was the one who put it all together. Hell we are all human and as such make mistakes... The rest of the shows went well and the experiment once sorted out worked a treat...
Till next month then, and I'll now get back to packing as I'm house moving... well not actually moving the house... just moving me, my other half. two dogs and a street full of clobber...
Submitted by Joe Mitchell from Soundhire. Soundhire is a small theatrical sound and special effects company. They supply equipment for hire and sales to amateur and professional theatre users.