R. Derrick
07-06-2021, 09:24 AM
I need to give a shout-out to everyone who has helped me. I can't begin to write the names needed but whether or not you answered a question I had or if you posted your own question to which I benefited, thank you!!! Things wouldn't have gone the way they did without you guys!
For anyone not wanting to read what's below - at the end is how it went and a video link.
This post is just to say thank you for the support you gave and if you're like me, you want to know someone's outcome if you've helped.
If interested in reading, here's how my first show went... Might be helpful to beginners and comical to the experienced - or maybe reminiscent.
I started planning my own personal backyard show, for family and friends. I scripted and scripted, dry ran and dry ran, learned more about SMPTE than I ever knew existed (never knew SMPTE). After 3 weeks of planning - I get involved with the church's show and became a part of that show with only 4 days to prep. I offered to try and run music and they didn't seem like it was a big deal. (fast forward til the day of - and hours before, they let me know how important it was to have music lol - like it was paramount - not so much timing but the music was a must).
So, I had never poked a cake, never fired the Cobra, never had a show for more than 10 people and I've only long fused something once ...
here I am, overwhelmed but I asked for it. Overwhelmed is not a worthy word for what I was feeling lol. I went out to fire the Cobra for the first time and I was able to recall all of the info without questioning what to do. It went well.
Now...
Songs have been chosen, cakes have been chosen (none of their cakes were in my inventory so they had to be added into the show creator). I finished scripting at 3 am on the morning of the show and ended up scrapping my personal show so that I could make sure to have the RWB that we needed for the patriotic songs.
At this time, I didn't even have my 2nd module synced to the controller lol, and didn't have it charged! ( Jeez - such a rookie mistake) It wasn't even out of the box!!
Get out to the site and begin the set-up process - I failed to account for the amount of time it would take to poke and secure cakes. In addition to working with people I just met who have been hand-firing shows for the past 10 years.... along comes a newbie and a Cobra. (me) So I have them peel back so that I could access the tubes, I didn't allow them to poke. Not that they couldn't, but I knew they hadn't had any training or education and I only had my month's worth of studying and I couldn't ask them to do this since it was my system. I had considered poking early - days before - but read mixed reviews here and this is my first time - so, I'll poke the day of.
Thankfully the Media team was there from the church and set up my speakers near the audience. (those KSW are awesome by the way - thanks for that thread and to Joe for his answers). Still wasn't loud enough for the people in the back - and would probably be too loud for the people upfront if you turn up the volume .... I wonder how this is resolved?
It's 4 pm and my 2nd module is still charging at home, so on my way back, I go to load the script, get the module and get back to finish prepping. I hadn't even dry run the script yet!! I hooked everything up to a system at home and all I heard was SMPTE code. What is going wrong!? The show begins in 3 hours! Nowhere can I find the solution online. 45 minutes later - I remembered that during my song selections I had changed my computer setting to only do mono - I was listening through only 1 earbud and missed the notes from the other channel, so I switched it to get a full sound out of one speaker. Once I fixed this, the L channel was music and Right was SMPTE and all worked as it should.
My batteries are now low on my controller - luckily I found 3 good batteries and swapped them out.
It was so late now, that I didn't have time to dry run the entire show... only 45 seconds worth and it was working so I said it's good.... I hope... I gotta get back! I had dry-fired my other show multiple times, so I had to trust this was going to work!
Got back and began attaching the initiators.... I LEFT MY WIRE AT HOME!!!! Ugh - no time to go back. No way to get the spacing I wanted.... Luckily I had long initiators but dang, I used more than I wanted. I also wish I had more 18m rather than 2 - 72M but I'm thankful to have 144 cues!
Everything is now set up... everything but all of the mines and comets. It's 1 hour before showtime and I still haven't visited the sound... I decided to scrap the combined total of 44 slice cakes, mines, and comets :( I knew the other guys had a couple of hundred mortars to fire throughout the 20-minute show so I didn't think there would be any dark sky- however I was disappointed to forego these effects as they were timed with the music and I was also really interested to see how it would go because it was my first time!!
Oh well - the show must go on! Time to double-check all connections, cakes
It's now 855 - the show is to begin at 9 pm. I run up all the way to the front where the speakers are, and look out to about 300 people. Oh my gosh! Talk about a sinking feeling in your gut. Not that I was worried about anything catastrophic happening, it was all as safe is it needed to be and was set up with care ... but what if the show doesn't go as planned? I look down and don't look back up. I open up my computer and realized I'm at 30% and no charger! I hadn't even tested my internet connection - will I even have one? I've got to have one!
It's 9:10 and I'm getting word from the other guys at the launch site they're about ready - It's go time for me - but my battery is going so hurry up! lol
Overall, the show was a success. I wasn't able to have anything really timed the way I wanted and it ended up being just music to fireworks but I did plan on certain cakes at certain times because of the speed of music or the timing in songs... It's kind of hard with consumer things and no single shots timed though
Some of the initiators lit and went off but didn't fire the cake. We did fire by hand afterward though. (which is why I will always leave the fuse in, rather than take pull it out). Either I wasn't in the right spot or it got pulled somehow.
Something did happen at the end though and I'm not sure what or why, but there was a significant amount of dark sky and the guys thought that that the cue for the finale.... it wasn't. They had the finale planned with the leftover cakes that weren't used in the show so they were just going to light it manually - and did they ever lol
I am looking forward to next year and having the time to plan things out better. Everyone was super impressed with the show, we even had a drone fly in but I don't have that footage yet. I introduced several people to the pyro world and met a guy that is just as into it as I am. We had people come to church the next day and who had never come before.
While it may not have been the show I was originally going for, it all worked great - and it was a success to the cause - celebrate our independence and bring people to church.
Thank you all!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO4qFJNXPkk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO4qFJNXPkk
For anyone not wanting to read what's below - at the end is how it went and a video link.
This post is just to say thank you for the support you gave and if you're like me, you want to know someone's outcome if you've helped.
If interested in reading, here's how my first show went... Might be helpful to beginners and comical to the experienced - or maybe reminiscent.
I started planning my own personal backyard show, for family and friends. I scripted and scripted, dry ran and dry ran, learned more about SMPTE than I ever knew existed (never knew SMPTE). After 3 weeks of planning - I get involved with the church's show and became a part of that show with only 4 days to prep. I offered to try and run music and they didn't seem like it was a big deal. (fast forward til the day of - and hours before, they let me know how important it was to have music lol - like it was paramount - not so much timing but the music was a must).
So, I had never poked a cake, never fired the Cobra, never had a show for more than 10 people and I've only long fused something once ...
here I am, overwhelmed but I asked for it. Overwhelmed is not a worthy word for what I was feeling lol. I went out to fire the Cobra for the first time and I was able to recall all of the info without questioning what to do. It went well.
Now...
Songs have been chosen, cakes have been chosen (none of their cakes were in my inventory so they had to be added into the show creator). I finished scripting at 3 am on the morning of the show and ended up scrapping my personal show so that I could make sure to have the RWB that we needed for the patriotic songs.
At this time, I didn't even have my 2nd module synced to the controller lol, and didn't have it charged! ( Jeez - such a rookie mistake) It wasn't even out of the box!!
Get out to the site and begin the set-up process - I failed to account for the amount of time it would take to poke and secure cakes. In addition to working with people I just met who have been hand-firing shows for the past 10 years.... along comes a newbie and a Cobra. (me) So I have them peel back so that I could access the tubes, I didn't allow them to poke. Not that they couldn't, but I knew they hadn't had any training or education and I only had my month's worth of studying and I couldn't ask them to do this since it was my system. I had considered poking early - days before - but read mixed reviews here and this is my first time - so, I'll poke the day of.
Thankfully the Media team was there from the church and set up my speakers near the audience. (those KSW are awesome by the way - thanks for that thread and to Joe for his answers). Still wasn't loud enough for the people in the back - and would probably be too loud for the people upfront if you turn up the volume .... I wonder how this is resolved?
It's 4 pm and my 2nd module is still charging at home, so on my way back, I go to load the script, get the module and get back to finish prepping. I hadn't even dry run the script yet!! I hooked everything up to a system at home and all I heard was SMPTE code. What is going wrong!? The show begins in 3 hours! Nowhere can I find the solution online. 45 minutes later - I remembered that during my song selections I had changed my computer setting to only do mono - I was listening through only 1 earbud and missed the notes from the other channel, so I switched it to get a full sound out of one speaker. Once I fixed this, the L channel was music and Right was SMPTE and all worked as it should.
My batteries are now low on my controller - luckily I found 3 good batteries and swapped them out.
It was so late now, that I didn't have time to dry run the entire show... only 45 seconds worth and it was working so I said it's good.... I hope... I gotta get back! I had dry-fired my other show multiple times, so I had to trust this was going to work!
Got back and began attaching the initiators.... I LEFT MY WIRE AT HOME!!!! Ugh - no time to go back. No way to get the spacing I wanted.... Luckily I had long initiators but dang, I used more than I wanted. I also wish I had more 18m rather than 2 - 72M but I'm thankful to have 144 cues!
Everything is now set up... everything but all of the mines and comets. It's 1 hour before showtime and I still haven't visited the sound... I decided to scrap the combined total of 44 slice cakes, mines, and comets :( I knew the other guys had a couple of hundred mortars to fire throughout the 20-minute show so I didn't think there would be any dark sky- however I was disappointed to forego these effects as they were timed with the music and I was also really interested to see how it would go because it was my first time!!
Oh well - the show must go on! Time to double-check all connections, cakes
It's now 855 - the show is to begin at 9 pm. I run up all the way to the front where the speakers are, and look out to about 300 people. Oh my gosh! Talk about a sinking feeling in your gut. Not that I was worried about anything catastrophic happening, it was all as safe is it needed to be and was set up with care ... but what if the show doesn't go as planned? I look down and don't look back up. I open up my computer and realized I'm at 30% and no charger! I hadn't even tested my internet connection - will I even have one? I've got to have one!
It's 9:10 and I'm getting word from the other guys at the launch site they're about ready - It's go time for me - but my battery is going so hurry up! lol
Overall, the show was a success. I wasn't able to have anything really timed the way I wanted and it ended up being just music to fireworks but I did plan on certain cakes at certain times because of the speed of music or the timing in songs... It's kind of hard with consumer things and no single shots timed though
Some of the initiators lit and went off but didn't fire the cake. We did fire by hand afterward though. (which is why I will always leave the fuse in, rather than take pull it out). Either I wasn't in the right spot or it got pulled somehow.
Something did happen at the end though and I'm not sure what or why, but there was a significant amount of dark sky and the guys thought that that the cue for the finale.... it wasn't. They had the finale planned with the leftover cakes that weren't used in the show so they were just going to light it manually - and did they ever lol
I am looking forward to next year and having the time to plan things out better. Everyone was super impressed with the show, we even had a drone fly in but I don't have that footage yet. I introduced several people to the pyro world and met a guy that is just as into it as I am. We had people come to church the next day and who had never come before.
While it may not have been the show I was originally going for, it all worked great - and it was a success to the cause - celebrate our independence and bring people to church.
Thank you all!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO4qFJNXPkk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO4qFJNXPkk