![]() ![]() They might not like a particular lighting desk, but they acknowledge it as a part of their world. In lighting, most lighting people don’t yet view QLab as a thing in the same way. In sound and video, techs view QLab as a thing even if there are other specialist tools available to them. Will it ever really be an actual lighting thing? There are a few factors that would contribute to this. QLab is unarguably a sound and video thing. Yesterday, Chris Ashworth from Figure 53 confirmed that they definitely want QLab to become a ‘lighting thing’. Will lighting ever really be a QLab thing? Thought of by many as theatre software, QLab is actually now the go-to for other types of event and performance including corporate shows and site-specific installations. Being known for audio (and latterly, video) tools obviously gives QLab a head start with all those technicians and designers in those areas of the sector. TiggyWinkle’s Theatre Company, Figure 53’s QLab has a wide market and a toolset to match. The QLab marketīetween huge, complex shows and Mrs. Maybe one day they’ll be able to get a lighting desk in, but today is not that day. Yes, there are probably bigger and better tools for each and every job but QLab does enough of everything to a fair level. They make magic happen using their own Mac and bits of hardware scraped together to cover the fact that, again, the producer has champagne ideas on Tizer money. Their value is huge and their remuneration usually pitiful. This person knows a bit about absolutely everything and is indispensable to every poor-assed theatre company and circus act in a 50 mile radius. They can see a need to get into video but anything that looks like sound kit can take a hike.Īll-round tech that does a bit of everything.Īnd produces shows that needs everything! ![]() Instead of socialising, they prefer to hook up the visualiser and knock out a few looks on a Saturday night. This person loves nothing better than to program the Grand Whole 4 software to command an impressive array of nodding buckets and be master of all they survey. Lighting person with wide lighting control experience and has big needs/expectations. Maybe the sound comes out of the wheels end on that model. On the last tour, they noticed that some of the big bass speakery box things were facing the wrong way but didn’t like to mention it. This ‘black-art-ist’ tries to avoid getting into stuff that looks like it might be a soundie gig. This person may be a big-deal Sound Designer, in which case they are even less interested in lighting control. They are maybe a whiz with a Digico or Avid, but lighting is a ‘black art’ and they aren’t sure if they really want to start getting into at this late stage in their career. They hung a fresnel a while back when someone asked them to but it was upside down, which the lampie was kind enough not to mention. This person is your typical sound / video playback person. Who knows very little about lighting control but knows QLab. These are often run from a central system and often triggered by the performer themselves. This is a significant market for Figure 53, one where small performances are developed with multimedia elements alongside live performance. Here is the On Stage Lighting guide to some typical technicians and how they relate to QLab: Perhaps the most interesting thing to come from the QLab move into the lighting control space is the highlighting some silos in the market. With the planned development of the QLab lighting toolset, this has the potential to converge and already I’m seeing techs with a lighting control background branching out into audio and video control and learning QLab skills. The QLab course over at is a bit different to our usual stage lighting content and there is often a demographic gap between your standard ‘lampie’ and those using QLab. Today we won’t go back over the current toolset or UI but instead consider the market itself. ![]() This time last year, it was early days in the public release and since then the new tools have started to emerge into their intended market. The release of QLab 4 saw the addition of lighting control to the already pretty comprehensive audio, visual and show control toolset. A year on from the release of QLab 4, On Stage Lighting asks: “Will QLab ever really be a lighting thing?” ![]()
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