# Hey! I'm Mike



## thelightguy87 (Dec 26, 2007)

I joined about a week ago but just got a chance to message here.
My name is Mike, I work at College of Dupage, McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn Illinois. I am a lighting designer for multiple theaters but COD is my main employer. I am a student there as well. Although we have a staff lighting designer, I am the house LD/ME for all shows on our Main Stage Theater. I also work in the shop there, and am one of the head carpenters. My "focus" in lighting is concert lighting, I do design for theater but i don't enjoy it as much.


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## gafftaper (Dec 26, 2007)

Welcome to the Booth Mike. You're signature looks exactly like what I keep preaching to the young folks around here. You have to get out there and meet people and build connections. Even though you are in school you are working for 2 or 3 community theaters, have your own production company, and tour with a band. That's the way to be successful in this business it's all about connections. Good luck to you my friend. 

As for here in the Booth, you will find yourself somewhere in the middle of the pack, with both old pros to learn from and young high school techs just starting out. So please post when you know and ask when you don't. It's a great community and some of us occasionally even joke around a little .

Have fun!

We have several members in the Chicago area... you guys may have to get together for a party at old man Ship's place.


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## avkid (Dec 26, 2007)

gafftaper said:


> You're signature looks exactly like what I keep preaching to the young folks around here. You have to get out there and meet people and build connections. That's the way to be successful in this business it's all about connections.


Seriously, you can be the best (insert title) in the world and still be sitting on your rear at home if expect the work to find you.
It won't find you, you have to find it!

Mike, you're a good man.
I see you have donated already.


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## PadawanGeek (Dec 26, 2007)

Hey, welcome! Man, you've donated already i didnt donate untill... well... a long long time after I joined


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## derekleffew (Dec 26, 2007)

And he's an amateur radio operator and starting his own lighting company. He'll fit in here great. Welcome, thelightguy87! 

Now for the inquisition: What tools do you use to install a stage pin connector? Does your company need some LED Pars?


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## thelightguy87 (Dec 27, 2007)

PadawanGeek said:


> Hey, welcome! Man, you've donated already i didnt donate untill... well... a long long time after I joined




derekleffew said:


> And he's an amateur radio operator and starting his own lighting company. He'll fit in here great. Welcome, thelightguy87!
> Now for the inquisition: What tools do you use to install a stage pin connector? Does your company need some LED Pars?


Thanks for the welcome, I donated right away cuz this is a great site, and I am happy to donate to keep it going. I've found it very valuable to have access to a community such as this.
As to the amateur radio operator, not so sure where that came from, but I have started my own lighting company, well currently in the process, but I (currently) provide a lighting and sound systems to high school bands and throw a concert about once a week. It's great, since I love running lights for rock concerts and between a couple of my friends and myself we own about 20 intelligent lights, mostly high end scanners and a couple Elation power spots...which aren't bad. I have 24 Par38's which may be small but do the job well in the small spaces we work in. What kind of LED Pars? and whats the lumens from them. I've been moving slowly toward LED's since lamps are a pain sometimes. but the LED lamps I have don't like to dim smoothly, and when in a dimmer, they don't turn off completely. I have been looking at getting a set of LED Par64's RGB color mixing, with dimmer built in. They look decent, but are currently 109$ each, so I haven't bought them yet.
And for stage pin connectors...i use a Phillips screwdriver....what do you use?


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## soundlight (Dec 27, 2007)

thelightguy87 said:


> What kind of LED Pars? and whats the lumens from them. I've been moving slowly toward LED's since lamps are a pain sometimes. but the LED lamps I have don't like to dim smoothly, and when in a dimmer, they don't turn off completely. I have been looking at getting a set of LED Par64's RGB color mixing, with dimmer built in. They look decent, but are currently 109$ each, so I haven't bought them yet.


I wouldn't put the currently available LED PAR38 lamps on a dimmer, even if they advertise this capability. The RGB mixing fixtures don't use a dimmer, many use what's called Pulse Width Modulation technology to control the LED's. I'm not sure if the lower end ones do this or just hook it up to a pot, but either way, it's not your standard SCR dimmer. You don't need any fans to keep the "dimmer" cool, there is no filament buzz at all, and you can get any color you want. Also think: if you have LED pars, there is no need to carry dimmers around.

When making the LED arguement, I always go with this little bit of addition: take the cost of the fixture plus the cost of a few replacement lamps plus the cost of gel plus the cost of a channel of dimming for that fixture. Now multiply it by 3. That number is usually over the cost of the LED fixture. Now also think about how much extra power you have left on that circuit for other lights.


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## derekleffew (Dec 27, 2007)

thelightguy87 said:


> ...As to the amateur radio operator, not so sure where that came from, ...


Did I misread your profile? It says:
*"Amateur Radio Call Sign*:Mongo"
There are many ham operators on here, myself not included.
Clink on the underlined, yellow links to follow the threads/external links.


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## Logos (Dec 27, 2007)

Hi from one of the Aussies. No questions about anything weird. Just welcome aboard.


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## thelightguy87 (Dec 27, 2007)

oh, thats a nickname i have, and the amateur call sign thing looked like a place for a nickname


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## avkid (Dec 27, 2007)

Ohhh.......House of Blues.
Very nice!!


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## thelightguy87 (Dec 27, 2007)

soundlight said:


> When making the LED arguement, I always go with this little bit of addition: take the cost of the fixture plus the cost of a few replacement lamps plus the cost of gel plus the cost of a channel of dimming for that fixture. Now multiply it by 3. That number is usually over the cost of the LED fixture. Now also think about how much extra power you have left on that circuit for other lights.


 I agree, but i have found some relatively cheap equipment it was 9$ for the fixture and 4.50 for the lamp 70$ for a 4 channel 600Wdimmer pack. So thats 31$ per channel and times 3 thats 93$ Now that 109$ LED fixture is close but I am not at a point to purchase more equipment, I need to pay off my 24 pars and 4 dimmer packs in order to move on

But thanks for the info on the LED fixtures, I didn't know most of that, or haven't looked into them that much yet.


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