Rob is delighted to have been asked back online by Martin Professional - this time on Tuesday January 19th, with a presentation that combines his loves of both the very latest lighting technology - and the generations of lighting technology that led up to it.
Entitled Why Does My Console Do That?, the talk also has a subtitle - the sometimes unexpected histories of functions we take for granted - and why some have gone missing along the way - that explains a bit more about the content. Rob’s aim is to take key functions we take for granted on current lighting consoles - ‘record’, or ‘track’, or ‘preheat’ - and trace their history back through generations of lighting controls to see just where they came from, and why they were put there in the first place. Sometimes that will track back to lighting control before computers. Sometimes even further back, to lighting control before electricity!
As well as looking at key functions that we still have, Rob will also touch upon some very useful functionality that has somehow got lost along the way - and will wonder aloud whether some of it could usefully make a comeback.
The variety of hats Rob wears provides the background to what should be a fun look back at lighting history rather than a dry history lesson. As a lighting designer and programmer he’s often been the first to use the latest technology on shows. But he also charts lighting history in his monthly Classic Gear column in LSi magazine, and was one of the creators of the UK’s Backstage Heritage Collection which aims to document entertainment technology online and preserve it in real life.
The talk takes places on Tuesday, January 19th at 5pm UK Time / 11am US Central Time. You can book online now: [link].
Details of the many other online sessions being offered by Martin and Harman can be found here:
[link].