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Patching is simply telling the lighting board what channel corresponds to what circuit. Once you have patched you can refer to a channel and both you and the board knows which instrument you are referring to. This is necessary because cues will be written using only channel numbers and the levels you want for those channels
Color
Picking general the colors of your light is not difficult however deciding which particular gel to use is. Rosco, Lee and GAM are the three major types of gels used, with Rosco being the most widely used. Some of the questions you have to ask when picking a color are: what effect will this color have on stage? (Example R02 is warm but not overpowering, the feel will be sunny but not yellow). How will the set/costumes/actors look under this color light? (No one looks healthy in green light). Picking through hundreds of various gels is fairly frustrating, advice can be found on the Rosco website (they have good descriptions of what effect each gel has) and by asking those who know (again Karen is a good source). Color is part of what makes lighting design an art form; don’t leave the decisions to the last minute. The Ensemble has a collection of gels: you can buy more at Backstage Hardware or order from ALPS. Someone will probably have to go to Backstage Hardware for something else at some point: coordinate with the TD to save trips.
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- e33: a student run production company. You can rent instruments from them (like 19 degree Source 4 ellipsoidals or strobes, which do not exist in Sala inventory). Email e33@mit.edu.
- Karen Perlow: MIT Theater Arts ("Rinaldi") Lighting Designer. She is very approachable and can help you with design concepts, vectorworks, plotting, magic sheets...you name it! Email kperlow@mit.edu
- ALPS: A lighting company located in Randolph MA, about a 20-30 minute drive from campus. Useful if you want to rent more exciting equipment: like a black-light, strobe, etc. Visit their website here.
- Chris Nayler, CAC Manager. He can help you with any logistical issues you run may run into. Email: nayler@mit.edu
- Mike Bromberg: Class of 1970, does lighting for G&S and MTG. Can be spotted in the wild by his tie-dye plumage. Extremely knowledgeable; also owns lots of equipment and will rent to student group for cheap. Here is his price list and inventory as of Spring 2012.
- aff: A great resource for Blueprints of Sala (http://web.mit.edu/aff/www/mitspaces/sala/
). Note that the pipe between 8V and 9V does not exist.