Stage Lighting

[Andy Onchan]

11 minutes ago, slinkydevil said:

I can do it for £1.55m
 

You've no chance, you're heading in the wrong direction..... I can do it for £2.6 million., plus a 15% contingency

[Barlow]

  

16 hours ago, swoopy2110 said:

The sound system at the Villa is crap. The acoustics are all wrong. I hope things will be much improved afterwards.

 

3 hours ago, Dirty Buggane said:

There is fuck all you can do about the acoustics in the royal hall it is what it is, 

I can't comment on the sound system but I believe from some of the (international) artists that the acoustics of the building are quite impressive.

[Barlow]

14 hours ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Why does every item of Government spending be compared to nurses salaries?

Everything should be compared to cups of coffee. For example, I am told, I can save lots of childrens lives in Biafra or somewhere, and some animals too, for the price of a cup of coffee per month.

It used to make me chuckle when Stu Peters used to earnestly proclaim  that Manx Radio only costs us all the price of 3 cups of coffee a year or whatever the figure was he used to churn out. And that's was coming from someone who owned a coffee shop, so he should know.

[Harry Lamb]

6 minutes ago, Barlow said:

  

 

I can't comment on the sound system but I believe from some of the (international) artists that the acoustics of the building are quite impressive.

Marcel Marceau?

[x-in-man]

I went to see Elf the other night.

The radio mics are quite poor, they seem to have quite a narrow frequency response to the spoken word.  They can hardly compete with a live orchestra in the pit.

The Villa seemed to have a few issues last time I was there.  The sound booth just seemed to think more volume was needed in everything to get it work.  

 

 

[Dirty Buggane]

So the actual problem could be people unable to operate the sound system.

[Two-lane]

The gov. needs to buy a car - a Fiat 500 or a Rolls Royce will do. They buy the Rolls, and claim "Over 50 years the price per day is less than a packet of crisps, therefore it is good value".  Similar arguments made here are equally invalid.

The gov. says "The price is £1.6 million. That's it". I have not seen any other figures given. It is impossible to make an evaluation based on such a basic figure, yet all MHKs bar three did so. No one here knows what the money is being spent on.

If the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra turns up, what do they require in the way of sound and lighting?

If a stand-up comedian turns up, what does he or she require in the way of sound and lighting?

The phrasing of the press statement is along the lines as for the Liverpool Landing Stage and other projects - "We need the best, because we are significant". That should worry you.

The distribution of money between essential services and facilites such as the Gaiety is not straightforward. I do not object to the gov. spending my money on the Gaiety building and its maintenance, nor on a standard radio microphone and other basics.

If people want state-of-the-art bleading-edge technonolgy for concerts, I think that donations from people would be the best way to pay for the extras - and that could be reflected in the ticket price for individual concerts.

So, who is willing to pay extra for a Susie Quatro concert?

 

 

[Shake me up Judy]

Excellent post Two-lane. Sums it up perfectly. It'll be the top of the range Rolls-Royce option* as usual. What other upgrades were considered ? It'll also be nearer two million by the time it's installed. I saw the money they spent down at the Gaiety in the '90s when it was fully refurbished. Eye-watering I assure you, best of everything and no expense spared. We've already discussed the enormous cost and design flaws of the new Villa Marina at length on here, so I won't repeat them. Suffice to say, the taxpayer owns and subsidises a theatre and a concert hall, not a hundred yards apart. By all means replace the sound and lighting, but we all know that where public money is concerned, we're always buying Rolls Royce's.

* Who can forget Manx Heritage wanting £6 million (?) for a boathouse.   

[Cambon]

2 hours ago, Shake me up Judy said:

Excellent post Two-lane. Sums it up perfectly. It'll be the top of the range Rolls-Royce option* as usual. What other upgrades were considered ? It'll also be nearer two million by the time it's installed. I saw the money they spent down at the Gaiety in the '90s when it was fully refurbished. Eye-watering I assure you, best of everything and no expense spared. We've already discussed the enormous cost and design flaws of the new Villa Marina at length on here, so I won't repeat them. Suffice to say, the taxpayer owns and subsidises a theatre and a concert hall, not a hundred yards apart. By all means replace the sound and lighting, but we all know that where public money is concerned, we're always buying Rolls Royce's.

* Who can forget Manx Heritage wanting £6 million (?) for a boathouse.   

The thing is, with LED lighting, each light can put out multiple colours. Therefore, much less lighting is actually required, so it is relatively cheap. Loudspeaker technology has not really changed, so not a lot really required there. Modern amplification is Class “D”, which is cheap compared to the Class “AB” of 20 years ago. Wireless microphone systems are quite expensive, I’ll admit, but not eye watering. So, where is the 1.6 million going? 
 

[finlo]

15 minutes ago, Cambon said:

So, where is the 1.6 million going? 
 

The usual suspects arse pockets?

[2bees]

11 hours ago, Manx Bean said:

As usual, the usual bunch of keyboard warrior experts are having a crack here. If I may, some straight facts having spoken to a number of the people at the coal face.

Yes, the £1.6M could have been given to say the health service. But in reality, we all know it wouldn’t solve or fix anything. It’s a mere drop in the ocean.

The bald and plan truth however is that the equipment in the Villa in particular is 20 years old, inefficient and technically past its end of life. It’s only due to the dedication of the tech team who keep patching it up that any shows have been happening for the past 4 years. 
 

In addition, contrary to some of the misleading crap being spoken in Tynwald yesterday - this is commercially used equipment and needs to be built and capable of delivering professional level results - not only for bands and comedians brought over, but also by the several hundred other private events - functions, conferences etc that use these buildings week in week out.

If the investment wasn’t made, these venues would effectively go what is known as “Dark”, meaning EVERYONE using it would need to buy, bring or hire all of their own equipment and technical staff. This would result in two things happening simultaneously-1) all the decent UK/overseas acts would be very reluctant to come and 2) those that did would see a supplement of £10++ being added to each ticket, then who would moan? This investment of £1.6m however is basically 10p for every person using these venues over the next 10 years. 
 

If you don’t think it’s right to spend the money take a look in the UK at the number of towns that have lost their live music venues..would you rather we were like that? 

 

Not every post was damning of the spend, several (including mine) were very positive about the project - for balance

[Fred the shred]

It is something that needs doing, should have been seen to years ago the Villa sound system has been abysmal for years.    If people are being charged serious money to attend shows and concerts they deserve to be able to hear properly also the artists deserve decent equipment to work with.   I fully support this, I don’t support paying millions to house an old boat which will incur an ongoing cost for the foreseeable future to maintain and will certainly not give the same pleasure as our two main entertainment venues.

[asitis]

I don't object to this per se. What I do object to is Government time after time have proven themselves to be fiscally irresponsible. We should and would be in a position where this doesn't even attract any comment apart from positive ones, had the last thirty years of stupidity and profligacy not be coming home to bite us.

Alf's bid to attract new residents is holed below the water line if they don't already know it. For most people low taxation will not replace an NHS in an utter shambles, costs rising unabated, schools under massive pressure and needing investment, transport links expensive and unreliable, and government recruitment and profligacy unchecked.

I wish the Villa well, it without doubt is a national asset and something positive, god knows we need it !