Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1995 - 47

would read, "Deck A, left and right channels start at a level
of -5dB. The "object" may be appended using simple modifiers. The most typical is the relative length of a fade, which
is always placed in a box. For example,

would read, "Deck A, left and right channels fade out (i.e.,
infinite attenuation) on a 5 count. Since the symbol ~
means start at, it would never have a fade box associated with
it. Conversely, me symbols t and ~ would always have fade
boxes associated with memo
Another useful modifier is the expression EC which
stands for "End Cue" and implies an "Easy" cue to operate. This notation is placed after a cue to alert the sound
board operator that after this change, the cue will undergo
no further modification. In many systems in which decks
automatically cue up for the following cue, the notation
EC alerts the sound board operator that they no longer
need to concern themselves about that deck. For example,
in the cue

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me EC placed at the end of me cue indicates to the board
operator that once the cue has been faded our, no furmer
attention will be required to mat particular deck until the
next starr cue. Sometimes there will be several modifications
(all with separate cue numbers) that will take place with a
given sound before a cue is called mat is designated "EC."
This lets the operator know mat attention can now be
focused on omer cues.
Sometimes me writing of cues can become quite complex
and require some imagination in the sentence. By always constructing a "sentence," the sound score designer and sound
board operator will be able to simplifY and make concise difficult descriptions. A typical example of a complicated cue
simply notated with all of the necessary information is:
A~-5 XF B

This cue reads Deck A, Left and Right Channels, stam at a
level of -5dbVU, and then immediately crossfades to Deck B
on a five count.
In another example, the sound from one tape deck is to
be crossfaded between two different stereo presets. This
might be done when the preshow music is crossfaded into a
practical stage speaker such as a prop radio. One way to
accomplish such a cue is to split the incoming tape deck into
two sets of input channels, and men assign the outputs of
the channels to different presets ( ote that each channel
could also have its own EQ, effects sends, etc.). The first cue
to start the preshow would be simply:

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1995