The Water Street Project Week 6: Animation, Max Patch Decisions, and Lighting Boards

Fun fact: I have never animated before.

So the thought of diving headfirst into a four-minute lyric video is not at all intimidating or concerning.

That being said, I actually feel surprisingly happy with the current state of my animation. Leading up to the date of my thesis performance, I knew that I wanted to try and have some sort of video content accompany my music and lighting, but I hadn’t exactly pinpointed a look or feel as far as how I wanted it to look. After the development of the album art from last week, I feel like I had a clearer direction to take the visual content in, and I now believe I am on my way to creating some really solid video content.

A portion of the animation for my song “Dear You”

In terms of my Max patch, I decided that I would reorganize my song choices. I have ultimately chosen to begin with the songs that I think will be the easiest to create in Max first, and have one or two of those songs on “reserve,” as songs to create patches for in Max if the first two songs are functional within the patch and with the equipment I will use.

I have also gotten the specs of the equipment in Traditions, which is very helpful in determining how I will send cues through Max. The sound board is a QU-32, which has plenty of audio inputs for my needs. The lighting board in the space is an Elation Show Designer 1, which has MIDI functionality that will accept single MIDI note inputs to trigger preset scenes. I will need to write these scenes with the board at the space ahead of time. This will be very time consuming, but ultimately provide me with a way to output the cues from Max.

Layout of lights above the stage

Lastly, I have also coordinated with some staff on campus to allow me to use the TCNJ recording studio as a space to test my patch with a live instrument and footswitches. My goal is to become comfortable with triggering the different sections of the patch via footswitches while I am performing my pieces, and make sure that the commands from the footswitches will work properly.

In preparation for my next update, I will work on a stage plot diagram that details how I will set up my equipment to be functional with both Max and the PA system in Traditions. I will also continue to develop my animation, video and website content, and improve my Max patch to the point where I can begin testing it with other equipment.