On Thursday the Stage Expo was opened and everyone flocked to the main conference floor to explore the maze of booths. The booths were run by theatre companies looking for new employees, theatre universities looking for potential new students and as well as technology companies looking to sell their products.
When I went on to the Expo floor the first thing I did was find the RC4 wireless dimming booth because in my preliminary research had led me to this company for three reasons.
1. The product they offer seemed to be the most versatile in how it can be used on stage because it is so small it has many prop applications.
2. The product they offered was cheaper than that what other wireless companies were offering, which were wireless dimming systems for larger size use as well as more expensive.
3. Lastly the owner of the RC4 wireless dimming booth was the person that was presenting and running the session on wireless dimming there at the conference.
In speaking with the president of the company, James Smith, I learned some of the basics of how wireless dimming works in the basic stages and that it is a whole lot simpler than people may think. He showed me a few examples of his technology at work. He said if I still have questions or was confused about anything I could go to the website and there are videos there that take you through the basic process of how RC4 wireless dimming works.
The main process is:
1. Connect a Wireless DMX Transmitter to the board.
2. The signal will be sent to the receiver(s).
3. The receiver is connected with DMX cable to the dimmer ( where it can be further connected to other dimmers)
4. The dimmer is connected to the light as well as connected to a power source (possibly a battery).
The only difference is that it seems that RC4 tech has a dimmer that receives the wireless signal on it own.
I spent the rest of the day exploring the Stage Expo, looking at all the cool new stuff, getting free swag and making new vital connections.