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Everything posted by peeriebryan
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Culture Strategy for Scotland consultation
peeriebryan replied to peeriebryan's topic in National & International News
mikeyboy and Urabug, we're in danger of going off topic... You have my sympathy! It's not like you to give up so easily Ghostrider. I thought you were a stubborn auld dug? Re: "Culture.... depending what its defined as" The consultation offers the following definitions (so I'm sure something amongst it will chime with you) -
The Scottish Government are currently consulting on a "draft Culture Strategy for Scotland" The draft strategy and details of how you can contribute your views are available at https://consult.gov.scot/culture-tourism-and-major-events/culture-strategy/ It's quite a lengthy read but is interesting and has wide-ranging implications. Here are a few quotes to give you a flavour. It would be interesting to hear folk's opinions on this
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Those are all fair questions. Meetings are in the Town Hall and the public can attend. My communications with the forum secretary are via email so I can't say for sure how widely any documents are distributed or meetings publicised. I shall inquire and post back here.
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The meetings are quarterly, with one annual meeting between the Licensing Forum and the Licensing Board. Fair point re: the how the forum papers are presented on the SIC website. I'll raise that with the chair.
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Hmm, something funny going on there. The long way round is to go here -> https://www.shetland.gov.uk/coins/DocumentSearchPublic.asp - enter 'licensing forum' into the keywords box, tick the 'exact phrase' checkbox and hit search. It'll probably take a little digging through the results
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All the documents relating to the Shetland Licensing Forum are on the SIC website [*mod edit to fix link*] Go to -> https://www.shetland...earchPublic.asp - enter 'licensing forum' into the keywords box and hit search.
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Dat'll be me! Here's an article outlining the purposes of the Licensing Forums - https://www.gov.scot/Publications/2007/04/13093458/16 I was invited to attend several years back as someone with knowledge of the music scene (not to represent Shetland Arts specifically). The meetings are during the day so I don't get to many.
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Most recent points have been answered by other folk, but I'll pick up on a couple: Re: sound system output. There are numerous variables involved and ways to measure a rig, but for the sake of providing a figure, the theoretical peak 'volume' of the auditorium PA is about 140dB (decibels), roughly the equivalent of a shotgun blast a few inches from your ears and enough to cause permanent hearing damage. The on-stage monitor system is about the same and that doesn't include guitar amps etc. The subs (low frequency speakers) are capable of producing levels that literally take your breath away. 'Watts' isn't a relevant measurement of sound levels as it refers to power consumption and doesn't take into consideration the efficiencies of amps and speakers etc. For the record, both the main rig and the monitor amps are rated at less than 10,000 watts but they are particularly efficient. All that said, the rig is run at nowhere near those levels - the headroom means the system can operate with virtually no peak distortion (interestingly, what many people perceive as 'loud' is actually a psychoacoustic phenomenon caused by the harmonic distortion and peak compression of a system operating at beyond it's capabilities - e.g. an electric guitar through a small distorted amp can sound instinctively 'louder' than acoustic guitar producing the same dBs). In the two and a half years since Mareel opened, no musician, band, sound engineer, promoter or anyone else has ever asked for specific information on the capabilities of the sound system. The only times it has ever come up is on this thread. The feedback on the sound system (pardon the pun) has been unanimously positive, the auditorium is an excellent sounding room with a very well balanced frequency response and we have some of the best sound engineers in the business (I tip my hat to their lugs). I may be biased, but it's one of the best sounding rooms I've ever heard. All is well in that department Re: finances. They're all available on the Shetland Arts website and we're governed by all the usual rules and regulations regarding financial reporting - http://www.shetlandarts.org/about/shetland-arts/reports-and-documents/
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I'll do my best to briefly address some of the concerns raised here, but there's not much to add that hasn't been covered in considerable detail in previous posts dating back a number of years. Re: parking. I'm not aware of any issues or complaints about parking. Personally, I often come and go several times a day and I've been at the majority of events there but there's only been a handful of times that I haven't found a parking space in the main car park. Each time there's been plenty of alternative spaces at the museum, SIC offices or North Ness car parks. Re: soundproofing effectiveness. The sound systems in the cinemas and auditorium have been extensively tested and the Sound Pressure Levels have been pushed to extremes with no problems whatsoever, neither internally nor externally. I'm not aware of any complaints from neighbours or customers either. Re: soundproofing design. In essence the auditorium and cinema are physically decoupled as much as is practically possible from the the rest of the building (like boxes within a box), combined with standard treatments such as heavy airtight double doors and absorbent wall materials. The design has proven to be more than up to the job. Re: the rake of the cinema seating. The rake is indeed steep, but that's the nature of cinema design and Mareel isn't unusual. There's access from the top and bottom of the rake, and there's the option of the smaller second screen if folk prefer. The Front of House staff are happy to help anyone with mobility issues. If folk have concerns, complaints or suggestions then please do get in touch with Shetland Arts and we'll do our best to help (admin@shetlandarts.org / 01595 743 843). We're always looking at ways to improve what we do so we'd be delighted to hear from folk. In the meantime, let's try to keep this discussion polite and good natured
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Hi all Please consider taking a moment to phone in your vote in support of the Sandwick Carnegie Hall committee in their bid to win a 'People's Millions' grant to renovate the hall kitchens. http://www.peoplesmillions.org.uk/2014-finalists/stv-north/carnegie-kitchen-project Phone lines are open till midnight tonight and you can vote up to ten times.
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Hi Kendal, and welcome to the forums. There's a wealth of people making short films in Shetland. Some recent examples include the 'Ebb Tide' project - http://www.shetlandarts.org/ebbtide - and the folk who had their films shown at this year's 'Home Made' screening at Screenplay (the local film festival) http://www.mareel.org/watch/cinema-listings/screenplay-home-made Please do drop me an email and I'll be happy to help - bryan.peterson@shetlandarts.org
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I use them regularly without giving it much consideration apart from these rules of thumb: Switch the 48v on, and back off when you're finished, while the mic is plugged in. It's not so much of a concern now-a-days but some older or more fragile mics (ribbon mics in particular) can be damaged by 'hot plugging' Switching the 48v on/off can cause a signal spike so it's best to mute, or turn off, the next piece of equipment down the signal chain. Most dynamic ('normal') mics won't be damaged if you mistakenly apply 48v to them, but best not take the chance
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The live broadcast will be at http://uphellyaa.com/
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Domestic wiring
peeriebryan replied to crofter's topic in Agriculture / Self Sufficiency / Gardening / Pets
Anidder tip, while you're doing the wiring, is to pull in conduit (flexible tubing) to areas where you think you might need to haul extra cables in future, such as behind the TV or a home office. Leave one end where it's easily accesible (usually in the laft) and terminate the internal wall with a blank plate. If, for instance, you wanted to upgrade your normal TV to Sky, or run in ethernet or a phone for a home office, it takes minutes to pull in the cable and change the blank plate to whatever termination you're after. If you're not sure where your TV or whatever is going to go until you've moved the furniture in, pull conduit into the most likely areas and you can change they layout of the room without worrying about where everything has to be plugged in. I generally put in at least one conduit run into every room I'm wiring before the plasterboard goes up. It's a 10 minute job and I've saved many hours and thanked myself many times for doing that. Also, you can never have too many double sockets! -
Domestic wiring
peeriebryan replied to crofter's topic in Agriculture / Self Sufficiency / Gardening / Pets
I worked for an electrical contractor for years on the mainland and have renovated a few houses, and my advice is...... Sketch out what you're planning to do (locations of sockets, appliances, lights and switches, cable runs etc) then get a sparky to check it over, principally to make sure you're not going to overload any circuits and that you're planning to use the right size of cables - usually 1.5 mm2 for light circuits, 2.5mm2 for ring mains, 6mm2 or more for radial (direct) circuits for large appliances (showers, cookers etc). The sparky will know the latest edition of the wiring regulations and will spot any potential issues straight away. * It's worth considering pulling in bigger cables than you need for appliances such as cookers and showers. The difference in price is minimal but it means you can upgrade your appliances to something more powerful in future. The sparky will advise you on the consumer unit(s) too (whether you need to upgrade them or not), and if you don't have the main power supply in yet you'll need to get the Hydro in for the connections to the main fuse. Pull in the cables and cut out the boxes (if it's plasterboard) yourself, which in my experience is 95% or more of the work. Expect lots of crawling in lafts, under floors, boring holes through things and swearing. Get a sparky in for the final connections and testing. They can usually bash the second fix of a house in a day or two and you'll know it's done right. They can sign everything off too to keep the paperwork in order. Also, sparkies tend to be able to get the fittings cheaper than you can yourself (get a quote for that first and check it against Screwfix - they always have deals on consumers units etc). One thing to watch for is that the substation is able to supply the new load if it's a considerable extra, or new, draw on the power. I know a few folk who have come a cropper when they've gone to get the main supply in and the Hydro have insisted they upgrade the substation, which could be several grand. In summary, it's best to get ask a sparky's advice afore you start. In my experience, they tend to accept a pint or two for an initial consultation But as has been mentioned, if it's a new build you'll need to run everything past building control. Expect paperwork! -
Road between Lerwick and Sandwick not too bad just now (12:00) but a bit skeety between Brindister and Quarff. South road into Sandwick is compacted snow and ice all the way though.
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Tonight's Aly Bain, Ale Möller, & Bruce Molsky concert in Mareel is about to start (7:30pm), with support from Eunice Henderson and The South Mainland Young Fiddlers. The concert will be broadcast live on t'internet > http://www.shetland.org/60N/mareel/
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I met the man in question and he is far from an 'ignorant idiot'. I think he makes his point very succinctly. Indeed, I find this statement from the blog post to be difficult to disagree with: "The gollywog is a product and symbol of a time when white people believed (really believed) they were superior and black people inferior. Is it racist to know this fact and still sell this doll"
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Recent Upgrade And Data Migration Issues
peeriebryan replied to trout's topic in User guides and tech support
Hat's off to Trout for the number of hours he's spent up to his fishy oxters in code and databases of late. He's a real troo(t)per! The best advice we can offer to folk about the new functionality is to have a good (t)root around and get used to all the new bits n pieces while we get things in order. Thanks for your patience and we hope you enjoy the overhaul. -
I often wonder the same thing! As he says, send Trout or me a PM and we'll do our best
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Good evening Unlinkedstudent No, the facilities don't operate at 100% capacity, but that was never the plan and to expect that to be the case would have been unrealistic, as I'm sure you'd agree. Busy times are busy, off peak times less so. I don't know of any recording studio, music venue, cinema, rehearsal facility, media production facility etc that works at 100% capacity. But as I said, in my opinion the facilities are very well used, with usage levels increasing. In my opinion, the venue and staff has coped very well with the numbers of folk coming through the door. There has been a few sold out events when folk have had a long wait at the bar at busy parts of the night, and the bars and catering staff are working at ways to speed things up. I'm not sure 'gushed' is a fair term to use, but we're all really chuffed with cinema attendances. As I've said, I think all the facilities are well used. In terms of 'bums on seats' in the main auditorium, I consider things to be going very well. There have been several sold out events and the 'niche' events such as opera and electronica have attracted regular and appreciative audiences. The income streams generated by the main auditorium is different to that generated by the cinemas - many of the music events are put on by external promoters, bands, festival committees, clubs etc and that income is generated from hires and/or door splits rather than straight ticket sales. We try to be as flexible and accommodating as possible to make the finances work for everyone involved. I don't consider it to be either or. When planning and budgeting for visiting artists, all events are taken into account within that budget. But if a 'country' event and a 'Mareel' event was budgeted for separately, the event in Mareel would generate more income that the country event. So if I understand your question correctly, town events tend to make country events more viable. The cinema programmers can choose which films are screened, but distributors apply certain conditions. That's the nature of the cinema industry. I'm vexed that folk are disappointed that it's not possible to show every film on the day it is released, but I know that the cinema programmers work bloody hard to respond to local demand. In fact, I don't know of any other cinema that is as flexible and responsive with it's programming. I hope that we do just that. As someone just pointed out, a couple of weeks ago we had Stuart McCallum and Aziz Ibrahim in Bigton, last week we had Oksana Mavrodii in Busta and next weekend the co-promoted 'Shetland Meets Appalachia' concerts will include Cullivoe and Muckle Roe. It's entirely up to the local festival organisers and promoters as to whether they use Mareel or not. Each situation is different - it's not as cut and dried as you may think. Some 'smaller' groups don't need the Green Room and are happy with a dressing room, some want the extra space to tune up and have a run through before they get on. Some groups want backstage catering, others don't. Some bands need a 'production office', others don't. It all depends on the particular requirements for each event and is one of a multitude of factors when costing a gig. Films are delivered on hard drives at the moment, although the industry will likely move to downloads in the near future. To be quite honest, and with the greatest respect, I think you often look for problems that aren't there and are repeating issues that other folk have had that don't affect you. For example, are you really worried that the rehearsal room is sometimes used as backstage area? Do you really think we don't know that we have to generate as much income as possible? Has the number of car parking spaces caused you any inconvenience? Were you enrolled on the evening class that was rescheduled? Do you genuinely think we're not trying our best to make Mareel work as well as we possibly can? I don't mean to make fun of your concerns, but on some of these things I think you'll just have to trust that we have some idea of what we're doing and that we're constantly trying to do the best we can. I'm flat out at the moment, but next time you're in Mareel ask for me at reception and I'll take for for a look if I have time. Cheers and good night
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Of the three 'full time' College courses, all are full with 10 students on each. There's also a new UHI wide BA Applied Music delivered principally by video conference and two locals are on that course. One of the three certificated evening classes was rescheduled into next year and the other two are full with 10 folk on each. There are also several short courses which are progressing as planned apart from one which has been rescheduled. The rehearsal spaces are used every weekday for the college courses and they're used most evenings and weekends by private hirers, students or as a 'green room' for performers in the auditorium. It's different each week, but using this past week as an example, it has been used during the days for educational purposes, a band is in mixing an album (with another band waiting to get in) and we recorded a live concert on Wednesday. In my opinion, the facilities I mentioned above are very well utilised and I'm delighted with how well the educational and media production aspects of Mareel are developing, particularly since we've only been open for a few months. I take my hat off to the technical and education staff, and the students themselves, for that.
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I've done some tinkering. Hopefully that'll sort it, although it might take a peerie while to take effect and it's difficult for me to know what anyone else is seeing. Let me know if the problem persists.
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Vexed that the volume spoiled your night Dave and please do get in touch with someone at Mareel and/or the Blues Festival with your concerns. Generally the minimum volume levels at concerts are determined by the loudest instrument on stage, usually the drums. The other volumes have to be brought up accordingly to achieve a balance. Hearing damage is caused by a combination of the level and duration of noise exposure. The levels in Mareel are well within legal limits and the duration of exposure from attending a concert is very unlikely to result in hearing damage. Also, there were many 'quieter' amplified acoustic acts at the Blues Festival - human ears are very sensitive to changes in level so it's likely that the bands with drumkits appeared relatively 'louder' when they were preceded by 'quieter' acts. For anyone interested there's a wealth of relevant info available at the Health and Safety Executive website - http://www.hse.gov.uk/noise/index.htm You may not recall this (abbreviated) exchange from April this year.... ....And there won't be an automatic volume output limiter - our sound technicians are more than capable of controlling the volume.Also, noise limiters are usually fitted for environmental reasons i.e. controlling sound pollution to residential areas near a venue. Volume has little to do with the size of the venue - there's several factors involved but one of the main ones is the distance from the speakers. Mareel's PA is a ceiling hung 'line array' which distributes sound pressure levels very evenly around the auditorium. PA speakers sitting at ground level, however, generally mean that people near the front will be exposed to considerably more decibels than people at the back. Glad you enjoyed the cinema Sudden Stop. There can be several hundred folk going through the foyer at busy times between screenings so inevitably there's a bit of a mess left behind sometimes. The foyer is cleaned regularly though, as are the cinemas themselves. The poem and handprints are part of a temporary exhibition and the walls will be cleaned and re-painted shortly http://angusreid.co.uk/present/exhibition/actions/Call-For-A-Constitution There are still 'what's on' screens and facilities to display artwork be fitted to the foyer so hopefully it'll look more appealing when they go up. The technicians are still working on the balance of light levels - some folk think they're too bright, some think they're not bright enough. Thanks for the feedback though.
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My pleasure!
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