HELP!! with fusing to music

[davidaugustyn]

I thought everything was in place, but my second test proved that I cannot rely on 30 sec/ft cheap green visco to time my show.

I have 37 minutes to fill, and 64 cues. My plan was to use about 2-6 cues per song (10 songs), 8 cues for mine walls, 2 cues for the finale, and then time everything else out with the cheap visco.

Now I don't know what to do. The test I did failed miserably and I'm almost to the point of going back to hand lighting. Any suggestion? What kind of fuses do you use? I thought about double stranding the fuse to provide safety from kinked fuse as i did have it stop on me twice in the test. Then i thought just have my cues in each song start at important points to get back on timing....

[UnkleSAm]

Get some high quality visco from any of the top suppliers that advertise here, and make sure your fusing technique is spot on.

If you wrap the leader fuse around the trunk fuse facing the direction of fire, and secure it well using tape or zip ties, or twine, or wire or whatever you prefer, you will have success.
What you use to connect them is not as important as the quality of the connection. Make sure you have at least an inch of overlap, and the two fuses are in tight contact.

Then any good fuse will pass more than enough fire to ensure success.


But really, don't use the ultra cheap, thin visco. I've seen that go out on it's own way too many times.

And as long as you are placing an order, get several speeds. Visco is cheap, shipping isn't.

[mattrod]

you could e fire part of the show and have a helper or two hand fire some fill or fused racks-

[HerrLoll]

Here, let me help:
1. No one wants to hear Firework by Katy Perry again, scratch that from your playlist. Just cut your show down by 3.2 minutes.
2. Skip the show this year, sell your stash, buy a real firing system with 37 minutes worth of cues and some ematches and try again next year.


Did my good deed for the day.


Alright, seriously....
It sounds like you spent alot of time and effort planning out some nice music, let your soundtrack play and have fun shooting, don't go crazy trying to synch up the two.
Shooting over/with music and trying to get any kind of serious timing down without many many cues and direct-matched product is an exercise in futility. Just get a rough idea of what you want shooting during each song, reserve some of your cues for short intense cakes to fill dead air, and roll with it. You just aren't going to get a quality pyromusical out of a 64-cue system and a bunch of fuse. Accept that, have fun with what you've got and don't sweat the details, because your crowd won't notice anything except dead air anyways.

That being said... With 64 cues and talons, you can still have some semiprecise effects that can hit within a second or two of a certain point in your soundtrack. Use them wisely in the opener and the finale.

[pepsi pyro]

another option would be to take some songs out. I had to do this myself this year. You can alway's use it later or in other parts of your show.

[THymer]

Alright, seriously....
It sounds like you spent alot of time and effort planning out some nice music, let your soundtrack play and have fun shooting, don't go crazy trying to synch up the two.
Shooting over/with music and trying to get any kind of serious timing down without many many cues and direct-matched product is an exercise in futility. Just get a rough idea of what you want shooting during each song, reserve some of your cues for short intense cakes to fill dead air, and roll with it. You just aren't going to get a quality pyromusical out of a 64-cue system and a bunch of fuse. Accept that, have fun with what you've got and don't sweat the details, because your crowd won't notice anything except dead air anyways.

That being said... With 64 cues and talons, you can still have some semiprecise effects that can hit within a second or two of a certain point in your soundtrack. Use them wisely in the opener and the finale.

+1...It is nearly impossible to have precision timing with fusing boards. I gave it hell last year. I did extensive testing on 4 speeds of fuse I was using. I shot and timed a lot of the product I had then carefully laid out my boards (7) in detail like this:

Keep in mind I laid these boards out to match the soundtrack I already made. So after putting in an embarrassing amount of hours ....the final result: Some parts were perfect! .... Some were not even close!.... and the crowd went crazy! They thought everything was perfect!

This year I scrapped the fusing. I have a Cobra script remote, 11 modules and a self diagnosis of OCD . I'm pretty sure this year's show will be better.

[xcon897]

Just plan for pauses in music. You do not want loud going during soft sections. The fireworks will take care of the rest. I would use your cues sparingly during main body. Use the cues for a big start and a huge finale. The rest of it just needs a decent ebb and flow. All pauses between pieces are accepted as long as they are not frequent and long. Above all have fun.

[runvs00]

Here is how my progression with Jon Kelly has been in the pyro musical department...

1st year - 22 minutes long. 84 cues on 2 units plus 2 sequencers. Looked good but some parts were spot on and some parts were HORRIBLY off That being said the crowd LOVED IT

2nd year - 18 minutes long. 224 cues 2 rear units and 5 front units. All computer fired. The whole show was SPOT ON went FLAWLESSLY I will never shoot a major show without computer control again..

This year - 32 minutes lon. 416 cues on 13 units. All computer fired..

If you plan on expanding into major musicals in the future only expand into units which will be able to be computer controlled... Makes ALL the difference in the world. As far as this year goes 37 minutes on 64 cues is WAAAAAY to long for any type of synced timing.. Plan for about half that if you want to get close to matching product up with the music properly..

[UnkleSAm]

Yes, yes, and yes to more cues.

Last year I ran 64 cues for a 12 minute show, and easily could have used twice that.

[Codeman]

Just use what you have this year and improve on it next year.

Heck I tried scripting out my fireworks show to music and I have 4 32 cue modules, 1 20 cue wired system, 1 12 cue wireless system, 3 6 cue sequencers, and 1 10 cue sequencer and I quit because I realized I was going to need more cues half way through my show.

Just have fun with what you got. Last year I shot my fireworks and just picked random songs that sounded good with fireworks and I was so surprised that a lot of stuff seemed to match up. The human brain will almost make the sound and fireworks match up and the audience won't know the difference. To me I would shoot the show with music playing and maybe pre finale do like a 1 to 2 minute really spot on choreographed section.

And I agree that a computer firing system is the way to go, you almost need it if you want to be spot on but even that has it's flaws. For instance if you have some shells ematched or a cake that is supposed to run 30 seconds for a section and the computer fires it but the cue fails then you have to either have another system to fire some stuff to fill with or else you have blank sky. To me the biggest thing is to just not leave too much dark sky or pauses this takes down the excitement of your show. Just keep a good flow with the music and match fast intense cakes with fast intense songs, match slow willow, or fish cakes or even fountains and slow less intense stuff with slow songs.

[davidaugustyn]

Great advice, thanks. I was hoping to get away with so few cues due to having mostly cakes, but I can see that may be a problem.

[lava]

.....It sounds like you spent alot of time and effort planning out some nice music, let your soundtrack play and have fun shooting.........You just aren't going to get a quality pyromusical out of a 64-cue system and a bunch of fuse....have fun with what you've got and don't sweat the details.....

Pretty much says it.

[rabidpup]

I shot my last two shows to music & fusing everything. Most of the time the pyro went longer than the music but the crowd loved it anyways. Like you, I spend alot of time figuring timing but with both shows being 300+ pieces I had to start fusing several days before. What I learned was, If I wanted a piece to go @ 30 seconds, Don't time the fuse exactly @ 30 sec. Try fusing it for 25 seconds to allow for humidity. It WILL slow the fuse down. Like UncleSam said, Get high quality visco. I use small wire ties on all my connections. I use 2 ties off the leader fuse & 2 ties on the product fuse & It's worked very well for me. Good luck, Be safe & have a ball!