Over the years I have seen tape used in just about every conceivable way to prep gear, label road cases, truss and cables. I don't claim that any particular way is best, but I have certainly seen a lot of wasted tape. And any production cost waste peeves me. Color by Number
I have seen trusses labeled all kinds of ways. The only universal practice I've noticed is that each length of truss is designated by a certain color. For instance, say you have three 40-foot lengths of truss aptly named the front, mid and rear trusses. I always dedicate a color to each length of truss. Being American, I choose to label these red, white and blue respectively. I label each truss section that will be bolted together with the same color. That way, as the truck is unloaded, I know that if I see red tape on a truss, I should send it towards the downstage area; likewise, blue tape designates upstage.
One of the most common ways to label each truss is to put a single 1-inch band of colored electrical tape (E-tape) around each end of the furthest stage right sections of truss that need to be bolted together. The next two sections would have two separated bands of the same color tape on each end so you can match the labels. The next truss joint would have three bands of tape, and so on.
This has always struck me as stupid. First, people can read numbers on tape. Second, this wastes time labeling and removing tape. Third, it wastes tape.
My solution is to put a single band of 2-inch colored tape on the upstage right section of truss with a number on it. Number 1 means stage right, number 2 means the second truss, and on and on.
I put the labels on the upstage side of the truss because the techs automatically know that the truss with the tape number side goes upstage, and the public won't see any colored markings.
I never use gaff tape to label trusses because it leaves sticky residue on the shiny truss and it will likely stay on that truss for eternity.
The Artist's Palette
Labeling cable and road cases with light fixtures should have the same colors as their final designation. For instance, if you know you are hanging six moving lights off of the upstage truss, mark the road case with the same color you use on the truss. I also feel that using tape to label road cases on a tour is pretty dumb. Within a week, the tape will usually scrape off in the truck. After two weeks of touring, there are just shards of colored tape on assorted boxes.
My solution is that each lighting company should glue some kind of plastic rectangular placard on their cases, one that not only has the name and address of the owner permanently marked on it, but also has room to label the "show" it will go on as well as its contents. A removable marker can be used to write on these placards for each show.
Instead of wasting colored tape to designate where each road case should go, I like using 6-inch colored dots. If a case goes towards the dimmers, I may dedicate the color orange for that and slap a dot sticker on the top.
Over the years, I have come up with a color code that seems to work for me. For instance, any floor lights and their cables are always designated green. Since green is the universal color for ground, this makes sense to me.
Several companies use purple to designate stage left and orange for stage right. I like this. If my dimmers are to be set up on stage right, all racks, AC distros, cable boxes, etc., will have an orange dot on them.
I have chosen the color yellow to mean spare. When you dump a truck, you need a place out of the working area to send spare fixtures and cable you may not need every day. As soon as I see yellow tape, I send it off to this designated area.
Certain colored tape over connectors should be universal. Whenever I have a bad circuit on a fan out, I wrap the connector in red E tape. Red means "broken; fix before using."
I always leave a few spare circuits on each truss in case the designer needs to add a light to a truss or there is a bad circuit. I use the color yellow on every spare circuit. This way I can easily look up from the ground and tell the tech hanging by his ankles that there is a good spare circuit four feet to his left.
Labeling Cables
Often, I find myself loading into a theatre or convention center with poor lighting. I can't read labels on blue/red/purple tape easily in these dark places, and it drives me batty. I instruct my techs to label the ends of the multi-cables with a 1-inch strand of white gaff in the middle with a label on it. Anyone can read black marker on white tape under the most dismal lighting. I will then add a 1-inch colored band of E-tape next to the white gaff so I know which truss the cable is going to. E-tape is cheaper than gaff tape, so a lot of companies prefer to use this to label cables. This is fine for one-offs, but if you are going to do multiple shows with the same cables, you will have a problem. The magic marker wears off as your hands rub it while connecting cables. Many companies will wrap clear plastic tape around the E-tape to preserve the markings. To me, this is ghetto. You have now used twice the amount of tape and it takes hours of wasted time to remove when you restock your shelves after a show. Plus, the plastic tape gets wrinkled and ugly after a few weeks.
I like using E-tape to bundle cables together. You should never go around the cables more than twice. This way if you need to peel two cables apart, you can easily break the cables apart by hand – no sharp knives necessary. When you put the E-tape around the cables, always cut the big roll of tape with a knife. If you just stretch the end until it breaks, the tape will just unravel within a couple weeks.
Taping multi-cable fan-outs to truss is common. But the twice-around rule of wrapping them should apply here. Many times you have to move instruments a few inches or a few feet on a truss for better focusing. Nothing gets my goat more than a guy struggling on a truss 30 feet in the air because he can't easily move a fixture without spending 10 minutes cutting taped cables out of the way. When you tape fanouts and DMX lines in a truss, leave some slack on the ends. If you barely have enough slack to plug something in, it will eventually break.
Last of all, gaff tape has so many more uses than just connecting and labeling stuff. It's used a lot for quick clothing repair. On my way to a wedding this year, I blew out my inseam on a pair of trousers. With no tailor in sight, I resorted to some black gaff from the inside to get through the afternoon.
It has also been reported that a young student named Daphne Mir made quite a fashion statement by showing up at USITT wearing a dress made entirely from this tape. Where was this girl when I was young and single?
