Faders. I’m sitting here thinking about them. Who invented them in the first place?
And why do they only go up and down?
I imagine most people know what a fader is. It’s those plastic rectangular knobs that slide up and down on a sound board. Or a lighting console. When I bring up a fader it usually turns a light on. But sometimes I can change the color of a light by moving a fader back and forth. I sometimes take automated lighting fixtures and move them from one point on stage to another. Yup, by using a fader.
I’m sitting in a cold arena while some rap artists I work for are going through rehearsals. I’m running a lot of color bumps and intensity flashes by running faders up and down. In time with the beat. A strobe flash on this beat. A red beacon in this verse.
I’m not programming a cue list with a stack of cues. I’m flying by the seat of my pants. Just because I can.
So this one guy walks up to me and sees me going wild on faders while the DJ is scratching and the band is punctuating back beats. He starts dancing and genuinely having fun. When the band takes a break, the guy tells me I mix my lights like he mixes his turntable. So I show him a few things and he goes to town. This guy has never run a light console, but his timing is awesome.
When done, he only had one question. “How come these faders have to go up and down? Can’t they make em go sideways?” You see he’s a DJ and his crossfades and efx switches can go either way. But when he’s scratchin, his arms are moving left to right more than up and down.
So why is that? I’ve seen a hundred sound and lighting consoles. No sideways faders anywhere. I’ve even started asking friends, and they all deny ever having them and wonder why? We’ve seen joysticks and trackballs, but no sideways fader.
There are all kinds of fancy knobs I like these days. Every company seems to have their own knob. Some just turn. Some can push and turn for a faster way to get someplace. Some are big and fat for people who have club like hands like mine. Audio consoles like to have lots of tiny ones close together. Tough for my hands. Must be why I like lights.
Now some consoles are bypassing knobs for things that resemble tank treads. I kind of like them. Maybe because it’s not a knob and it’s not a fader. But they feel good to adjust chase speeds on. But it’s a belt just like the one on my car it seems. But I haven’t broken one yet and I imagine I’ve driven it over 100k miles.
