A38 Ship

Budapest, Hungary

About the ship

One of the most popular and iconic concert/party venue in Budapest. There are several locations to enjoy music: a big concert hall and a small one in the belly of the ship, a bow terrace and a roof terrace, so the visitors can vibe at the in- or outdoor places. The Ship gives place for cultural productions: the national music/youth TV channel started to produce shows and live broadcasting here in 2015, and the national music radio channel started its airing from the ship in 2022. In addition the A38 Academy offers courses for young talents to learn line of work of the entertainment industry such as light, sound and film.

If you want to know more about the place: https://www.a38.hu/hu

My experiences at the A38 Ship

Stage

After 2 years on board, I got the chance to work as a sound technician on stage at concerts with the Sound department, where I learnt from the best professionals.

Camera operator at Hajógyár Event Series

Collaboration with Hajógyár – content of pop-cultural and contemporary artists and creators – the series took place on the A38 Ship, every Tuesday, where theater, lyrics, dance or visual arts were the topics each week. I was one of the 2 video technicians who installed the cameras, Jimmy Jib and robotic cameras. We were the 2 technicians who could work as camera operators as well.

Hajógyár X A38

Concert Recording

A38 Ship records most of the concerts that occures on board. The concerts are aired at the national music channel, M2 Petőfi. The crew contains 2 or 3 videotechnicians, a director and a technical manager. The videotechnicians have to install all the cameras and they need to cooperate with the lighting technician, the sound technician and the sound engineers. The recording can be in the big hall, the small hall and at the roof terrace. We must provide the installation of the cables and the equipments with maximal safety. At every locations, we set up 3 cameras and 3 robot cameras. In the big concert hall we install Jimmy Jib Cran or Cable Cam in addition. During the concert one videotechnician has to control the robotic cameras and the CCU in the control room next to the director and help the camera operators if any problem occured. Moreover, the videotechnicians has to provide a camera for BTS before the artist arrives and a full interview set with 2 cameras, microphones and lights in the backstage.

Live Broadcasting

The ‘Panorama Studio’ was built in 2015 and this is the main spot of the live broadcasting. The live programmes have 2 anchors. The programmes are broadcasted on weekdays in the evening, the channel used to have another live programme on Saturdays, but after a long time it got cancelled. Besides the main studio, when the weather is good (so not in the winter) the director can choose another spot any where on the ship to set cameras and other equipments there for the broadcasting. The live broadcasting can be very stressful and we need to work with a crew, with outsider members (they come from the HQ of the TV channel).

A short video from one of our live broadcasting

Shooting for the TV

Besides the live broadcasting, on the ship the production of other weekly/monthly TV programmes is placed. These sets are very varied, and they can be anywhere on the Ship. For one of the programmes the backstage is used, the small concert hall is for the another one. The equipments are always the same: 4 studio cameras, one is on a Projin cran, microphones, screens, prompter, transmitter, for some programmes even projectors are used.

Path of life of an artist

Conversations about movies

A talk show – disputation of both sides

Akusztik

Events

Since the A38 Ship has a restaurant on board, many events of companies took place there. Not only at the restaurant, but several times they rented other locations on board, or even the whole ship. We needed to provide sound techniques and/or visual techniques for the events such as microphones, projectors, robotic cameras, audio-mixer, and of course we had to run these equipments during the event.

Night shifts

At least once a month we had night shifts, where I had to install a projector at the roof terrace or in the concert hall for video-disco parties.

Streaming

The radio channel on board not only airs but has live programmes that is streamed on Youtube and Facebook. We have to install the cameras, the videotechnicians used to set up the lights, and we need to stream and control the robot cameras. For the streaming we use vMix. Also, for some events on the Ship we needed to stream, these events can be in the Bistro or anywhere on board.

For a year, the radio had the Masterclass on Youtube

A talk show in the afternoon

A concert in the studio of the radio

Technical details/equipments

Sony HXC-FB80 and Sony PMW-320 studio cameras, Sony BRC-H900 and BRC-H800 PTZ cameras, Sony PXW-FS5 cameras

Dynamic and Lavalier microphones, Seinheiser transmitters, Microphone recording of smaller musical performances (microphones, stands and monitors)

Field monitors (Lilliput, Mezdo, Atomos)

Video converters (Decimator cross converter)

Streaming with vMix, Dedolight, Astera PB15-SET PixelBrick, Felloni BiColor