Earset Bodypack Gain

[Max Warasila]

For those of you who normally use wireless earsets in a theatrical setting, how do you go about determining the proper gain at the bodypack. I've been fiddling with it off and on over the last few months and found that, surpisingly, lower is often better than expected. Any thoughts? My theory is currently that less of the extraneous stage volume gets pushed through the compander and therefore leaves a cleaner signal at the end of the process, as well as far more headroom for consonants and dynamics.

 

[David Karol]

The majority of times I've used those was in an amateur theatre setting. I'd have the actors yell into the mic, and set it just below a clipping level.

I agree, lower is better.

 

[Ben Lawrence]

I usually do the same. Have the actor do a small piece of a loud piece and dial it in from there. I always find they do a bit more when the show is on though. So safer to keep it a little lower.