Speaker arrangement for small theatre?

Re: Speaker arrangement for small theatre?

Use the good 3M micropore of you'll spend half the show on comms co-ordinating the fixes of slipped mic placements... ask how I know. :D~:-D~:grin:

Depending how much you care about seeing the mics you can achieve a similar placement in less time by just taping on the neck below the ear, running over the ear and going basically straight to the corner of the mouth, taping just behind the element.

Chris
 
Re: Speaker arrangement for small theatre?

Simon Eves said:
Hell, no. This is a fine topic too! Thanks for the idea. I'll certainly give it a try. The other group I work with owns a bunch of MM-PSM-Ls and they're great, and small (halfway between the MKE2 and the B6) if a little fragile. I broke one bending the tip too much off a halo rig (which is why I was surprised at the arrangement you described) and I've had a couple of others killed by make-up. Maybe I was just unlucky.

So, sorry to labor the point, but how far up the chin did you bring the mic head? Or did you keep it "horizontal" under the chin? Any problems with sweat due to not pointing downwards? Was the closeness enough to give GBF even though again not pointing downwards. I guess they're omnis anyway, but even so. What about overloading from being that close to the mouth? I've had PSM-Ls clip halfway up the cheek with belters. Did you add reverb to compensate for the close mic-ing?

Tell me all. I'm fascinated now.
Click to expand...

I've attached a photo of how one of the women wore the mic. It's a little tough to see (that's the point) but I think you'll pick it out. The PSM-L is an omni. This positioning requires a little bit of EQ, and tweaking of placement (it is possible to pick up breath noise). BUT, when you've got 2 actresses so sick they can barely talk, this worked amazingly well. In the video, the actress playing Diana had the mic about an inch and a half back on the chin line.

The actress who played Diana is a belter. I never had trouble. Usually when I have issues with clipping in wireless mics, it tends to be the pack, not the element. I have MiPro ACT-747 wireless systems. Here's a link to a video one of the cast members posted. "You Don't Know/I Am the One" - Next to Normal - YouTube The clipping you can hear is I believe the camera, not the mic. Right channel is board feed. Left is the room. Don't use headphones, the guy shooting never synced the room track with the board feed. It is a VERY live room, so I don't add any verb.
 

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Re: Speaker arrangement for small theatre?

Chris Nixon said:
Use the good 3M micropore of you'll spend half the show on comms co-ordinating the fixes of slipped mic placements... ask how I know. Depending how much you care about seeing the mics you can achieve a similar placement in less time by just taping on the neck below the ear, running over the ear and going basically straight to the corner of the mouth, taping just behind the element.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, Chris. I've been using Transpore and taping to the cheek for some time now, but looking for something a little more discrete (and hopefully better sounding) for this show. I was just wondering if Eric was deliberately using the "white and fluffy" Micropore instead and then deliberately make-up-ing over it, but it appears not.
 
Re: Speaker arrangement for small theatre?

Simon Eves said:
Thanks for this, Chris. I've been using Transpore and taping to the cheek for some time now, but looking for something a little more discrete (and hopefully better sounding) for this show. I was just wondering if Eric was deliberately using the "white and fluffy" Micropore instead and then deliberately make-up-ing over it, but it appears not.
Click to expand...

I've never successfully gotten micropore to stay on an actor's face for more than 10 minutes. Transpore will take makeup and can hide fairly well. The trick is not using massive pieces. You don't need a lot to hold it in place. If the actor sweats a lot, some rubbing alcohol on the skin just before applying the tape works wonders.
 
Re: Speaker arrangement for small theatre?

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the photo and video. The mic certainly looks pretty discreet, although the photo is quite small. Running the cable along the chin line sounds like a plan, especially as none of the actors in my show are burdened with extra chins (unlike me!)

I will be using Sennheiser EW100G3 systems, the transmitters for which have a fairly wide gain adjustment. With loud actors, and PSM-L or MKE2 mics halfway between the top of the ear and corner of the mouth, I often have to drop the gain down into the -40s. The B6s (red band) aren't quite so sensitive so have even more headroom.

I'll try to rip the audio from that YouTube clip tomorrow and listen to the two channels separately.
 
Re: Speaker arrangement for small theatre?

While we're sharing videos... I'm not supposed to have uploaded this (not the whole show, anyway), so hopefully this (unsearchable) YouTube link won't leave this forum, but here's the production of Les Mis that I worked on last year with an award-winning local student (age 13-23) summer program, with a mixture of MM-PSM-Ls, MKE2s, Acacia Audio LIZPROs (cheap E6 clones), and a solitary DPA 4061 (on Valjean). Total of 28 G2 and G3 wireless into an X32 with an 01V as a band pre-mixer, and the custom QLab/OSC/Python-script mute automation I wrote about at the time over in the X32 thread. We had a kick-ass Nexo speaker rig (borrowed, PS15s on stands at the sides, couple of PS8s on the floor at the corners of the stage thrust as fill) but I never could quite get the boominess out of the voices, particular those with mics on cheeks (we tried hairline as well, but the room - an octagonal dome with hard walls - was so live that we were too close to feedback for my liking, so went back to cheeks). Much of the sound on the video is from a pair of condensers on tall stands at the back of the hall (maybe 40' back from the stage, 10' apart, set up by the video guy), but with clean vocals and band mixed in later. Unfortunately, some of the un-mic'd ensemble stuff still got lost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVd1NkSH1pQ (showstopper solo number at 1:59:30)

I would like to hide the mics better than this for N2N as the place is much smaller. I'll give the chin thing a try, for sure.

OK, now we're WAY off topic! ;)
 
Re: Speaker arrangement for small theatre?

Not to divert this thread into yet another different direction, but I am reminded of an effect I first noticed on Les Mis which is that the level of a given vocal through the PA and 50' or air and a microphone was non-linear with the same vocal recorded directly. The first version is more compressed, which means that in the quiet bits you hear more ambient and less direct, but in the loud bits you hear more direct. This makes for rather an inconsistent final mix. I tried compressing the direct vocals even more prior to mixing for the video but was never quite able to level them out. The PA wasn't loud enough for the controllers in the amps to start compressing further, so I put it down to the physics of air...
 
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