Comments on: Microphone Placement Techniques for Theatre

By: Steve Devino

Steve Devino — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:29:15 +0000

I personally find the center of the forehead at the hair line to be the highest quality as well as highest volume. But there are exceptions. If you tape to the cheek make sure you are on a bone and not the soft fleshy part of the cheek.

By: Caleb Strong

Caleb Strong — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:25:34 +0000

In the past i have use the small Lavs from Shure, and taped them to the right cheek. ive gotten decent quality from there and if you color your mics, no one will ever see it.

My question is, would i have better quality from the forehead?

By: Nick

Nick — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:48:52 +0000

Hey

Im a new sound engineer at a small theater and we are currently looking to upgrade microphones. We are looking to get microphones to sit at the front of the stage, the stage is quiet large and we need them to pick up the entire stage. What microphones would you recommend?

Thanks in advance

By: Jim Park

Jim Park — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:41:30 +0000

Here’s a question that has us stumped. We have an actor in our cast that seems to be an RF magnet — please don’t laugh. When she’s wearing a mic pack, you can watch the RF meter light dropping. When she takes the pack off, they come back up again. The real problem is that she kills all the packs that come near her on stage. We’ve tried taking the pack off her, placing it on a stool in the middle of the stage, and it’s fine. As soon as she approaches the thing, it dies. I’m thinking in terms of that small group of people who cannot wear battery powered watches. Same thing happens. Has anyone run into a similar problem — and maybe found a solution?

By: Bright and Loud, LLC

Bright and Loud, LLC — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 06:02:46 +0000

Hello Vincent,
That is the job of the engineer behind the console. As a scene progresses, the engineer is essentially turning the mics on and off and varying their individual levels, to, hopefully, properly balance each line against the others. When the actors exit the stage and have no further lines, the engineer should have the mic turned off. Modern Sound consoles offer some automation designed to assist the engineer in managing who is on and off stage, but still requires an engineer who knows who speaks which lines and when to create the illusion that little or no manipulation is happening.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:42:45 +0000

Ive recently attended a play at Fords Theater and was wondering…with many mic’d actors how does can one be sure their mic is off when they walk off stage?

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:45:52 +0000

I just wanted to say I think someone needs to come up with something better than a forehead microphone. I went to see Thoroughly Modern Millie last night (performance was great!) During the entire evening I was so distracted by the ‘cyclopse’ effect on some of the actors I was having a hard time looking at anything else. I couldn’t figure out if it was part of the costume or what.
Very noticable from the 2nd row, and I imagine back as far as 10 rows. There’s gotta be a better way!

By: Stephanie Mitchell

Stephanie Mitchell — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:28:43 +0000

GREAT RESOURCE – Thanks!

I’m the sound person for a small vocal ensemble (11 voices including my own) just learning to use wireless, having been tethered to wired stand mics for years. We balance our voices quite well unplugged (i.e. no mics) in smaller venues and even with wired mics. I’m trying to teach the rest of us how to balance our sound with the wirelesses, but I’m climbing the learning curve myself. I’d appreciate feedback or suggestions on the approach I’ve been taking.

Our equipment is a 12-channel UHF system. The mics are mounted on flexible booms attached to headband wires that hook over the ears and go round the back of the head. Easy to put on, although rather visible (which doesn’t really worry us as we don’t have the time to set up and conceal rigs). I aim for consistent mic placement (about an inch away from the corner of the mouth), then do a level set for an initial overall balance. I try to have people sing normally, relying on our experience without mics to achieve our balanced sound; however people keep either over-singing or moving the mics closer to their mouth because they can’t hear their own voice through the sound system.

My questions:
- is this (sing naturally as you would without a mic) a good approach?
- short of muting their channel, how do you get across to the over-singers that they’re ruining the balance?
- finally, we’re all close friends and I’d like to keep it that way…

By: David

David — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:50:13 +0000

I’m an audio engineer at a performing arts center. We typically run about 20-30 wireless lavs per show. I’ve just been taping them to the face, but would love to try the halo rig. We’re using a mix of Countryman B3 and Shure WL93, soon to become all Countryman B3.

We tend to have more gain before feedback issues with methods such as pinning it to the hair, and the lav hanging down the forehead. Speaker placement is probably the main issue, but nothing can be done about that at this point. With the lavs, I have harsh EQ cuts around 500 and 1k, and also a roll off around 6. Do you have any suggestions for using the halo rig/feedback?

Thanks.

By: Sean Leistico

Sean Leistico — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:08:34 +0000

Mark,

I do the same gig with a local community theatre group, and we run ten-plus wireless lavs every show. I got a hookup with a local rubber manufacturer, and what I found is that condoms which don’t pass inspection, i.e. can’t be sold for their “intended purpose”, can be picked up by the hundreds for a few bucks, unlubricated of course. I roll one over the transmitter pack and that keeps it dry, through even the sweatiest singers and dancers. I call it “practicing safe sound.”