Hello/Intro + wireless system purchasing advice?

16 views
Skip to first unread message

Matt L

unread,
Dec 16, 2009, 11:21:39 AM12/16/09
to theatre-sound
First let me introduce myself since I'm new. I'm 23 and relatively new
to the whole "live sound" thing; I started learning around March 2009
when I was asked to help run sound at church for worship bands, where
we use a 40-channel A&H GL3300, a variety of Shure mics (SM57/58 and
beta 87s) as well as a Countryman E6 or E6i with Sennheiser belt pack
and receiver for our lead pastor. Shortly after diving in headfirst at
church my fiancee, who was in her first year as the new music and
choral teacher at a local middle school, asked me to run sound for her
production of "Annie, Jr." in mid-April 2009, which is really my only
experience with theatre sound. Despite my complete lack of experience
or anything remotely resembling advanced knowledge, I managed to do an
acceptable job (not that the standard was set very high, as there
hadn't been a drama production at the school for quite a while) with
some far less superior equipment: a Behringer Eurodesk 24-channel
console, two PA speakers, some jury-rigged side-fill monitors so the
kids could hear the music (played from CD, no pit), and 5 or 6
wireless mics on the featured roles (one or two of which were owned by
the school, I think an AudioTechnica, and the rest rented from the
local music shop, possibly Azures?).

That being said, it'll be time to start rehearsals in a month or so
for this spring's production of "Seussical, Jr.", and my fiancee has
asked me to do some research into buying a few more wireless
microphones (systems actually, 2-3 for now), rather than renting them
at $100/week/ea for the week of the show. I didn't really have any
idea where to start, so I've been doing some research online, reading
various articles and forums/groups for some insight, checking prices
at various places like Sweetwater, zZounds, etc., and I was hoping to
get some input from the folks here. So, here's the relevent
information and questions:

1.) Budget
This is the big one, since I don't think she's going to get any help
from the school and will be paying out of the drama club account. I
asked what kind of budget she's looking for (remember, she really has
no knowledge as far as ballpark cost or anything), and she said "oh, I
dunno... about $100 each." From what I've read I know that's
laughable, so I told her there's no way she's going to get anything
resembling a quality, reliable wireless microphone for that little
(let's face it, how could the local music shop get away with renting
them for $100/week if people could just buy them outright at the same
price?). I believe her plan is to buy a few this year, then keep
buying more in the future as funds allow and continue to rent whatever
extras she needs until she has purchased enough. At the kind of budget
she mentioned my guess is she's better off just continuing to rent
quality mics than buy poor-quality ones? Any suggestions on reasoning/
arguments to convince her to spend a little more on some quality mics?
I read somewhere that ~$1000/channel is a ballpark figure, but there's
no way we're going to be able to spend that kind of money. Is that
figure accurate or inflated?

2.) Brand
Obviously this has a certain amount of personal preference to it, but
I don't know much in terms of ordering of the popular brands as far as
quality, reputation, or cost goes. My educated guess would probably be
Shure and Sennheiser at the top, Azure and Audio Technica towards the
bottom, and Nady, Samson, AKG, and whatever others I can't remember
somewhere in the middle. Of course, I could be way off, so whatever
input I can get here is greatly appreciated.

2.) Omnidirectional or unidirectional?
I've read that an omni in the center of the forehead is the most
popular method, but since we need to have stage monitors so the kids
can hear the music being played from the CD I'm afraid I'll get
feedback with an omni. Thoughts/experiences?

4.) VHF or UHF?

5.) Could we purchase a single receiver that can handle multiple
channels, and maybe only one or two transmitter/microphone sets for
now, then add additional sets down the road? Could we then also save
on rental costs by only having to rent transmitter/mic sets that are
compatible with the receiver we own, and not have to rent the
receivers too?

6.) Area/boundary/choral mics?
For Annie, Jr. last year, we had two rented Shure Beta 91s on the
front of the stage, hoping to help pick up the rest of the cast during
full chorus numbers and help the audience to hear the less prominent
cast members who weren't mic'd, but we couldn't get them to pick up
enough before feedback (as I'm sure you could've guessed). She's also
contemplating getting some hanging choral mics, but I'm not entirely
sure how useful that will be.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but this post is long enough as it
is. So, thanks in advance for whatever information or advice you can
give me!

Steven Devino

unread,
Dec 16, 2009, 1:45:41 PM12/16/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
On Dec 16, at  Dec 16, 2009 8:21 AM, Matt L wrote:

1.) Budget
This is the big one, since I don't think she's going to get any help
from the school and will be paying out of the drama club account. I
asked what kind of budget she's looking for (remember, she really has
no knowledge as far as ballpark cost or anything), and she said "oh, I
dunno... about $100 each." 

You can get Sennheiser G3 100 series for under $500/ channel (as well as equiv. Shure etc) which would be more than adequate for children's theatre. The caveat is you must take care of them and keep them in shape. The 300 series is even better, a little more flexible in terms of tuning and more FOH status info, but possibly overkill for your app at 2x the cost of the 100 series. I have G2 100 series with more than 300 shows on them.


2.) Brand
Obviously this has a certain amount of personal preference to it, but
I don't know much in terms of ordering of the popular brands as far as
quality, reputation, or cost goes. My educated guess would probably be
Shure and Sennheiser at the top, Azure and Audio Technica towards the
bottom, and Nady, Samson, AKG, and whatever others I can't remember
somewhere in the middle. Of course, I could be way off, so whatever
input I can get here is greatly appreciated.

I have great experience with Sennheiser for kids. I am sure others have had great experience with Shure and others.




2.) Omnidirectional or unidirectional?
I've read that an omni in the center of the forehead is the most
popular method, but since we need to have stage monitors so the kids
can hear the music being played from the CD I'm afraid I'll get
feedback with an omni. Thoughts/experiences?

I really think you want Omni's. Put the monitors behind the kids or set up as side fills and you won't have any issues with omni's.  There is no need to put the vocals in the monitors. Especially since they will be able to hear themselves sing if you keep the CD playback to a reasonable level (the level of vocals you get from the kids will force you to keep CD at a reasonable level).


4.) VHF or UHF?

VHF is great but big, power hungry and heavy. 


5.) Could we purchase a single receiver that can handle multiple
channels, and maybe only one or two transmitter/microphone sets for
now, then add additional sets down the road? Could we then also save
on rental costs by only having to rent transmitter/mic sets that are
compatible with the receiver we own, and not have to rent the
receivers too?

Yes. You want frequency adjustment capability so you can adapt as the RF environment changes over time and you add more channels (which may require different spacing)




6.) Area/boundary/choral mics?\

I am not a fan. You don't get enough level from the kids to get good signal from the boundary or choral mics. Instead you get all kinds of phasing and random conversations from those who are not actually singing (they are kids after all).  I do favor a hyper cardioid or two at the stage lip for spot pickup or as a back up for the inevitable lav failure just prior to a solo.


Don't be a fraid to turn the CD down as much as is needed to hear each and every kid. The paying public in this case is mom and grand-mom who would much rather hear their kid than the CD.

Steve




Steve Devino

Authorized Dealer For
Metric Halo
APB Dynasonics Consoles
Countryman and Associates

Darren R. Sussman

unread,
Dec 16, 2009, 2:02:29 PM12/16/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com

I’ll agree with pretty much everything Steve said, but I’ll give you the same advice that I give to all of my school clients:  Unless you are using these things on a regular basis (at least 4 times a year, I’d say), it doesn’t make any sense to buy them and you’re much better off just renting them.  I get the impression from what you said that you are only using these once, maybe twice a year.  In that case, I wouldn’t recommend buying them.  As Steve has already said, you will have to store them and maintain them, and by the time you would have “paid” for them in rentals, there’s a good chance that something will be lost or broken. 

 

$100/week is perfectly reasonable for wireless, and I don’t think you’ll see any real significant savings by buying them, at least not without sacrificing quality in a major way.

 

 

Darren R. Sussman

Owner

Reid Sound, Inc.

dar...@reidsound.com

Jorge Cortes

unread,
Dec 16, 2009, 2:12:56 PM12/16/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
I've never felt like wireless mics were practical to purchase in school productions where generally the entire class wants to have a role. You're certainly not going to buy 30 channels of wireless mics for a school, buy textbooks instead. I'd say rent however many wireless you need for your leads and buy a couple of really good mics that you can hang over the stage. If you want to get really spiffy about it, see if your church group will share the cost, since you don't really need the mics all the time, use them at the school and for church programs. Check with your rental house to see if they can get you wholesale prices. Also, if over time you develop a really good relationship with your supplier you could end up getting great deals on rentals. See if they need some extra hands, great opportunity for you to learn more audio and build that ever so important relationship.
Jorge

Matt L

unread,
Dec 16, 2009, 4:14:34 PM12/16/09
to theatre-sound
Thanks so much for the input; I was getting the feeling that the
expense of buying microphones was going to be much higher than she
thought and that continuing to rent would be the best choice given the
infrequent use of the mics, but having those suspicions confirmed by
those with more experience is excellent.

I actually have a good relationship with the technical director of
another local school district who recommended the Shure PGX14/93
system and strongly warned me against trying to save money by getting
anything cheaper. When I told him that we probably wouldn't be able to
spend that much, he mentioned that he purchased a rack of 12 of his
recommended Shure systems for the local community theatre a few years
ago, and that although the rate might have gone up a bit in the past
few years, last he knew the entire rack could be rented for $275 for
an entire week. Assuming it hasn't gone up more than double, I'd
imagine we'll do that and maybe look into just purchasing a few
quality wired microphones to hang or put at the stage skirt, which
will also get a lot more use throughout the school year at other
events like concerts and such.

> I really think you want Omni's. Put the monitors behind the kids or set up as side fills and you won't have any issues with omni's.

I didn't realize that setting them up as side-fills would alleviate
the issues with feedback on omni's, but that's what we did last year
and didn't have any problems so we'll just do that again this year.
Any input on whether turning them a bit towards the audience to help
bolster the anemic house PA system is worthwhile or not?

Again, I appreciate everyone taking the time to share their comments.
I'm sure I'll have more theatre-related questions as I work on
improving my skills to make this year's show even better sound-wise
than last year, but I'll save those for other threads.

Matt

Steven Devino

unread,
Dec 16, 2009, 5:18:25 PM12/16/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
You should never get (monitor related) feedback if the vocals are not in the monitors.
Steve Devino

-----Original Message-----
From: Matt L <mjl...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:14:34
To: theatre-sound<theatre-s...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [theatre-sound-list] Re: Hello/Intro + wireless system purchasing
advice?

--
PLEASE edit unnecessary text out of your reply.

To unsubscribe or set your delivery options, see the web page:
http://groups.google.com/group/theatre-sound-list

Please take non-theatre-sound topics to private email.

page daniel

unread,
Dec 16, 2009, 5:43:57 PM12/16/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
Hello,

First a disclaimer. I do rent wireless gear as well as use them in
productions that I work on.

I think that SLX Shures would be the lowest quality units, that I would
use. The PGX units are fine for those who use four or less on an
occasional basis, but I would not expect them to have near the life as a
properly racked system of higher quality. I usually spec ULXP for
community theaters who use them three or more times each year. The cost
for these with inexpensive microphones is usually around 800 dollars per
unit, properly installed. Shure SLX systems properly installed can be
purchased for about 500 dollars per unit. A reasonable maintenance budget
depends on the amount of use, but for 16 wireless in a show I find that 160
dollars for repairs, or replacement microphones is not unusual.

As others have said it really is cheaper to rent once or twice a year if
one considers all the costs of owning equipment. The rental prices you have
mentioned are far below the cost of maintenance and depreciation, etc. I
know of a school in this region that loaned their medium quality
Sennheisers out to others and today only about half the system works as
there was no yearly budget for maintenance.

page daniel

Mike Benonis

unread,
Dec 16, 2009, 8:00:53 PM12/16/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
On 16 Dec 2009, at 11:21, Matt L wrote:

> 1.) Budget


> I read somewhere that ~$1000/channel is a ballpark figure, but there's
> no way we're going to be able to spend that kind of money. Is that
> figure accurate or inflated?

All very good questions.

$500/channel is about the lowest you can go before it's not worth buying. I recommend the Sennheiser 100 series (Either G3 or the now outdated but just as good G2; you may be able to get a deal on used or unsold G2 gear ).

> 2.) Brand
> Obviously this has a certain amount of personal preference to it, but
> I don't know much in terms of ordering of the popular brands as far as
> quality, reputation, or cost goes. My educated guess would probably be
> Shure and Sennheiser at the top, Azure and Audio Technica towards the
> bottom, and Nady, Samson, AKG, and whatever others I can't remember
> somewhere in the middle. Of course, I could be way off, so whatever
> input I can get here is greatly appreciated.

I would put Sennheiser and Lectrosonics (probably out of your price range) at the top, followed by Shure and Audio Technica in the mid range, and then everyone else in the bargain bin.

> 2.) Omnidirectional or unidirectional?
> I've read that an omni in the center of the forehead is the most
> popular method, but since we need to have stage monitors so the kids
> can hear the music being played from the CD I'm afraid I'll get
> feedback with an omni. Thoughts/experiences?

Omni, center of forehead (cable properly disguised in the hair...it's not that hard, I promise). Don't put mics in the monitors (which means your monitors should *not* come from the same output as your PA speakers).

> 4.) VHF or UHF?

UHF. VHF is typically fixed frequency (and the only good VHF I know of are Shure LX [discontinued] and Lectrosonics these days)

> 5.) Could we purchase a single receiver that can handle multiple
> channels, and maybe only one or two transmitter/microphone sets for
> now, then add additional sets down the road? Could we then also save
> on rental costs by only having to rent transmitter/mic sets that are
> compatible with the receiver we own, and not have to rent the
> receivers too?

Each transmitter requires its own receiver. That said, some manufacturers make rack-mount receiver housings that contain more than one receiver (see, for instance, the Lectrosonics Venue receiver). Keep in mind that units like this contain more than one receiver module (one per transmitter). It's not physically possible to use one receiver with multiple transmitters.

Make sure you buy a system that is tunable over a decent range of frequencies (so systems like Sennheiser's FreePort and Shure PGX are out).

> 6.) Area/boundary/choral mics?
> For Annie, Jr. last year, we had two rented Shure Beta 91s on the
> front of the stage, hoping to help pick up the rest of the cast during
> full chorus numbers and help the audience to hear the less prominent
> cast members who weren't mic'd, but we couldn't get them to pick up
> enough before feedback (as I'm sure you could've guessed). She's also
> contemplating getting some hanging choral mics, but I'm not entirely
> sure how useful that will be.

I don't think choral mics will help, and boundary mics will only help so much (depending on where your speakers are). I find that boundary mics only help with big chorus numbers, and only to give them the slightest boost when necessary. THey won't help with less than six or so actors, and with kids it's going to take a lot more.

> I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but this post is long enough as it
> is. So, thanks in advance for whatever information or advice you can
> give me!

Don't forget about antennas and antenna distribution if you are buying more than a few systems. In general, you will probably need one antenna distributor (really a bandpass filter, amplifier, and splitter in a box) for every four units, and another one to split out to those splitters. If you are buying more than four units you should probably ask the list or an RF professional for help anyway (both in terms of planning and the initial setup).

Also, depending on where you live, you need to make sure you buy units in the bandsplit with the most free frequencies. Sadly, there is not a very good way to verify this, although PWS's IAS program comes close (it costs money but there is a free demo available).

Best regards,

Mike Benonis
mi...@benonis.net
KI4RIX

Matt L

unread,
Dec 17, 2009, 9:50:42 AM12/17/09
to theatre-sound
On Dec 16, 8:00 pm, Mike Benonis <mailingli...@benonis.net> wrote:
> I would put Sennheiser and Lectrosonics (probably out of your price range) at the top, followed by Shure and Audio Technica in the mid range, and then everyone else in the bargain bin.

Got it. Just out of curiosity... what kinds of problems would we
experience with something like an Audio-Technica ATW-251L (Freeway 200
series, only $150 or so)? Not that I would even consider buying them
if it were me making the purchasing decision, given the repeated
advice not to spend any less than $450-500/channel for decent
equipment... but I'm not the one making the decision, so I'd like to
know what to expect if it goes that way.

> Omni, center of forehead (cable properly disguised in the hair...it's not that hard, I promise).  Don't put mics in the monitors (which means your monitors should *not* come from the same output as your PA speakers).

For some reason I never made the connection that I can't get feedback
if there's no way for the signal to actually feedback (i.e. mic
channels not sent to the monitors, therefore they can't feedback into
themselves). I just use an aux output on the console for the monitors
and the only thing I put on that aux output is the CD player channel.
Is there a better/more proper method (still very much a newbie,
here ;-) )?

Mike Benonis

unread,
Dec 17, 2009, 10:35:01 AM12/17/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
On 17 Dec 2009, at 09:50, Matt L wrote:

> On Dec 16, 8:00 pm, Mike Benonis <mailingli...@benonis.net> wrote:
>> I would put Sennheiser and Lectrosonics (probably out of your price range) at the top, followed by Shure and Audio Technica in the mid range, and then everyone else in the bargain bin.
>
> Got it. Just out of curiosity... what kinds of problems would we
> experience with something like an Audio-Technica ATW-251L (Freeway 200
> series, only $150 or so)? Not that I would even consider buying them
> if it were me making the purchasing decision, given the repeated
> advice not to spend any less than $450-500/channel for decent
> equipment... but I'm not the one making the decision, so I'd like to
> know what to expect if it goes that way.

The main issue is you can only use three of these at once because they are fixed frequency and those are the only frequencies they come in (the VHF part is fine, and in fact, will not be a problem). Also, they may not hold up as well to abuse by actors. I can't speak to the actual radio front end in the receiver as I've never tested them, but I'd be leery of something in this price range knowing the cost of quality RF components.

http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wls_systems/19c515dd44e66da5/index.html

>> Omni, center of forehead (cable properly disguised in the hair...it's not that hard, I promise). Don't put mics in the monitors (which means your monitors should *not* come from the same output as your PA speakers).
>
> For some reason I never made the connection that I can't get feedback
> if there's no way for the signal to actually feedback (i.e. mic
> channels not sent to the monitors, therefore they can't feedback into
> themselves). I just use an aux output on the console for the monitors
> and the only thing I put on that aux output is the CD player channel.
> Is there a better/more proper method (still very much a newbie,
> here ;-) )?

Nope, that's the right method. :-)

Mike

Jorge Cortes

unread,
Dec 17, 2009, 7:38:07 PM12/17/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
Sorry, for the double posting right away but I think it's worth mentioning that when you have a small band accompanying I'll usually only put the keys in monitors. Whatever else is keeping time is usually percussive so as long as the band is on or close to onstage they'll be able to hear it anyway. And if there's some delay from long cable runs/ extraneous circumstances you could do more hurt than good by giving them two different sources for the "click" that are out of sync. Still, the best advice anyone can give you is, go up there and listen.
Jorge

page daniel

unread,
Dec 17, 2009, 8:16:38 PM12/17/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com

> And if there's some delay from long cable runs/ extraneous circumstances
> you could do more hurt than good by giving them two different sources for
> the "click" that are out of sync. Still, the best advice anyone can give
> you is, go up there and listen.
> Jorge

Hmmm,

It seems to me that I learned some time ago that audio signals traveled
through metal cables near the
speed of light. So a 100 foot cable would induce a time delay of less than
one micro second in a 300 foot cable. That is not a significant time
difference. I do not know the time required to encode and decode signals
in digital snakes. I wonder if that would be a problem for monitors?

page daniel

Jorge Cortes

unread,
Dec 17, 2009, 8:23:45 PM12/17/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
Meh, not usually, but I've seen some stupid houses where there is a terminal every 10 feet in the house (the Arsht Center in Miami has audio terminals in the dock. That one 150' can multiply and, I'm no scientist but all those soldering points might be causing some degradation (don't quote me). I wouldn't rule out that you could have that problem. The nerdy ones are more apt to reply here.
Jorge

page daniel

unread,
Dec 17, 2009, 8:32:50 PM12/17/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
Gotta learn to proof read.

I calculated that light travels 90 meters in 0.3 micro seconds. It would
take light 0.3 ms to travel 90 km. Now that is a lot of cable. Since
these are twisted pair, there would probably be some effect, but the
information available on the propagation of signals in coaxial cables would
not apply.
Latency in cables or in analog circuitry has never been a problem that I
know of.

page daniel

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:23:45 -0500, Jorge Cortes <jcort...@gmail.com>
wrote:

Dan Mills

unread,
Dec 17, 2009, 8:35:32 PM12/17/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
On Thu, 2009-12-17 at 20:23 -0500, Jorge Cortes wrote:
> Meh, not usually, but I've seen some stupid houses where there is a
> terminal every 10 feet in the house (the Arsht Center in Miami has
> audio terminals in the dock. That one 150' can multiply and, I'm no
> scientist but all those soldering points might be causing some
> degradation (don't quote me). I wouldn't rule out that you could have
> that problem. The nerdy ones are more apt to reply here.
> Jorge
>

Velocity of propagation in a typical cable is about 60% of light, so say
200,000 Km/s, a mere few hundred feet is not going to be an issue from
this perspective [1].

Given that the serious RF types (think radio astronomers) are generally
not bothered by soldered joints, it seems unlikely that they are
noticeably non linear at almost DC [2]!

Ref digital snakes, often the biggest latencies come from the AD and DA
filtering (a few dozen samples in some cases), but remember that sound
only propagates at about 1 foot per ms, so you do need to keep things in
perspective.
Actually the gotcha with the AD and DA delays is when you have a second
path that does not use them, say analogue to and from a compressor on an
aux with the with both the return from the compressor and a direct
signal within the (digital) desk being summed... Unexpected (and
variable!) comb filtering....

Regards, Dan.

[1] Capacitive loading may sometimes be a problem, but latency is just
very unlikely to be an issue.

[2] Solder is frowned upon for joining waveguide at multi Ghz
frequencies, but even there the problem is simply attenuation, not
linearity.

Jorge Cortes

unread,
Dec 17, 2009, 8:41:49 PM12/17/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
Thanks for the ee lessons. I really appreciate it when people share info like that.
:-)
Jorge

Klay_Anderson

unread,
Dec 18, 2009, 8:38:19 AM12/18/09
to theatre-sound

On Dec 17, 5:38 pm, Jorge Cortes <jcortes1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>And if there's some delay from long cable runs/ extraneous circumstances you could do more hurt than good by giving them two different sources for the "click" that are out of sync. Still, the best advice anyone can give you is, go up there and listen.


Consider a cable with a velocity fact of, oh, .5. That means the
propagation
velocity is on the order of 100,000 miles PER SECOND. That means the
basic
latency of a 1,000 foot cable is on the order of 2 MILLIONTHS of a
second.

I have a hard time imagining ANY artist that has an issue with a delay
of 2
MILLIONTHS of a second. Let's put this into perspective: that 2
millionths
of a second delay is equivalent to the artist moving his head 0.024
inches away
from the monitor speakers.

Look at it this way: the signal travels down the wire at a rate of
around
500 MILLION feet per second, or a latency of 2 BILLIONTHS of a second
per
foot. That latency is about 500,000 times smaller than the equivalent
latency for a similar distance acoustically.

If you have an audibly detectable latency, and we're not talking
cables
stretching across the state, it's source is NOT in the cable.

--

Text "Klay" to 50500 for contact info

-.- .-.. .- -.-- / .- - / -.- .-.. .- -.-- / -.. --- - / -.-. --- --
Yours truly,

Mr. Klay Anderson, D.A.,Q.B.E.
Klay Anderson Audio, Inc.
http://www.klay.com
Fon: + 801-942-8346 Fax: + 801-942-3136

TimmyP1955

unread,
Dec 18, 2009, 11:32:04 PM12/18/09
to theatre-sound
Sennheiser 100G3.

http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmpsm.htm (wish I'd found
these before we bought nice E6!)

Definitely use the RF splitters that are designed for the units.
(They'll forget to tell you that the power supplies have to be ordered
separately!)

Unless you use very good cable (no RG59/59/6), the cable will cause
almost as much loss as the air distance from the transmitter to the
receiver. So get the good stuff or don't bother.

You can use the supplied little stick antennae with the splitters and
get great performance so long as the distance is not too great. We
are running 8 receivers off of a pair of sticks and a pair of
splitters with no problems at all (and have used these along with
another 11 channel rig).

Use http://www.sennheiserusa.com/FindFrequency and
http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/home_en.nsf/root/professional_wireless-microphone-systems_sifm-software
to set up your frequencies.

Kh9...@aol.com

unread,
Dec 22, 2009, 6:13:56 AM12/22/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
I don't know that I agree with a blanket statement of no vocals in the monitors.
I'd hate to have to sing (especially harmonies) if I couldn't hear myself. 
 
 
Kurt Hansen - kh9...@aol.com


"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule it."
  -- H. L. Mencken


 
In a message dated 12/18/2009 9:19:49 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, mike.gl...@gmail.com writes:
you are now in the position of helping the next generation of actors understand that they don't need vocals in the monitors.

Steve Devino

unread,
Dec 22, 2009, 6:52:08 AM12/22/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
There are certainly situations that call for vocals in the monitors. But a kids show with CD playback usually allows for turning the playback level dow low enough to make it easy.

For other situations its part of the job of the sound designer to keep the stage volume down low enough for the singers to hear themselves easily. This of course very challenging at times.

Putting vocals in monitors pretty much forces you to use booms and cardioid mics. Both of which come with sound quality trade offs for many shows.

Steve

Sent from my mobile


Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:13:56 EST
Subject: Re: [theatre-sound-list] Re: Hello/Intro + wireless system purchasing advice?

--

Steven Devino

unread,
Dec 22, 2009, 8:23:17 AM12/22/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
On Dec 22, at  Dec 22, 2009 6:13 AM, Kh9...@aol.com wrote:

I don't know that I agree with a blanket statement of no vocals in the monitors.
I'd hate to have to sing (especially harmonies) if I couldn't hear myself. 
 

That's a good point Kurt, but generally its a good idea to keep stage volume to where the singers can hear themselves when possible.   Its the exception rather than the rule in musical theatre to have vocals in the monitors AFAIK. 


With kids and CD playback there really should be no need since you can turn down the CD playback level as much as is needed to hear the kids.

Steve


page daniel

unread,
Dec 22, 2009, 8:38:22 AM12/22/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
Good Morning,

As a matter of practice, it is best to leave the vocals out of the monitors
as Steve has recommended. The major problem is simple physics. With wig
microphones feedback is a problem that cannot be overcome especially with
weak voices. Yes, this can be overcome with boom mics and I do shows
that insist on E6's to solve the problems of poor systems and weak voices.

Proper design requires that the stage volume be kept low to limit the pick
up from the monitors by the omni microphones that the other members of the
cast are wearing as well.

That all being said, I have seen ops give a struggling soloist a little
monitor for a few of his/her numbers successfully. I also so a show
(Tommy) in which the lead wore an IEM for the show and this caused the
experienced FOH operator no problems.

While I have plenty of IEM's, monitors, and E6 booms available, none of
these is first on my list of things to plan on using for most theatrical
productions.

page daniel

Richard B. Ingraham

unread,
Dec 22, 2009, 1:39:24 PM12/22/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: theatre-s...@googlegroups.com [mailto:theatre-sound-
> li...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of page daniel
> Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 8:38 AM
> To: theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [theatre-sound-list] Re: Hello/Intro + wireless system
> purchasing advice?
>

> Good Morning,
>
> As a matter of practice, it is best to leave the vocals out of the
> monitors
> as Steve has recommended. The major problem is simple physics. With
> wig
> microphones feedback is a problem that cannot be overcome especially
> with
> weak voices. Yes, this can be overcome with boom mics and I do shows
> that insist on E6's to solve the problems of poor systems and weak
> voices.
>
> Proper design requires that the stage volume be kept low to limit the
> pick
> up from the monitors by the omni microphones that the other members of
> the
> cast are wearing as well.
>
> That all being said, I have seen ops give a struggling soloist a little
> monitor for a few of his/her numbers successfully. I also so a show
> (Tommy) in which the lead wore an IEM for the show and this caused the
> experienced FOH operator no problems.
>
> While I have plenty of IEM's, monitors, and E6 booms available, none of
> these is first on my list of things to plan on using for most
> theatrical
> productions.
>

Page is totally on the mark here. There are exceptions and places where you
will end up putting wireless lavs in the stage monitors, but they are
typical few and far between. Most days you simply are not going to get
enough gain before feedback out of a small lav in the hairline to get any
useable amount of vocal foldback anyway. Or if you do, you have to notch
the signal so much that it sounds like complete ****.

It's always better to fight the other issues that are causing a performer
not to hear themselves if at all possible. Too much orchestra in the
monitors or too much natural orchestra sound on stage are some typical
issues and of course what is great for one actor will be totally worthless
for another.

I can remember the first musical I engineered and mixed professionally.
(Aint' Misbehavin) It was a tech disaster. The actors insisted on getting
vocals in the monitors, the band is right on stage, we didn't really plan
our sound system with that in mind so we didn't really have speakers
appropriate for that task, and the designer on the show not only didn't know
squat about sound reinforcement, but he didn't put his foot down and work
with the actors about putting vocals in the monitor (or not putting them in
there) and he was also on his way out the door of the organization as well,
so even if he had put his foot down, he would have been dismissed since his
credibility was fairly low with the organization by that time.

So I wasted all kinds of time trying to notch this and cut that and move
speakers to new locations. Let's just say in the end it didn't help the
show much at all and the cast was generally unhappy, a few more so than
others. :-)

It was a real learning experience that's for sure.

I have often done things like putting vocals in monitors for people that are
trying to sing a duet and their partner is 50' away from them. That makes
sense and can work if you have the monitors separated out into multiple
feeds to allow for it. And I've done it successfully for a solo here and
there on some big numbers where the signer really needed help. I've also
done it shows like Altar Boyz where it's really just a pop concert anyway
and the cast is all on headsets. But in general I avoid it and if you have
any decent number of cast on stage with their mics open simultaneously I
doubt you would get enough gain to be of much use to the singers anyway,
except maybe to hear each other. Certainly not themselves.


Richard B. Ingraham
RBI Computers and Audio
http://www.rbicompaudio.20m.com

page daniel

unread,
Dec 22, 2009, 2:00:07 PM12/22/09
to theatre-s...@googlegroups.com
Richard's description of trying to work with designers and directors who
did not understand the technical aspects of reinforced sound brought back
memories of a job I tried to help with. These people often think that one
can just ignore the physics of sound by using technology. In addition They
do not understand that using these technologies is an art as well as a
craft.

A couple of years a go I agreed to supply wireless microphones for a
musical for a summer festival and offered to help train their backstage
personnel and be of assistance with the best implementation. There was a
designer listed as a part of the festival who had already left town when I
delivered the equipment, a musical director, that I never met, and a
professor of musical theater direction, who as far as I could tell never
had used wireless before. The board op was a part of the venue staff and
probably had never mixed a large musical before. It was a disaster, not
because I did not know what they were doing wrong, but because of my
advisory status. I had no ability to tell the FOH OP what to do and not to
do, nor did I really have a seat at the table with the directors.

The next year they had a better director, an intern to for a board OP and I
agreed to give them some help that they knew they needed only if I was
listed as the associate sound designer which put me into the loop. This
solved most of their problems as I gained control over the maladjusted
house sound system and the staff could see that the producers trusted my
technical abilities.

page daniel

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages