Seussical

[wavemaster447]

Hi guys! I'm a new member here at CB, but I've been skulking, watching for helpful advice, and getting help here for a while now. Thanks to you guys for fixing 3 of my clear-comm headsets and an entire DSP.

Anyway, I'm doing sound design for Seussical the Musical, and I wondered if anybody has done this before - I only have ready access to 10 wireless mics - will that be enough? From my past experience with broadway musicals, I've barely been able to get by with 16 (when I put them on at my church, we've got plenty of mics, but this production is with a different theatre company.) If I don't have enough mics, what is the best way to mic anybody else? I don't have easy access to any other mics except a super-crappy floor mics that i don't think work at all...

Like I said, any advice or tips for Seussical would be helpful. Thanks!

Matt

[NickJones]

I don't do much sound but was recently helping out doing a mic plot for a friend. Go through your script and mark down everyone who is onstage with a speaking role at any given time, once you have done this you no the minimum amount of mics needed. But chances are there will be scenes in which you can't get the necisariy numbers of mics, the last show I did was based in a TV studio, and in that situation it was aceptable to have people on stage with 58's, but I don't know if that would be aceptable in the Seussocial, so maybe consider shotgun mics if you have no other avenues, chances are you will be able to squeeze those extra few dollars out for one more set, once they know how dodgey it will look if there are mics onstage.

A few other members have done this show in the past, check out this as it may help some of the set guys & lighting guys.

Remember if all else fails get the actors to shout. It's easier than getting a mic.

Nick

[Anonymous067]

Not having enough mics can be a big problem...especially since money is usually involved if you need/want to rent/buy more. Perhaps a nearby facility (theater, school, etc would loan you some gear?).

In a musical, you probably should use those ten mics to the best use on the singing leads first, and then if you still have any left, use the rest for speaking roles. You may have to have people switch mics backstage if a certain actor isn't on stage for a certain scene/act. This shouldn't be random obviously, it should be planned and coordinated (as well as practiced), so everybody is on the same page.

Although a lot of people say to hide mics in the stage and set, I don't ever find it useful, and I never have practiced this.

I'm kinda spoiled with 24 channels of wireless...however I still have to share mics. :[.

Anyways..best of luck.

I'm sure some other people will fire up and pitch in some other advice shortly here...

[wavemaster447]

Thanks for the advice - it looks like we're getting about 6-10 more mics temporarily donated by a local dealer. Still, we may need to do some tricky switching backstage.

One more question - we're about 4 clear-comm headsets short since this is the first show we've done in a while with spots, so we need some more headsets. We've had an offer to borrow some from another local theatre, but they're older... they have a simple analog switch/button for talking, and our new ones have the nice little pack with the button and a call light. Will these be backwards compatible?

Specifically, the new set is an RS-500 (link to photo and datasheet http://www.clearcom.com/support/data..._Datasheet.pdf

I cannot find any reference to the model number we could borrow. (I can't get my hands on them until it would be too late to get something else). Like I said, it's an older model with no call light, and the headsets are permanantly wired into each belt pack - not removable.

Any ideas?

EDIT: Scratch that - the headsets we could borrow are the Que-Com Headsets (just a cheaper version) and are fully compatible.

[jkowtko]

I the Director/Choreographer will allow, you can also try to "buddy up" some of the second tier actors so the lines can be delivered into the mic of the neighbor.

[jds1221]

i just finished doing sound on a production with seussical and i was blessed with 6 body mics, and 3 cardiod handhelds as floor mics, and we actually heard everbody. its all about having the actors share mics and taking the time b4 to go through the script with the sm to know when a switch is possible

[Anonymous067]

i just finished doing sound on a production with seussical and i was blessed with 6 body mics, and 3 cardiod handhelds as floor mics, and we actually heard everbody. its all about having the actors share mics and taking the time b4 to go through the script with the sm to know when a switch is possible

Our SM couldn't care less about the mic switching...as long as she can hear everybody she stays off my case.

[wavemaster447]

OK so the production is over - I did a scene breakdown and the absolute fewest number of mics you can have is 14. We managed to scrape up 20, for the 16 main charecters, and two spares. (both of which we ended up using at times.) Three drop/hanging mics picked up the ensemble, and the few super-minor charecter lines. I attatched our mic assignments sheet and scene breakdown for anybody who wants it... (The V-mics are better seinhowsers, and the S mics are crappier Shures we had.)

Also, a note to anybody who does lighting for this show - be careful not to make it too dim. Ours made that mistake, and after seeing the play also at two other theatres, their designers did the same thing. Ours had some excuse about making the color stand out more, but it was very detracting from the show...

As you'll see from the scene breakdown, it's farily difficult to switch mics, because of the little time between scenes...

Thanks to you guys for all your help!

[echellis]

Thanks for posting this for everyone. I am doing this show in the fall and this will be a huge help. Thank you.

[marcusianl]

You just made my life so much easier. My high school is performing this show in February and I was dreading the tech design for it. Thank you so much!

[MillburyAuditorium]

Hello, Sorry if this doesnt have ot do with your problem.

As you already resolved your problem, this is jsut a tip.

You might want to try getting your school to purchase some hanging mics. Our mic system includes.
8 Wireless clip on mics.
4 Floor mics.
6 Hanging mics.

The clip on mics are always swapped around during set changes/ people leaving the set to other people going on. And it is all graphed out so we know who gets what mic when. Plus if something goes wrong and someone gives the wrong person a mic or the belt pack is off, or a noise is coming from the mic, we just turn of that mic and turn up the hanging mics more then usual to insure the performers are heard.

We would get more wireless mics, but our sound board is all taken up.
One channel is broken(The slider bent and wont respond)
four for floor mics
three for hanging mics
8 for wireless mics
one for the CD player in
one for a line in for mp3 players/laptops