Cans while mixing

Do you wear stage comms during a show whilst mixing SOUND


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I don't wear the headset when I'm on sound. Usually during rehersals, I turn on the panel speaker on the base station, which is in one of the racks by the board. I just point the headset mic up in the air and latch it on.

During shows, I leave the headset on top of the rack, and people flash the call light to get hold of me. I'd love to find a telephone handset to use with it, or even a clear-com box with blazer on it, but no dice.
 
Well my tech director thinks that we get beter sound if we move all of our equipment ( thats a crap load) down in the house. So, not being up in the booth, i have to wear a headset because i cant be shouting cues and such during a show.
 
You will get better sound mixing ability by having the foh house position in the house, but that is another discussion that I have talked about my views before here.

If you have to wear cans, make sure it is the single ear version, but it takes a bit of getting used to. Trying to mix based on the program feed in dual muff intercom is definitely not a good idea. if you just need to call cues you can just use a mic and then have a call light in case someone needs to talk with you.

Sharyn
 
i normally have one setup but i don't use it during the show managing 16 radio mics is not easy task
 
Standard way it's done in professional theatre is to be off headset with a cue light to take playback and other cues from. If you're needed to deal with a problem via com, the PSM flashes the cue light a few times to get your attention, and you pick up a telephone style handset to talk.

--Andy
 
Sparticus, out of curiousity why are you calling cues? Shouldn't the PSM be doing that?
 
I sit out at the front of house all by myself at the sound desk without and headset. Sometimes before the show, or during intermission, I put it on, or when there is a mic problem that I have to talk to someone else about. Otherwise, I divert all my attention to the live sound.
 
Yeah i do the same the moment i have a problem i pick up my phone can when something goes wrong,
 
i wear it, but only if im allowed to use my set up and only when doing a fairly simple show like a play or something, but never anything where theres lot of changes as far as the sound goes (live music, etc.) I use a set up where i have my head set that will act as moniter headphones and have a mic so i can use it as a comm to. Its nice for productiones where mics are being changed and stuff though, jus tso you have that backstage communication to make sure mics are set and everything before you start changing you mixer.
 
how do you have that setup so that you can switch between cans and sound?
 
how do you have that setup so that you can switch between cans and sound?

Not sure how Saxman does it, but it should be a simple thing to rig up. You could just wire up a box with a headset socket, a switch, a headset socket & a headphone plug. However, you can run into a problem with this. If you are using comms that have 4 pin plug, then you would be stuck with using the headset in mono. It is possible for it to be wired for stereo, though off the top of my head I don't recall the exact details. It may be a matter of a new cable to your headset, Beyer headsets have a connector between cable and headset so you should be able to have two cables and just fit the one you need at the time it you so desire.

If you so desire, I can work out the details, but the model number of the headset and the model of comms would be a good thing.

After all a comms headset is simply a pair of headphones and a microphone...
 
i know we use concert intercom our headsets are five pins to the can box then three pins out
 
Not sure how Saxman does it, but it should be a simple thing to rig up. You could just wire up a box with a headset socket, a switch, a headset socket & a headphone plug. However, you can run into a problem with this. If you are using comms that have 4 pin plug, then you would be stuck with using the headset in mono. It is possible for it to be wired for stereo, though off the top of my head I don't recall the exact details. It may be a matter of a new cable to your headset, Beyer headsets have a connector between cable and headset so you should be able to have two cables and just fit the one you need at the time it you so desire.

If you so desire, I can work out the details, but the model number of the headset and the model of comms would be a good thing.

After all a comms headset is simply a pair of headphones and a microphone...

Most com bases will allow you to inject audio and control how it's handled. Clear-Com rigs let you cut it off, keep it always on, or have it automatically cut out when someone switches on, and it's selectable per channel so the lighting guys can have it different from the stage managers if they like.
 
There is of course the option of putting a mixer in to mix your comms and headphones.

Hmm. I looked at an adaptor cable at work today. The 5 pin connector didn't have any connection to pin 5. But alas, I have a gut feeling that it would be a stereo connection. I'll look into it and work it out...

My problem with using the program input on the comms master is that it is NOT what most soundies want. So I was looking more at hijacking the connection between headset and beltpack.
 
When I'm doing sound, I like to be down with the audience to hear what they're hearing (quite a big difference actually), and I have a wireless can.

When I'm doing lighting, I sometimes co-ordinate followspots and can all at once too. Otherwise lighting's too much fun.
 
OK. Looked more into 5 pin headset connector pinouts. Pin 1 is as it is on a 4 pin, Mic ground, pin 2 is also Mic signal, pin 3 is also earphone common. In 4 pin, pin 4 is the other earphone connection. In 5 pin, pin 4 is earphone left and pin 5 is earphone right.

So it would be reasonably easy for you to make up an adaptor lead that took the 5 pin headset connector and converted it to a 3 pin XLR for the mic and a 1/4" TRS for the headphones. A switch box would be an easy thing to make. I shall give more details if needed.
 
You can convert the headphones the 5 pin version is to support stereo head phones. This is fine for someone Other Than the FOH mixer to use. What you hear over headphones is before the speakers before the crossover and depending on what dsp you are using before the dsp, SO What you are hearing is definitely NOT what the audience is hearing. For reference cues or general hearing of the program it is fine but for mixing and hearing what the audience hears it is NOT a good idea.

Headphones in addition to the above have a totally different phase response since the audio on each channel is isolated to each ear so you don't get the effect of phase on your hearing. This is also related to the practice where someone puts in a sound mixer in the booth with the lighting console and closes it off from the audience space, and then uses monitor speakers to mix the sound , again a very poor choice since as above you are not hearing what the audience is hearing

Sharyn
 

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