Cell phone ring

[themuzicman]

I am designing two shows in the next few months that will require cell phones ringing on stage. Between the two shows the phone rings close to 60 times. Because of the high volume of rings, and the fact that the actor will be all over the theatre (back of house, in the vom, in the grid, etc) I need a solution to make a phone ring.

My first idea was to get an old Nokia phone and an Arduino micro and a wireless radio chip for it, and wire it to the ringer of the phone directly. However, I really want to see if there are any commercial solutions that don't involve me doing too much electronics work.

My second idea was to repurpose an IEM system and put a tiny battery powered speaker in the lead's pocket, and run the IEM receiver in to that.

I have a budget of around $800 to make this cell phone ring.

 

[Anonymous067]

My initial thoughts...

I just closed a show using the IEM/speaker combo. It was a nightmare...small speaker, not loud enough...etc.

What I would do is position speakers near where ever the person is (try to hide them in scenery) and route the "ring" through that speaker for each location...

Anybody else have any thoughts?

 

[themuzicman]

Routing the ringtone to speakers on stage is not going to work. All of my speakers are being hung between 20' to 30' off of the ground, or being/under the audience. Due to constraints from the scenic designer, I cannot have any speakers in direct sightlines which means nothing remotely close to where the actors will be performing.

In my opinion, routing the ringtone to speakers is an amateur solution. I am doing a professional production and need to find a solution so that it looks real.

 

[cprted]

In my opinion, routing the ringtone to speakers is an amateur solution. I am doing a professional production and need to find a solution so that it looks real.

No it isn't an amateur solution, sourcing sound effects to hidden speakers is completely normal in the professional world.

 

[rochem]

In my opinion, routing the ringtone to speakers is an amateur solution. I am doing a professional production and need to find a solution so that it looks real.

Routing the ringtone through your center cluster just because it's there (not as a design choice) is an amateur solution. Routing a sound effect through a small speaker hidden somewhere on stage is quite common. You can get really creative with modifying furniture and parts of the set to accept a very small speaker.

EDIT: yeah... what cprted said...

 

[wolf825]

Routing the ringtone to speakers on stage is not going to work. All of my speakers are being hung between 20' to 30' off of the ground, or being/under the audience. Due to constraints from the scenic designer, I cannot have any speakers in direct sightlines which means nothing remotely close to where the actors will be performing.

In my opinion, routing the ringtone to speakers is an amateur solution. I am doing a professional production and need to find a solution so that it looks real.

Far tooo rude dude...that reply was amateur...and you can bet any folks who may have ideas or solutions won't respond or want to help you out if you keep that up.... And FWIW--professional shows if they need will route to speakers on stage or hidden in sets anywhere they need it to be..

Word of advice--A dismissive and condescending attitude won't get you far...not here and not in the real world.. I've fired people or tossed them off a show or out of my venue for such attitude....it brings nothing to the show and after 25+ years doing this industry touring concerts and working on Broadway shows and tours--I can guarantee you that it won't fly in ANY professional show... Just sayin..it may not have been your intent but it came off really badly.....



-w

 

[cpf]

The only way you can get sound to come out is through speakers. Embedding the speakers in props enhances the realism of the SFX ("Hey! The ringing sound is coming from the general vicinity of the phone, not the speaker clusters!"), and it's always possible to make a standalone unit to avoid cabling (search these forums, there are plenty of threads on it).

In your case, maybe just get a cellphone and have someone call it from offstage?

PS: Make sure that phone is on the callers My-5 esque plan, to avoid surprise bills!

 

[themuzicman]

The fact that the actor with the phone is moving all around the venue, through the house, in to the vom, routing through speakers is not an option. I am well versed in placing hidden speakers in furniture and scenery to make sound happen - this is not an option for this show.

Wolf - I do not feel my response was condescending. I stated that all of my speakers are being hung 20'-30' up - this is not an ideal situation but I had to work out where I was hanging my cluster and other various fx speakers. The fact that the actor is running everywhere means that sourcing sound to speakers on the stage is a less than ideal situation unless they are right by the speaker. I am aiming for precision - thus I need the physical cell phone to ring. I know how the professional world works, I am a working professional and work doing concert touring and professional theatre work. I felt my response was adequate.

cpf - calling the phone isn't ideal. The calls happen so much that I don't want to rely on a crew member to call it every single time - that and I don't have the money in the budget to hire a crew member to be the "phone caller". The first show runs 8x a week for a month - the rate for failure is too high for me to be comfortable with!

 

[Stookeybrd]

Use your definition of amateur and professional but on Broadway and Off-Broadway we use localized speakers. We talked about this concept a little while ago. Now in addition to the localized speaker, we have the practical make noise. But I would never rely on it, nor intend for it to work every night. Are you micing the actor? If you are, then the argument for realism is void because having a phone ring behind the audience then having the actor "speak" from the PA in front of the audience: awkward. You seem intent on making this work so I would recommend finding an old clunky cellphone, stripping it empty, finding a higher output driver and amp, wiring a simple circuit with a switch that the actor can push whenever there needs to be a ring.

Things to consider: What happens if the actor drops the phone when he/she is in the grid? What if it's forgotten on the prop table? What if the battery is faulty? Plus, there is no small speaker in the world that will fill a theater enough so that everyone can localize the ring, that won't deafen the actor.

 

[metti]

Wolf - I do not feel my response was condescending.

I think that wolf825 was referring to this early comment when he used the work condescending:

"In my opinion, routing the ringtone to speakers is an amateur solution. I am doing a professional production and need to find a solution so that it looks real."

My guess would be that he takes exception to the parts that he bolded when quoting this line in his reply.

 

[kiwitechgirl]

I worked on a show a couple of years ago which needed a baby to cry on cue - we were (obviously!) using a doll for the baby. Our lighting designer had a device which was essentially a battery-powered sound playback device with a built in speaker; it had a small hard-drive on it (I think you loaded the sound on via USB) and four decent-sized buttons, each of which could trigger a different sound. I don't know what it was called or where he got it, but it could work well for your application. It was small enough that you could hide it in a decent pocket - the only problem we had with it was that it was wrapped up within the doll's blankets, and the operator went to recharge the batteries one night under blue light, couldn't tell which was the red wire and which was the black, connected the charger backwards and set the baby on fire! I can try and find out what it was if you like....

 

[Anonymous067]

Use your definition of amateur and professional but on Broadway and Off-Broadway we use localized speakers. We talked about this concept a little while ago. Now in addition to the localized speaker, we have the practical make noise. But I would never rely on it, nor intend for it to work every night. Are you micing the actor? If you are, then the argument for realism is void because having a phone ring behind the audience then having the actor "speak" from the PA in front of the audience: awkward. You seem intent on making this work so I would recommend finding an old clunky cellphone, stripping it empty, finding a higher output driver and amp, wiring a simple circuit with a switch that the actor can push whenever there needs to be a ring.

Things to consider: What happens if the actor drops the phone when he/she is in the grid? What if it's forgotten on the prop table? What if the battery is faulty? Plus, there is no small speaker in the world that will fill a theater enough so that everyone can localize the ring, that won't deafen the actor.

I'm sure the OP saw that thread...but chose to ignore it because it wasn't the answer they were looking for. That's generally why people do re-posts around here anyways...

...and need to find a solution so that it looks real.

I think grammatically this needs to read, sounds real, no? We are sound guys, yes?

 

[derekleffew]

themuzicman, rather than an actual cellphone, what about a cordless phone and using the "page" or "locate handset" function? Many cordless phones look very similar to cell phones. The Stage Manager or audio person will still need to trigger it though. But it is only one button, and probably more reliable.

 

[dvsDave]

In support of derekleffew's suggestion, I would note that the locate/page function on cordless phones is usually quite loud as compared to even the normal ring volume.

However, this does require a base station to trigger the function. You said the performer would be all over the place, including the back of the house. I would triple-check that the base station has the power to trigger the cordless from that distance. That would be my only major concern with that solution. From a visual perspective, a cordless looks like a really old school cellphone. I would even consider mounting a fake extendable antenna to the cordless to enhance the perception of how old it is.

 

[museav]

Stookeybrd brought up some potentially important issues. I don't think it was asked, but how large is the venue and how loud do you envision the ring being? Does the actor respond to the call and if so, how are you handling that audio? Does the audience hear the other end of any of the cell phone conversations? What else may be happening during the time when the phone rings? Do you have to coordinate the ringing stopping with some live action by the actor?

 

[themuzicman]

Stookeybrd brought up some potentially important issues. I don't think it was asked, but how large is the venue and how loud do you envision the ring being? Does the actor respond to the call and if so, how are you handling that audio? Does the audience hear the other end of any of the cell phone conversations? What else may be happening during the time when the phone rings? Do you have to coordinate the ringing stopping with some live action by the actor?

The venue is a 300 seat thrust, and the ring needs to be loud enough to be heard from the back of the house. The actor responds to the call. I haven't decided if the audience hears the other end of the call or not, but it is not important to the present discussion.

I don't see why everyone is raising the big fuss to this issue. I stated that I need a cell phone to ring - not a speaker to play a sound effect. For those saying, "Well, in the professional world"; I am a professional with off-broadway and national touring experience. I have been around a few times and know how things work. This is the first time I have encountered this problem and I know how the real world works. If a Broadway show really wanted a phone to ring on stage, they would make a custom solution and get it to work.

I think I am going to just go with a custom solution; get a display cell phone from a shop and throw an Arduino board in to it with an XBee radio receiver attached to a battery powered speaker. I can program a basic ringtone to the arduino with the components I have. Throw a few LED's behind the screen for effect. I tie the receiver in to the computer and send signal over midi via QLab. Multiple transmitters around the theatre provide full coverage for this device to work everywhere.

 

[Stookeybrd]

If a Broadway show really wanted a phone to ring on stage, they would make a custom solution and get it to work.

Yeah, but we also realize that a single mini-speaker cannot cover a 1,500 seat theater let alone a 300 seat theater. I just tested my BB Bold and it didn't past 90dBA from six inches away. Not entirely practical for a practical.

I agree that having the phone ring from all over the place and draw the audience's attention would be fantastic. But you seem to be asking for a James Bond style device that is handheld in size, but full sized in volume.

Let us know how it goes, I really like you wireless idea. I'm particularly interested in delay and Tx coverage requirements.

*edited for content

 

[Van]

themuzicman
It appears you have your solution. I'm closing the thread. In the future I hope you leave the condsescending attitude in you office. You are welcome here, it is not.