Conductor Mix Volume Issue

[Diggits5]

Hey all, here's the scenario:

Regional black box theater with grid set up as a thrust stage, orchestra (keys, drumpad, chello, violin, bass, trumpet, clarinet) offstage in a corner with 4 monitors, 10 mic'd actors, 3 house speakers, 3 stage monitors(both in grid).

The actors, after some adjusting and tinkering are satisfied with the onstage mix. The conductor/music director, who also plays keyboard keeps complaining that the actors volumes in her mix are inconsistent in relation between singing volume and stage voice volume.

Aside from having to manually fade her mix between scenes on our LS9, is there a way to reduce her volumes during dialogue scenes and increase for singing parts(which can jump quickly between the two)? Apparently the volumes while the cast is singing and musicians are playing is set to a good level but when dialogue is taking place without underscore, their volumes are too loud.

*side note* is there a way to muffle a field drum that is used as an underscore during dialogue? it overpowers the space and the actors can barely be heard without pushing their mics.?**

Thanks!

 

[Footer]

Sounds like what you actually need is a ducker that will duck her mix when the band is not playing. Throw the ducker on her mix and use a sub group of the band as a key source.

 

[FMEng]

A ducker would do the opposite of what's needed here. Downward expansion is what's needed here. Similar to gating, but it just needs to drop a few dB. Key it with a submix of the band.

 

[Diggits5]

Are these things available on the Ls9?

 

[damjamkato]

I second FMEng's recommendation of an expander. The LS9 does have this functionality; you can set the 'Dynamics 1' device on the conductor's output to be an expander.

 

[Diggits5]

Ducking seems like it's what needs to be done, to decrease the conductors monitor mix. But I can't add it as a dynamic for an output like that.

How would expanding help?

 

[Footer]

Ducking seems like it's what needs to be done, to decrease the conductors monitor mix. But I can't add it as a dynamic for an output like that.

How would expanding help?

These guys are right, I was wrong. A ducker takes a loud input and makes it quieter when something else is loud. You want something to get quieter when something else is quiet. A downward expander does that.

 

[FMEng]

Downward expansion would turn down the monitor send by x dB when the key source is below a set threshold. In other words, when the band is not playing, the send level is reduced. Band starts playing, monitor gets louder.

 

[themuzicman]

Aside from having to manually fade her mix between scenes on our LS9, is there a way to reduce her volumes during dialogue scenes and increase for singing parts(which can jump quickly between the two)? Apparently the volumes while the cast is singing and musicians are playing is set to a good level but when dialogue is taking place without underscore, their volumes are too loud.

While it is hard on the LS9, if you are line mixing the show and getting a consistent mix in the house PA, just sending a post-fade vocal group should solve the problem. However if you are just doing a 'set it and forget it' deal on the mics, then I can image it would be inconsistent in any mixes being fed.

 

[Diggits5]

How would I go about downward expansion on the Ls9?

 

[damjamkato]

How would I go about downward expansion on the Ls9?

Select the output that feeds the conductor monitor, and navigate to the selected channel view. By default the type of DYNAMICS 1 is a compressor. Change that to an expander, and set the SOURCE to the orchestra subgroup or main output (depending on your system matrix). Adjust the parameters (most importantly threshold, ratio, and gain) to taste.

 

[Diggits5]

Ahh! thank you! i'm sure she will still be unhappy but it's totally worth a shot!

 

[kiwitechgirl]

You can get mufflers for snare drums - this or this should do the trick. Our percussionists have a bunch of them and use them a lot.

 

[TimmyP1955]

Split the actors to two channels each - one for house and one for band monitors. Compress the dickens out of the one for the monitors.