How to mix
- Thread starterJason Antwi-Appah
- Start date
macsound
Well-Known Member
Line by line mixing:
This is the norm in touring and broadway theatre, usually on VCAs, but that's only because they have another tech who writes those cues. For a normal community theatre musical, the effort of making the snapshots far exceeds the usefulness. Maybe that's just me because I learned to mix 32 wireless on an analog console.
Most important tool is a set of markers so you can mark your script with the mics needed, and include standbys on the page before if it's a fast pickup, just like you would on a stage management script.
LCR system in a school:
I've experienced this before and it's usually a mess. 2 scenarios. 1. There was a LR initially installed and then someone noticed a lack of center coverage. 2. There was a Center initially installed and it was improperly wired to use either the L or R from the console instead of summing the output. So the installer said the best solution if you actually want stereo is having 2 speakers.
What I would usually do is grab the center feed separately from the amp rack so I can atleast control what's being sent to it, usually no band or FX and depending on the coverage, a different EQ, espically if it's 10 feet higher than the LR.
This is the norm in touring and broadway theatre, usually on VCAs, but that's only because they have another tech who writes those cues. For a normal community theatre musical, the effort of making the snapshots far exceeds the usefulness. Maybe that's just me because I learned to mix 32 wireless on an analog console.
Most important tool is a set of markers so you can mark your script with the mics needed, and include standbys on the page before if it's a fast pickup, just like you would on a stage management script.
LCR system in a school:
I've experienced this before and it's usually a mess. 2 scenarios. 1. There was a LR initially installed and then someone noticed a lack of center coverage. 2. There was a Center initially installed and it was improperly wired to use either the L or R from the console instead of summing the output. So the installer said the best solution if you actually want stereo is having 2 speakers.
What I would usually do is grab the center feed separately from the amp rack so I can atleast control what's being sent to it, usually no band or FX and depending on the coverage, a different EQ, espically if it's 10 feet higher than the LR.
Jay Ashworth
Well-Known Member
jkowtko
Well-Known Member
The only already mounted center speakers in theaters that I've worked were set up for lectures ... a cardioid mic mounted on a podium, usually well behind the speakers, and usually never moving from it's location. Pretty easy to avoid feedback. This obviously does not work for body mounted lavs on actors moving about on stage.
Fortunately in all cases the center speaker was driven by its own amp and was fed by a separate output jack from the control room ... so I simply hooked it up to a pre-fade aux bus, selected which channels I wanted to feed it, and set it to a level that worked. With my digital board I do the exact same thing when I set up a full rig myself ... and the digital board has EQ for each output channel so the center can be rung out separately if needed.
Regarding LCR panning and stereo -- musicals to me are mono, unless you have stereo music tracks that you want to play. If I am lucky enough to have a 5 speaker surround setup then for actors I will feed all three front speakers equally (i.e. a wall of mono) and feed the rears through a stereo aux bus equally but at -20-30db as fills. I do not pan actors. Orchestra is pretty much the same but if the instruments are spread across the front of the stage I may pan (still in mono) to the left or right on the LR feeds about halfway based on where the instruments are located. Only stereo playback tracks will I play in stereo on the LR and rear fills, and again as mono to center. Location specific sound effects will feed whatever speaker(s) are closest to where the sound should be coming from, if I don't have a separate sounds effects speaker to place on stage where needed.
And of course this is all subject to adjustment based what you are hearing in the specific venue.
-- John
Fortunately in all cases the center speaker was driven by its own amp and was fed by a separate output jack from the control room ... so I simply hooked it up to a pre-fade aux bus, selected which channels I wanted to feed it, and set it to a level that worked. With my digital board I do the exact same thing when I set up a full rig myself ... and the digital board has EQ for each output channel so the center can be rung out separately if needed.
Regarding LCR panning and stereo -- musicals to me are mono, unless you have stereo music tracks that you want to play. If I am lucky enough to have a 5 speaker surround setup then for actors I will feed all three front speakers equally (i.e. a wall of mono) and feed the rears through a stereo aux bus equally but at -20-30db as fills. I do not pan actors. Orchestra is pretty much the same but if the instruments are spread across the front of the stage I may pan (still in mono) to the left or right on the LR feeds about halfway based on where the instruments are located. Only stereo playback tracks will I play in stereo on the LR and rear fills, and again as mono to center. Location specific sound effects will feed whatever speaker(s) are closest to where the sound should be coming from, if I don't have a separate sounds effects speaker to place on stage where needed.
And of course this is all subject to adjustment based what you are hearing in the specific venue.
-- John
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