Musical Theatre Mixing Resources

LPdan

Well-Known Member
I've been searching online for informational/training videos or other resources to get better at mixing musical theatre. It is surprising how little I have found specific to this application, to the point where I feel I must be missing something obvious. Most of what I see is geared toward recording, church services, and concerts.
I don't have specific questions but am looking more for tips/techniques. Basically, I don't know what I don't know.
Any ideas?
 
My advice (from more of a lighting guy but still applies) is learn your tools. Learn how your gear works and learn to operate it not just drive it. Once you have those skills you then work on applying the tools to the task.
Asking questions getting involved with other groups where you can watch and learn.
Enjoy your journey.
Geoff
 
My advice (from more of a lighting guy but still applies) is learn your tools. Learn how your gear works and learn to operate it not just drive it. Once you have those skills you then work on applying the tools to the task.
Asking questions getting involved with other groups where you can watch and learn.
Enjoy your journey.
Geoff
Thanks, that's good advice. There are definitely things on the console I could dig deeper into!
 
Here is a decent walkthrough of what its like to mix broadway style shows in a line by line mixing technique.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


With musical theatre you really have to separate the mixing from the sound design. How you arrange speakers, delays, EQ, mic talent etc is one art. Where you place each element in the mix is another art. How you program the desk and actually run the show is another layer. What kind of PA's are you working with? What consoles? What kind of mics? Lots of RF or little?
 
You bring up an excellent question. I too wish there was training resource out there for mixing musicals. I don't know your experience or what type of environment / setup you are working in, so feel free to ignore anything I put down here if it doesn't apply. I am also not a full time professional in the theater field unfortunately. So - feel free to disagree with anything in my post here if it's not correct.

I find myself often riding faders when mixing musicals. Not necessarily faders on individual channels (though sometimes those need adjustment) but moreso DCA and group faders. For example, at the end of some songs the music mix comes up for the finish (maybe that's a pre-recorded track or maybe it's a pit band mix). Or maybe on some number everyone onstage is singing at the top of their volume and the SPL goes way up, so I bring all mics down just to keep the whole mix from getting way too loud.

Some professionals mix musicals using VCAs / DCAs and dynamic DCA assignments. One theater I work at just finished up with "Young Frankenstein, the Musical" and I mixed the show this way on a digital console.

Since I have been mixing with DCAs to mix musicals, some things made a big difference for me over mixing musicals without them. 1). I could more easily manage the chorus levels 2). I could more easily pop people's mic out if they had a feature line in a song (or duck the other mics under - and 3). I wasn't as worried about turning on and off mutes for 20+ board channels anymore (because of the DCA assignments) and this made some things much easier and less stressful for me. It was also easier to mix the show overall.

I'm not sure if there is a dedicated training resource for how to mix with DCAs, but there are videos showing people mixing with DCAs in different ways and also I was able to glean a lot of info by watching videos of some software products being used. For example, James Holt's X32 Theatre Control. Eventually I was able to create my own software to automate DCA assignments on a mixer I use fairly often.

One thing that had frustrated me in the past when I was trying to mix a complicated musical was that there just wasn't enough time to learn the mix during tech week. So I started multitrack recording the rehearsals to computer via my digital console and then would try learning the mix offline by playing the recording back. It's something that has worked for me in the past, and maybe it would work for you too.

Another reason I started multitrack recording rehearsals is that the Director, Producer and Music Director could never give me a complete or honest answer as to who was singing in what chorus and they would make certain tweaks to the show, like some chorus members would have to leave the stage early for a costume change, etc. The recording gives me some way to confirm these situations so I don't have someone's mic on when they are in a costume change.

Also - a while back I picked up the book "Mixing a Musical: Broadway Theatrical Sound Techniques". I had hoped to learn more about the actual mix performance and maneuvers, sound levels & metering, and strategies to assign channels to groups, and possibly even little tricks like the so-called "broadway bump" and what not. But, this particular book left some to be desired on those topics unfortunately as there was one chapter, chapter 15 I believe, that had some of this content. However, I still recommend the book, as there is a lot of other valuable information in it.



Here are some videos you might find interesting. Again, they may not give you the complete picture of a musical mixing process but it's a start.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9tuiNVi9AY
 
Last edited:
For mixing --

Without DCAs, I found numbering the lines in the left margin with the input channel number circled was the easiest way to follow the script and do line by line fading. Here are a couple of example pages from when I did Aida years ago ...

IMG_3390.jpegIMG_3391.jpeg

Fairly easy to follow. For this show I had only 12 mics I think, but I've done 24 this way.

On the sound design side of this, keep the leads' channels close together since you will be working them a lot, so you can easily work them without having to move your hands around the board too much. In a simple scene like the one on the left I probably kept index and middle fingers on the two faders and toggled them back and forth.

Although I do line by line, generally when the mic is in the scene I don't bother dropping it down all the way ... cutting it -20db or so seemed enough to minimize crosstalk. (However in the professional shows I've shadowed they always dropped the fader completely down.)

Also (I don't have an example of this, but) in the bottom right corner of each righthand page you can number the mics that need to go on at the top of the next page.

-- John
 
Last edited:
+1 on numbering the channels in the script. Number can represent channel # when not using DCAs or DCA # when using DCAs. I use + in front of the number when actor comes on stage and a new mic channel or DCA comes on, and - in front of number when actor exits stage as well. At the end of a scene I will write - ALL OUT, or ALL OUT except 3,5 - etc. You get the idea.

Also +1 on dropping channels -12, -18 or -20 dB when not used instead of muting - or when 2 actors are close proximity and person mixing is doing line by line mix. The difference audibly when two actors are fairly close proximity and I leave their mics 100% open vs. dropping the person's fader who isn't talking -18dB or so sounds quite drastic to me, but seemingly it is something that non audio people somehow dismiss as unimportant or esoteric. Mics in close proximity left open produces a sort of phasing / comb filtering effect that quickly dirties up a mix.

Similarly I find that in some theaters I work in when actors align onstage in a line - side to side stage or front to back stage, feedback quickly builds when all their mics are open in that geometric configuration. Also when they are clustered fairly close together. Again perhaps obvious to some, but I tend to write special notes into my script for those situations. Usually with a large drawn "down" arrow and a quick note on which channels to drop.
 
Last edited:
I second (third?) the use of numbering of mics in the script margins. Something I have not had the opportunity to experiment with is to mimic what a lot of musicians do when they use sheet music on Ipads. They are able to gesture page turns with the music to keep both hands at their instruments, as opposed to paper copies. An organist colleague of mine even moved from a foot pedal to a nose gesture for turns and now swears by this. So many digital boards do not have a great location for a script to follow (unlike back in ye old analogue days), and there are a lot of great tablet stands on the market. I keep thinking it would be a good way to alleviate quite a bit of hand movement and, ultimately, be able to focus on the mix more. And, of course, always have the original annotated paper scrip as back up.

Anyone ever do this?

~Dave
 
iPad sounds like a good idea. At a minimum you can just take a pic of every script page and put them all in a photo album, just swipe left and right to move between them? With 100+ pages in most script this may be a bit of work …

One more note on line by line fading .. DONT MUTE!! Fading by definition is just that — fade the mic volume up and down, don’t toggle it on/off like a light switch. You will hear the difference.

Thanks. John.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back