QOTD: Mic'ing a Tap Floor

[Footer]

You are working on a production with a tap dance troupe that specializes in "hoofing" style tap dance. The group is carrying a hardwood tap floor. The floor is built in 5 4x8 sections that coffin lock together in to form a 20x8 floor. The sections themselves consist of a steel frame that is 4" tall. On top of the frame is a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" MDF with a 3/4" tongue and groove hardwood floor attached. There is 4" of air that is accessible between the bottom of the floor and the stage deck. The floor has rubber feet to isolate it from the stage floor.

The artist as asked that this floor be mic'ed. They also asked that a monitor wedges be placed both infront and behind the floor. They want both the band they play with and the mics from the floor to be sent to the monitors. You have been warned that last year they were not able to get the monitors loud enough for the artist without causing feedback.

Assuming you have a very large mic inventory and the boss had said you can buy whatever you want mic wise to do this show, what would you buy? Where/how would you place the mics?

Usual QOTD rules apply. Professionals please wait 1 week before posting.

 

[metti]

I have used PCC160s mounted off the tap floor on a suspension mount we built for the purpose which worked well although monitors weren't a huge deal at the time and I can see that GBF could have been an issue if we were using extensive monitoring. I have also used MKH-416s mounted on the catwalk closest to the stage. Also used Shure Beta 91s taped underneath a tap floor which worked awesome and could be a very good candidate for this situation.

 

[metti]

Oh, also, is wireless micing of individual dancers' shoes an option?

 

[chausman]

Oh, also, is wireless micing of individual dancers' shoes an option?

Good luck getting a dancer to let you do that, and NOT kill your mic.

I guess I would put some choral mic beneath the stage as far from the front a back edges as possible OR depending on how many monitor mixes I had, I might put two mics on the front edge of the dance floor and only put them in the rear monitors. and mics on the back edge only put in the front monitors.

 

[derekleffew]

Oh, also, is wireless micing of individual dancers' shoes an option?

Good luck getting a dancer to let you do that, and NOT kill your mic. ...

That's exactly how it was done on Broadway; albeit in a different set of circumstances than what Footer has detailed.

 

[Spectre7]

I'm not sure on this 100%, but I do know when I first started doing sound, I tried using floor boundary mics to pick up orchestral sound (dumb, we all make mistakes when learning) and as it turned out they made great mics to pick up the performers foot steps... Not sure what brand to recommend as I don't use them, but always an option to consider. I'd wait for the pros to comment.

 

[epimetheus]

That's exactly how it was done on Broadway; albeit in a different set of circumstances than what Footer has detailed.

Live Sound: Wireless Innovation To Capture The Unique Sound Of The Radio City Rockettes - Pro Sound Web

 

[metti]

Live Sound: Wireless Innovation To Capture The Unique Sound Of The Radio City Rockettes - Pro Sound Web

Yeah, I read an article about that in Live Sound International a couple of days ago and it was pretty interesting. Worth a read for theatre sound folks. For the record, these aren't that innovative a micing technique since they are using a countryman omni lav as their element. What is innovative is the whole package and wireless management system.

 

[LXPlot]

Shotgun mics are placed on the sides of the tap floor at about 4 foot intervals. Monitor at front faces audience, monitor at back faces band. Band's instruments are individually miked.

 

[epimetheus]

Shotgun mics are placed on the sides of the tap floor at about 4 foot intervals. Monitor at front faces audience, monitor at back faces band. Band's instruments are individually miked.

Just out of curiosity, why face the monitors away from the performers?
Sent from my Incredible using Tapatalk.

 

[metti]

Monitor at front faces audience

That is called a front fill, not a monitor. Also, which monitors let the dancers hear the music?

 

[nic1993]

If having mics under the stage or in the wings isn't possible/economical. Would it be possible to have an overhead condensing mic if its not too high up from the stage? I recently did a show where we used the Shure PG 81 as the overhead monitor mic for the booth, and it picked up all footsteps on the stage very well!

 

[Footer]

1 week is up... This was posted about 6 days ago and I pulled it until a few more people weighed in:

I have a 40'x28' (standard 4x8 touring decks) that are mic'd with contact pickups (piezo transducers) permanently installed under every deck. There is zero feedback, no need to wire up dancers and the ENTIRE stage is mic'd (not just downstage lip and pockets USL and USR if you do the ol' PCC160's and a shotgun L/R gag).

I got this idea from a guy who had a small audio company right next to my production facility. We shared a floor in a giant industrial building, so we'd go back and forth all day with ideas and war stories. He actually helped Savion Glover and Gregory Hines put together one of the first protoypes of Savion's infamous dance floor (trust me, if you saw or heard the thing you'd be blown away). He still had some of the first prototype decks.

Savion Glover's stage is mic'd every foot or so with Barcus Berry Pickups. The thing is a beast, but let me tell you sounds second to none (I used to be a professional tap dancer, so I know!). It is in his rider when he does gigs that the local producer must pay for shipping for a section (or all) of this flooring. He doesn't like to perform on anything else. Also I heard a rumor that he wont let anyone in sneakers on his stage because if the sneakers "squeak" through the system it would give his mom (who is or used to be his manager) a heart attack. Don't know if this is true though HAHA.

You can use CHEAP piezo transducers from Radio Shack or any kind of guitar pickup that you like the sound of. My shop wired 1/4" connectors onto the leads of each piezo transducer that runs directly into each input of a console. That sub console feeds the main consoles on tour. Be aware, trying to get good sounds through marley is virtually impossible, again depending on the quality of pickup you use, if you're doing a mixed performance with tap and say, ballet. It just muffles the sound alot.

Take all this into account if you're doing a professional tap show where dancers are in sync with each other. For a recital or student showcase or something, forget it! You don't want to hear 50 kids tapping just off sync with each other, all at the same volume, you'll kill yourself!!! For this type of gig just mic the good "front line dancers" so you have 5 or 6 better kids instead of an elephant stomping grounds of 50.

We had Savion at my "other" job on New Years. Savion brought the deck and the pickups and everything else was house crew and gear. On the center deck we had eight pickups, the upstage deck had two, and each side deck had four. They were gaffed on as tight as possible to the deck. No other mics were used. We had 2 wedges on each 8x8 as well as 4 other monitors on sticks facing towards the audience.
The stage volume was extremely loud. We used active DI's on all the pickups. It was a pretty great show.

You can see the pickups gaffed down (and Mrs.Footer lit it):