Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you’re looking for an easy gig in audio, theater sound is no picnic. In fact, it’s probably the toughest job in audio. On a large musical production, the FOH engineer may have to deal with a 20-piece orchestra/band, another 20 (or more) performers and chorus members on wireless headworn mics, plus dozens of cue playbacks of ambiences, sound effects, etc. That’s a whole lotta input sources, all requiring precision timing.
Console features such as snapshots and step-automation can ease the task somewhat. However, on the tough scale, there’s simply no comparison of theater sound to mixing a rock or jazz trio. Not even close.
Moving Targets
Beyond the input count, there are many, many reasons for this discrepancy in difficulty. First of all, the theater engineer must deal with actors that are constantly moving around the stage, and need to be muted/unmuted the second they walk on/offstage. Of course, as soon as they are out of the audience’s sight, actors are often dealing with costume changes, and hopefully the head- or body-worn mic won’t get moved, trashed, mangled, unplugged or simply destroyed in the process.
And if the mics somehow survive the costuming quick-change process, there’s the possibility of physical damage to the miniature capsule itself. The ball head grill of the typical stage handheld is relatively well-suited to survive a mouth-borne onslaught of spit, beer, bad breath and the occasional bit of cracker or brie in the windscreen.
Not so with the headset mic. Part of this simply stems from the difference in the relative size of the screens, where the “target” area of the miniature mic is probably 1/100th that of the handheld. Meanwhile, the size of any drops or particulate matter is constant, so the headset is far more susceptible to any such bombardments.
Unlike handhelds, headset mics are also subject to continual attacks by makeup, hairspray and sweat — which, when applied to a mic capsule, are hardly conducive to great sounds.
Many music vocalists have bad mic technique, such as refusing to stay “on-mic,” cupping the rear of the mic capsule (which effectively turns a cardioid pattern into an unpredictable omnidirectional pickup) or singing with the lips touching the windscreen, to name a few. However, amateur stage actors can be much worse. During storytelling or stage reading presentations (with a single stand-mounted mic in the center of the stage), I have witnessed dozens of performers beginning their routine by moving the mic three feet off to the side (“it was in the way,” they explained) before softly mumbling their spiel. On other occasions, I’ve seen actors wear a lavalier mic, then unexpectedly put on a heavy overcoat or add a scarf that buries the mic capsule.
If all of that doesn’t vex the audio provider, there’s always the venue itself. If you are extremely fortunate, you’re working in a modern facility that has decent acoustics and was designed to accommodate modern productions.
Quirky Venues
When I was doing regular IATSE gigs, I worked occasional shows for 12 years at the Paramount Theater, a restored 3,000-seat Art Deco venue that is the crown jewel of Oakland. It’s lovely to behold, but this 1931 masterpiece does have a few drawbacks. Originally designed as a movie palace, it, and many of its kind, were not designed for high-SPL music shows, so it exhibits a few acoustical quirks. The stage depth is asymmetrical and shallow.
Theaters can come in every conceivable form, ranging from modern performing arts centers to converted storefronts, former cinemas and just about every other possibility. Yet even in an acoustically quirky space, audio can be made workable, and even pleasant, although in such cases, you may have to jump through a few hoops. For example, the typical rear-row/under-balcony FOH placement can be an acoustical disaster, especially if you are not in line of sight to the main P.A.
However, in such cases, a set of decent studio near-field monitors that are adjusted to mimic the SPL levels in the main auditorium can work, although may take a period of time to get used to the setup. And if your console offers remote tablet control, you can always walk the room and get a feeling of how your near-fields translate to the mains. Additionally, various null points for the audience can be cured via front fills, under-balcony speakers or side fills — all with the proper amounts of alignment delay, or the right line array hang with the capability to reach into any troublesome spaces.
The USITT Annual Conference & Stage Expo comes to Salt Lake City March 16-9, and this issue has several articles of particular interest to theater audio practitioners. Our theater installation showcase starts on page 32, and on page 36, we look at a variety of modern microphone designs that have a vintage look.
For George Petersen’s video introduction to the March issue of FRONT of HOUSE Magazine, CLICK HERE.
