I sincerely apologize to anyone expecting new pictures from my studio in this post. I thought I would geek out a bit with the other 25% of my life, and put my thoughts on the internet about the setup for
Lewis and Clark High School's production of "In the Heights".
I am not sure how technical this is going to sound, but it could be very non-interesting for many of you. I'll be sure to post some archive photos and some behind the scenes after I get a bit further along with the programing and setup.
LC's theater is one of the older here in Spokane. It was remodeled about 12 years ago and has a permanent installed PA with a Yamaha 24 channel mixer and a EV center cluster speaker system high above the proscenium. I started mixing the school's musicals with this system, but the center cluster is aimed poorly and lacks coverage in the balcony and other parts of the 750'ish seat theater. The walls are pretty reflective, and the reverb time in the room start to make it hard to understand dialog when the volume of orchestra or the PA get loud. The theater has no pit, and the band usually plays in front of the stage. The original front row of seats have been permanently removed to accommodate. I've noticed that the balcony fills with direct and reflective acoustic sound, and the PA cannot keep up with louder passages mainly up there. This usually causes a harshness when I try to boost the sound to get voices over the level of the band. I've had little luck with talking to the musical directors, trying to get them to turn down amps, play softer, or pull back when even the underscore gets too loud.
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| Lewis and Clark Theater |
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| The Set |
- Applying touring technology
I've been union stage hand since I got out of college, and have worked as a local for many musicals at Spokane's INB performing Arts Center and Spokane's other venues. There seems to be a basic, almost standard for setups in the audio department. This makes setup and trouble shooting quick and easy. I've been trying to apply some of these techniques when possible to work in the high schools and other local theaters. The first update I tried at LC was to have a carpenter friend build some wooden speaker towers. I originally envisioned a top speaker aimed to the balcony, and a lower box to the orchestra level. The powered EV speakers did not work well together and it tuned out that the top speaker covered the venue pretty well by themselves. Bringing the image down closer to the stage helped the overall experience. The lower level of the tower was used for stage fills for about two seasons. The intelligibility was incredibly improved, but can still harsh sometimes since I am using about $800 EV powered speakers.
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| Side view of speaker tower and side fill |
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| Speaker Tower |
We've rented a M7CL-48 for the last two years that's helped with more complex shows like Legally Blonde, Little Mermaid and others. It's a double edge sword, but I'll take a digital any day. Having all the processing in one box like parametric EQ, compression, and flexible routing is handy and saves time. On the other hand, programming scenes takes time. -Sometimes a lot of time. The turn around from setup to open is anywhere from three to seven days and it's hard to take the context of a show and put it into scenes if you are not familiar with the show. Leaning continuity between scenes and programing when the orchestra should be muted and un-muted is not always clear right away. Programing usually continues after the show has opened while mixing, but I try to not make any big changes since i've programed mistakes when not given a chance to test until the next show the following evening.
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| Front of House Mixer |
For "In the Heights" my routing is as follows. I am running a mono A/B system. It worked pretty well when I mixed "The Little Mermaid" last fall. Routing two vocals to two different speakers really helps any phase problems that might create an unnatural sound. Routing with a digital mixer makes this trivial, even from scene to scene. I decided to try this after Jersey Boys stopped in Spokane last fall. I do a basic tune of the speakers with an old copy of SMAART. A room can really color the sound of even a great speaker system. Some parametric EQ at the matrix output to cut mid-bass build up improved gain before feedback and gave me a cleaner voice needing less EQ from the actor's microphones.
I send my mics to groups and my groups to matrix's. It's not super complex, but more flexible than using the old Yamaha analog mixer. I have lead, women, men, keys, winds, brass, percussion, and drum kit groups. I have a bit more compression on the music groups than the voices hoping that when all the levels are set, when I push the levels into compression, the vocals should stay on top of the mix.
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| Early aux send/group list |
On a show like this, I had a hard time believing that I could run out of groups, but the bass is routed to main matrix. I'm not sure it would be a good idea to group the bass with anything else since a loud bass slap might affect other instruments in it's group. They could not get a guitar player for this show unfortunately.
As of right now, I am only using three matrixes. The top and bottom speakers, and the stage monitor is also a mix from the groups. I maybe should have the side fill to come from an aux send in case an individual wants a bit more or less of them. I guess I could roll a little more from the channels matrix send if they need a little more.
I don't have enough returns (or channels) in the snake to make this system into a stereo A/B. At least I didn't at first. I rented another 16x4 snake since I ended up with about 22 inputs from the orchestra.
Lewis and Clark's Tiger Drama applied for Glee grant and won it last year. We added and racked up new and existing ULX-S and ULX-P with antenna distribution, and a couple of directional paddles with the funds. I can now check the first 16 channels of wireless before a show starts since the system can reach all the way to the corner of the school where the students circle up before a show. I would love the move the racks to the stage, but there is little space and not enough snake channels at this point. Also, I can better keep a eye on battery levels durring long rehearsals and shows. I have twenty two wireless in this show not including a wireless god mic.
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| Front of wireless racks |
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| Back of wireless racks |
The school has access to some loose wireless systems that I use for additional channels for ensemble.
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| Good use for a case lid I think! |
The main microphone we use is the Countryman e6. We also have some e6s's and some b3's. I have fitted the b3's with wig clips and prefer their sound and aesthetic. There are easy to hide under the bangs of a wig, but I cannot get as much gain from them as I would like. They are always the first to feedback.
We've done shows with the orchestra on stage like with "Chicago" and a few others, but this time we managed to get a 10 piece off stage right. There are no large sets or props that move on this show. Only the cast that has to enter and exit, and that still has to be tested since we've only had a sitzprobe with the band so far. I will know more on Monday when we actually start running the show through dress rehearsals. Stage right is going to be pretty tight.
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| Sorry a little dark. From the conductors view. |
Cramped, but I'll tell you that I love have some control of the volume of the band. The main percussion is in the room that stores the grand piano and organ. I forgot to mention that this is the only school in Spokane that still has it's original organ and organ lofts. I think that a lively room like this is meant for it, but hurts the musical theater experience a little.
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| Storage Room |
I've also wired for a conductor camera and the conductor also has a shot of the stage from front of house. One note, my old 720p LCD TV at front of house had a pretty good delay when I first plugged it in. I tried another of the composite inputs and it was acceptable. -Go figure...
We also rented two powered Crown subs. Riddle me this, but they seemed pretty muddy at first. I reversed the phase of the 1st one and got a nice, usable boost of low frequency. They are out of phase from each other. I guess that physics for you...
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| Subs |
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| Front of House |
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| 9 Volt Charging Stations (Thanks Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre) |
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| Qlab for the 10 or so sound effects. A student is running this for me. |
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| The shoe bag is ubiquitous with touring shows and Broadway, it seems like no one locally has ever thought to use one in each venue I work in. |
I really enjoy these gigs with the high schools. The kids work on these shows for months. They audition, learn choreography, and memorize scripts. The sets are designed and built by a stagecraft zero hour class. They also do some lighting design and programming. The only job they hire out for is sound. -I have only a few days to try and get the sound in a place that won't let them down when the show opens. It's quite a challenge! What's pretty nice about it is the main instructor and director of the shows, Greg Pschirrer is pretty hands off and just wants me to make it happen. His notes are usually useful and he does not tend to micro manage. He and the students are easy to work for and they are very appreciative.
I might add to this post later if I can think of anything. Be easy on me since I am not a good writer, but I hope that somebody might find this interesting. Let me know if you have anything to add or have a question.
The show opens on February 28th and the tickets are only $10. Visit
Tiger Drama's website for more info.
