Drama Studio Setup

[mumbles]

15m^2 with a height of 3m? That's about the same size as my living room. You're not going to need any sound reinforcement in there. Perhaps just a small portable system for effects and music playback, but nothing more than a couple of speakers on stands and a small wheeled rack with sources, mixing and amplification in it. Plenty of places will sell you an off-the-shelf system that'll do what you need.

In fact that is smaller than my garage, where I have a small PC sound system from Dixons running from my laptop. Also, even with powertools going, it is no more than slightly louder voices to talk to each other.

 

Unless, by 15m square, golfball means 15m by 15m?

[Ynot]

SOrry to drag this up again, but your profile says that you're a student at your school. As such, are you really telling us that you've been handed sole responsibility for "organising the tech install in a new drama studio"?

I'm going to have to take up with gareth here (no real surprise!!).

It's one thing being in a position at the school of 'the only one with technical experience' but entirely another having enough experience to be given the responsibility of laying down a spec for a new install.

 

You also admit to being mainly a lampy, so why do the Powers That Be feel you're going to be able to propose anything meaningful for sound reinforcement? Do they know there are worlds of difference between lghting and sound disciplines?

 

I'm a little confused by one of your posts:

They will need capabilities of vocal mics, I thought SM58s and some lapel mics (not somethin I work with at all really any suggestions welcome)

then in the next para,

.....with some SM58s and some lapel mics and then cd and minidisk capabilities. However that limits me on if the system requires moving at all. Ive used all this kind of equipment before and find it easy to use

..................... Which is it?

 

However, on a positive feedback note, the ONLY way to get anything in this studio that will make anything sound half decent is to get a professional quote - ie call up several (and I mean several) reliable and respected companies and get them into the space to talk to the PTB about the needs of the studio. It may well be that you'll be able to be there to offer your ideas and thoughts, but at the end of the day it's NOT you who has to make a final decision, and that decision has to be based on facts - NOT what the PTB can only take as hearsay from an internet forum based on a loose description you've given.

 

Sorry if this sounds overly harsh, but whilst lighting is a little easier to 'look' at, it's next to impossible to design sound gear over the 'net!

 

TD

[Bobbsy]

I think mac.calder has largely nailed it.

 

In a room that size you have no need whatsoever for sound reinforcement...the real need is simply for music and effects playback. Beyond that, your watchwords should be to keep it simple (for the drama or dance teacher who just wants to playback some music during warmup or whatever) and flexible (so you can use anywhere in the performance space).

 

The only suggestions I'd add to mac's post would be that all the gear should be permanently installed in a small, wheeled rack and all the inputs should be permanently wired from the source to the mixer. Security bolts holding the gear in would be a good idea. I'd also spend a lot of time on labelling to make it as near idiot proof as possible.

 

In fact that is smaller than my garage, where I have a small PC sound system from Dixons running from my laptop. Also, even with powertools going, it is no more than slightly louder voices to talk to each other.

 

Unless, by 15m square, golfball means 15m by 15m?

 

The original poster said "15 metres square" not "15 square metres". I think he was slightly misquoted by gareth.

 

A room 15 x 15 metres is about typical for a school drama studio...but still shouldn't need reinforcement on voices. In any performance, actors will be practically in the laps of the audience.

 

One thing I will agree with gareth and Ynot on is the need for the actual specification and installation to be done by a reputable, qualified company. It's possible to get things very wrong even on a small installation like this unless you have the necessary experience.

 

Bob

[gareth]

Sorry, perhaps I did interpret the requirements wrongly - I lifted the "15m^2" measurement from the first sentence of Mac.Calder's post above mine. Didn't check back to the OP's earlier post to confirm.

 

The fact that, even in a simple informal setting like this, there can be such a fundamental confusion partly due to the OP's lack of basic information in his request for help just goes to prove that there's a very great need in this situation for someone who knows what they're doing to take care of overseeing this project, rather than leave it to the pupils.

[Bobbsy]

Apologies, gareth. I did similar to you and only went back as far as the quote from you in "mumbles" post. I didn't think to go back and see if somebody before you had started the mistake.

 

However, as I said before, I do agree that, although the OP can certainly make suggestions as to what is needed from a student point of view, even a relatively small installation like this requires some professional input.

 

Bob

[mac.calder]

a surface area around 15 metres square

 

Can be taken to mean two completely different things - and by saying "surface area" I took that to imply area (hence the 15m^2). However it still does not change the fact that sound reinforcement is probably still not a necessity - at most a pair of boundary mics to give it a little boost. I think lavs etc would be far too over the top.

[andy_s]

So if you've got speakers in all four corners, what are you doing with mics right in the middle of them all? That's gonna be tricky. Also, I'm assuming that there's a defined stage area? If this is correct, putting speakers in the corners is not really the best way to go I don't think.

 

I'd take the opposite view, and assume that in a flexible drama studio there will be no defined stage area, and the facility to plug speakers int at each corner and then choose which ones to use for any given event would be quite useful.

 

the necessity of sound reinforcement will depend on the nature of the events as well as on the size of the space.

[Bobbsy]

I'd take the opposite view, and assume that in a flexible drama studio there will be no defined stage area, and the facility to plug speakers int at each corner and then choose which ones to use for any given event would be quite useful.

 

That's certainly true in my experience of drama studios. The performance area can be literally anywhere in the space and, since the sound system is really for music and effects playback, there's a need to be able to place speakers almost anywhere. However, the corners are probably the LEAST likely place to need a speaker!

 

the necessity of sound reinforcement will depend on the nature of the events as well as on the size of the space.

 

I'm with those who think that reinforcement shouldn't be necessary in a room that small, whatever the "event" Audiences in a drama studio tend to be VERY close to the performers...even a whisper will usually carry. In any case, satisfactory reinforcement would be very difficult to achieve because of the sort of layouts often used. I wouldn't put a lot of time or money into this side of things.

 

Bob

[paulears]

I think that many people assume a drama studio is a real performance space, when the reality is it is just a big room where any activity can take place. Any form of permanent system is not used to the full - it needs to be portable, as the room may become unavailable and the class gets moved to another space, or somebody requires a sound system in a hall, or even outside. School and college rooms have to be close to 100% occupancy, or they get sub-divided into smaller units for use as general classrooms. It may well have Drama Studio on the door, but could have music, or other people in it - and a spill over space for exams - that's why many have carpet, not proper flooring. Education measures the space by floor area/occupants and each space must earn it's keep. This isn't a school choice, but dictated by the funding arrangements. They do make allowances for things like workshop areas where you need space - but the fact of life is that large rooms with few people in them are very unpopular with the accountants.

[andy_s]

Hi Bobbsy,

 

I agree with averything you've added, but at the risk of being pedantic - I've assumed corners orf rooms are convenient locations for facilities boxes, and there could then be a bit of wire between the plug-in panel and the speaker, allowing flexibility in speaker location, and I've probably been a bit broad in my understanding of "reinforcement" - I was thinking perhaps of a play where for example a scene might be set in a cavern or cathedral, so we might enhance the location by adding echo / reverb. I guess this isn't really reinforcement in the sense of making people audible, but might require the use of the same sort of kit.

 

in a studio space (as Paul says) flexibility is the key point. I'd never recommend putting speakers in fixed positions, but I would recommend facilities panels and infrastructure.