JohnMcConnell Posted January 21, 2004 Posted January 21, 2004 Just setting up a show relay to the dressing rooms, after a very poor production of Grease when 'Marty' forgot to come on stage because she was talking in the dressing room!Anyway, got an old amp, speakers and the like, but no microphones.So, my question...Where do I put the microphone pickup for the relay? Was thinking about above the apron, as this is used the most, the roof is 30ft above stage with three holes for microphones to be dropped through. Other option is on the front of the balcony, about 30ft from front of stage. What type of microphones should I use?Was thinking about a rifle microphone from the balcony, or maybe choir microphones from the holes above stage.Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thirdtap Posted January 21, 2004 Posted January 21, 2004 A few show relays I have set up have been very simple. Mic above the stage usually just an SM58 or simular as close to the front as possible. I think it helps to keep the show relay quiet as it cuts down on the noise backstage because people have to be quiet to listen to it.One show where I was asked to turn the relay up, I did so and you could hear the relay and show calls onstage above the show sometimes.
P. Funk Posted January 21, 2004 Posted January 21, 2004 easiest way I have found.. is some kind of radio mic hung as downstage as poss just behind the pros. then just have the mic reciever and an active speaker in the dressing room locked away somewhere... gets a bit complicated when you have more than one dressing room though - for the next show we are running 2 stereo hifi amps with speakers one into each room... and then running a stage box along the corridor and up the stairs to the others, and having the same setup there. hide it somewhere so cast don't fiddle...
gareth Posted January 21, 2004 Posted January 21, 2004 It's generally fine to use any old mic for a show relay mic, as audio quality is not usually an issue. Over an apron, or hanging from the middle of LX1, are pretty good positions for a good general pickup. One thing you might like to think about, if the amp has to feed speakers in many dressing rooms and corridors or if the run from amp to speakers is particularly long, is running the system as 100v line ....
mike Posted January 21, 2004 Posted January 21, 2004 easiest way I have found.. is some kind of radio mic hung as downstage as poss just behind the pros. then just have the mic reciever and an active speaker in the dressing room locked away somewhere Sorry to disagree P. Funk but IMHO I would recommend sticking to a non radio mic set up, this is because performers do and will rely on a show relay for their cues. You could end up with a lot of miserable people if the radio mic fails.Radio mics can be unreliable, batteries can go flat, aerials can get broken...etc. Although I'm not a noise boy, I think I'm right in saying that even the most pro of set ups have occaisional problems with radio mics. And (heaven forbid) your trusty assistant might just forget to change that battery.....I would stick to a mic wiv some cable attached! mike
James Posted January 21, 2004 Posted January 21, 2004 I apreciate that I work in amuter fieds so my experiances will be different to that of pros. I do show feeds in two different ways depending on the specific needs of the production. I either take a direct ch out desk feed of a couple of mics from the apron (I usualy use CK91's) and feed them directly into my RF modulator or I take a spare aux from the desk - this is more useful in rehersal as the halls I work in never have backstage tannoy so I can feed directors rehersal mic backstage when needed... My thoughts were why rig extra mics when I have a bunch sitting on the apron anyway! James
JohnMcConnell Posted January 21, 2004 Author Posted January 21, 2004 How close to the stage does the mic need to be? say I hang it from the holes above the apron, 30ft up, how close to the stage does it need to be? Also, how do you fix the mic there, will it hold on just the XLR plug and lead, or do I need to run a chain of some sort? if yes, how do I attach it to the microphone? Thanks to you all :(
Bryson Posted January 21, 2004 Posted January 21, 2004 My new place has an Audio-Technica ATM10A condensor hung just over the apron -feeding Ultima Mixer-amps and RCF and Next 100v line speakers - sounds fine to me.
tjkerr Posted January 31, 2004 Posted January 31, 2004 A Condensor Mic (just in behind the pross or above your space)then back thou to your 100v line amp then to each dressing room. Wouldn't ever use a radio mic for a permeant application unless your space has a endless amount of batteries and radio mic's plus you wouldn't catch me changing a batt every 8 hours!!!
Djbarryblue Posted February 1, 2004 Posted February 1, 2004 Mic above the stage usually just an SM58 or simular as close to the front as possible.No theses are vocal mics that dont have a long range on them so it would be pointless. If you can get some kind of condesor the only problem with these is that most of them need power so it will need to have a battery in it or phantom power. You could also have a paging mic in your system so that your dam could call the actors to the stage.
robloxley Posted February 1, 2004 Posted February 1, 2004 Mic above the stage usually just an SM58 or simular as close to the front as possible.No theses are vocal mics that dont have a long range on them so it would be pointless. Except experience suggests that this works fine in practice.
tjkerr Posted February 1, 2004 Posted February 1, 2004 Mic above the stage usually just an SM58 or simular as close to the front as possible.No theses are vocal mics that dont have a long range on them so it would be pointless. Except experience suggests that this works fine in practice. Well if it does I would stand corrected too. But this Sm58 must be bloody close above their heads to pick up!
robloxley Posted February 1, 2004 Posted February 1, 2004 Mic above the stage usually just an SM58 or simular as close to the front as possible.No theses are vocal mics that dont have a long range on them so it would be pointless. Except experience suggests that this works fine in practice. Well if it does I would stand corrected too. But this Sm58 must be bloody close above their heads to pick up! Why so? If your pre-amp has enough gain then why shouldn't a SM58 work. I'm not suggesting it would be my first choice (would rather go for something more directional out front), but if it was the only thing around then I'd use it.
richard_cooper Posted February 2, 2004 Posted February 2, 2004 Has anyone else had problems with dynamic range in show relay systems? My space often has shows in that feature a huge dynamic range. Our relay system was much like Bryson's an AT10a running into a RCF 100V mixer amp. The problem was that in order to hear quiet dialogue we had to set a gain that caused the amp to clip and cut out in louder sections. I solved this in the end by putting a Behringer Ultravoice VX2000 in between the mic and mixer/amp. This was, at the time, the only unit I could get for a reasonable cost that features a mic preamp and a compressor which I needed as there are no inserts on the Mixer/amp. It also features a sweepable high pass filter to remove a lot of the low frequency rubish that was just mudying the signal. I just thought I'd mention it, as this has really sorted out our problems.
Andrew C Posted February 2, 2004 Posted February 2, 2004 Mic above the stage usually just an SM58 or simular as close to the front as possible.No theses are vocal mics that dont have a long range on them so it would be pointless. Except experience suggests that this works fine in practice. Well if it does I would stand corrected too. But this Sm58 must be bloody close above their heads to pick up! Why so? If your pre-amp has enough gain then why shouldn't a SM58 work. I'm not suggesting it would be my first choice (would rather go for something more directional out front), but if it was the only thing around then I'd use it. The SM58 has a hyper-cardiod pick-up pattern and is just the sort of mic to use in this instance. True, I'd rather have a couple of guns out front, or use PCCs in the floats; but given the position, there's nothing wrong with it.
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