Radio Mics

[Redman]

We are an Amateur Theatre group and will shortly be putting on a youth production of a play where we are sure that we will need to use Radio Mics because many of the young actors have very weak voices. We have identified a number of possible suppliers for the Radio Mics but are unsure as to whether to go for the modern small headset microphones or lapel microphones taped to foreheads. We have no previous experience of using Radio Mics and would welcome any advice or pros and cons.

 

Many Thanks

[minty]

Unless any of your performers have very loud voices (I mean into opera teritory) I would recomend looking into audio technica microsets. They are very discreet, they have a very good frequency response for such a small capsule, and are easier and quicker to fit well than a lavalier, they can also be worn further back from the mouth than traditional headset mic so you get less breath noise, and In my experience with careful placement you can get round most plosive problems.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Martin

[Ynot]

Hi.

 

You are aware that (presumably) a colleague of yours (or at least one from the same Cowes theatre) has begun a related topic on radio mics here?

[Just Some Bloke]

I don't know the venue, obviously, but I assume there is a problem with the acoustic in the room? For a play you really should do everything you can to not use radiomics as they make it all sound very artificial. Whilst that is fine for musicals, pantomimes etc. (which are artificial!) it breaks the feeling of reality between performer and audience. It's like watching a big tv rather than a piece of intimate theatre.

 

Is there anything you can do to the room to improve the acoustic in order to make their little voices more audible? Curtains to dampen down a reverberant room or flat screens to improve a dry acoustic may work better for no more cost than a few radiomics.

 

Personally I'd avoid radios at all costs for drama, no matter how young the performers.

[Shez]

There seems to be a trend, perhaps more so in am dram / school productions, of the ability of an actor to project not being taken in to any consideration when casting. I'm increasingly expected to be able to amplify actors who can barely make themselves heard from a meter away let alone in even a small theatre. Directors (from my experience of them) seem to take the attitude of it not mattering that someone can't speak above a whisper because they'll be mic'ed therefore it'll all be fine...

I always have to emphasise the importance of speaking up in my pre tech rehearsal speech to the cast; it's frustrating that the director hasn't been drilling this in to them since day one.

 

When I were a lad (not all that many years ago, thanks) school productions, even musicals, didn't employ any kind of mics. I trod the boards a few times, usually in narrator type roles as apparently I spoke up well. It's a bit of a pet rant of mine that it seems to be a bit of a lost art nowadays.

[Redman]

I don't know the venue, obviously, but I assume there is a problem with the acoustic in the room? For a play you really should do everything you can to not use radiomics as they make it all sound very artificial. Whilst that is fine for musicals, pantomimes etc. (which are artificial!) it breaks the feeling of reality between performer and audience. It's like watching a big tv rather than a piece of intimate theatre.

 

Is there anything you can do to the room to improve the acoustic in order to make their little voices more audible? Curtains to dampen down a reverberant room or flat screens to improve a dry acoustic may work better for no more cost than a few radiomics.

 

Personally I'd avoid radios at all costs for drama, no matter how young the performers.

 

Thanks for that. Yes I should really have put in a bit more detail. The Theatre is a 200 seater with fairly lively acoustics. The show is a musical so the youngsters will have to sing over a backing group. My concern was whether a lapel mic taped to a forehead would pick up more of the band than it would a thin voice. The headset mics probably would not have this problem but may look a bit obtrusive.

 

Thanks

 

 

There seems to be a trend, perhaps more so in am dram / school productions, of the ability of an actor to project not being taken in to any consideration when casting. I'm increasingly expected to be able to amplify actors who can barely make themselves heard from a meter away let alone in even a small theatre. Directors (from my experience of them) seem to take the attitude of it not mattering that someone can't speak above a whisper because they'll be mic'ed therefore it'll all be fine...

I always have to emphasise the importance of speaking up in my pre tech rehearsal speech to the cast; it's frustrating that the director hasn't been drilling this in to them since day one.

 

When I were a lad (not all that many years ago, thanks) school productions, even musicals, didn't employ any kind of mics. I trod the boards a few times, usually in narrator type roles as apparently I spoke up well. It's a bit of a pet rant of mine that it seems to be a bit of a lost art nowadays.

 

Thanks Shez. Agree with all you say and we are having a workshop on voice projection to see if that will help. Unfortunately we think that even with training some of the youngsters will not be able to compete with the backing band (it is a musical) and so Radio Mics it may have to be.

[Bobbsy]

Sticking to your original query....

 

Headsets tend to be the sound man's choice where high gain before feedback is required (i.e. LOUD musicals) but, obviously, they do bad things for the "willing suspension of disbelief" since they're very visible.

 

Hairline (or over ear) mounts can give a nice, natural sound with much less visual intrusion but (as you've already guessed) don't let you work miracles in terms of gain.

 

So, what's best for you (no mics/headset mics/hair line mics) will be a compromise based on the style of the show, what you can do in terms of controlling the music levels, what you can do about projection, etc.

 

Good luck!

 

Bob

[Stuart91]

My advice would be to go down the headset route - you'll get much better gain before feedback and it shouldn't look too "artificial" for a musical. We recently supplied six headsets and four lavs for a school show. The lavs were swapped out for more headsets after the first tech rehearsal. This show was fairly similar to what you're looking at, a small band and kids singing above it.

[Pete Alcock]

Redman,

 

I would say go for stuck-on lavs unless the budget allows you to get really good headsets such as the AT microsets that Minty mentions. Provided the FOH PA is well set up and the speakers sensibly positioned, you should be able to get sufficient gain from forehead-stuck lavs. They can't be swapped from actor to actor very easily, but you should be able to make them almost invisible with a bit of care.

 

There have been numerous threads about low cost headsets which you could hunt down (search on CPC headset), but by the sound of it you just want to hire and not be messing about with coathangers, spraypaint and glue.

 

My 2p worth...

 

Pete.

[paulears]

I'm in the band at a school show (Grease) at the moment - they had ordinary hired in lavs taped to their cheeks and feedback with unskilled ops is grim. They've got the supplier to provide an op now, but without him being aware, today (his first show) they moved the mics to hairline, and he couldn't get any gain. To compound this, the band is loud and the cast are verfy, very quiet. Result is exactly as expected. Solution (ha ha) was for the band to turn down. I can hardly gear what I am playing and tonally, it sounds pretty poor - drums played quietly never sound good for rock and roll, and my bass just flumps along.

 

With un-trained people like this, then as close to the mouth corner the better - tonally not the best, but the only way to get gain before feedback.

 

ANY electret mic close in is better - and with these shows, using expensive ones (Countryman/Shures in this case) are a bit scary, seeing how the kids treat them.

[bassman]

Without wishing to repeat what others have already said, we have just finished working on a production where 10 radios were needed and we went down the headset route. Flesh coloured versions can be quite discreet; the ones we were using (a certain recently discussed budget line from CPC - the actual headset versions not the doctored lavs) were pretty sensitive so we didn't need much gain at the desk and had to turn the sensitivity of the packs down in the case of some characters! Positioning varied from near the corner of the mouth to half way back along the cheek and even under the chin, depending on the loudness and style of each person.

 

Virtually no problems with feedback all week which was nice in a box of a venue. The kids got used to wearing them quickly and despite some fight scenes, we had no casualties - mics not kids that is...