Sound for Small Open Air Theatre

[Sinfayth]

Hi

 

I've been asked to provide a Sound Solution for a small open air theatre in my local park.

 

I've never done an outside show before and my main concern is complying with H&S regulations.

 

Basically, the job is:

 

In the park is a church, and a small stage is going to be constructed along one side of the church with a canope type cover over the stage.

 

Either side of the stage will be a speaker on stands

 

Obviously infront of the stage will be the audiance, with a little tech section at the back (under a small canope).

 

Power will be provided by the church, as the stage is directly next to it. However Power would need to be fed to the mixing desk at the back. I could run the sound desk from the side of the stage, this would eliminate a trip hazard for the public.

 

All the mics are wireless.

 

There's another guy doing the lighting, so I guess he's in the same boat.

 

Not having done an outside show before, am I ok taking a power feed from the church (say through a window etc) How do I keep cables safe from wet and from crew/cast tripping over them?

 

I've done a search and found big bags are the cost effective way to protect speakers should it rain.

 

Is there any advice the more experianced can give for this type of job?

 

Thanks in Advance,

 

Sam

[mervaka]

I carry around a 50m builder's extension lead for such situations. have you got a multicore sorted thats long enough for the job? I gather you have wireless mics, but you still need returns for your PA.

 

normally, a small, shallow ditch would be dug, but are there things like flowerbeds or edges of wall you can throw the cable into? I did a small outdoor gig in a park once, and I made do by laying my power and multicore round the edge of the flowerbed, and threw thick mats over the rest.

[Rob_Beech]

There are a few ways it can be done.

 

Either way you're almost definitely going to need signal, power and DMX for the lighting guy(s) at the back. So a long multicore, power lead and separate DMX lead (let's not get into the age old argument of DMX down multicores) will need to go from the stage to the back.

 

A ditch in soil, lots of mats, or just laying it parallel to a fence / railings is sufficient. Just make sure that any area where people will walk is covered properly.

 

As for radio mics, if you are putting a multicore in, for your returns, I'd strongly suggest running the radio mic receivers on or next to the stage and using channels on the multicore to FOH. Most decent radio mics will be happy at 50m, but why take the risk?

 

 

How many people are you expecting to attend and what is the program material. This should determine what sort of speaker on stick you require and how many of them you need. There's a large difference in output between a Hisys1 and a Q7, a massive difference in purchase price of course, but a much smaller difference in hire price.

This is unless you already have the system and are using it because its what you have (which is fair enough)

[Sinfayth]

Thanks guys for your fast responces!

 

I've attached a picture of the 'director's vision' of what it'll be like.

 

It's an allday theatre, with plays happening all day, ie shakespeare etc... People will be coming along, pick-nick etc... throughout the day...

 

Roughly where the path exits at the bottom of the picture will be where the tech is. So its not a big festival at all, just a local small scale drama exibition.

 

So, to summarise:

 

I need a heavy duty power cable, maybe this?

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/25825/Electr...el-40m-240V-13A

 

And a few mats to cover up the trip hazards.

 

Will I need a barrier to section off the tech area?

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/51190/Workpl...panding-Barrier

 

Other than that, I'm good to go?

 

I have Public Liability to cover myself too.

 

http://www.bellestudios.co.uk/staging.jpg

[Rob_Beech]

Look at how long you need the cables. Borrow / buy / steal a measuring wheel and walk out the ideal path of the cabling, add a few meters for good luck and work out what you need.

 

You can easily run up some extra distance when you start pushing it around edges near walls and things. 40 50 60 even 100m doesn't go very far. That's a lot of multicore / power / DMX, something you may need to hire from a local company. If you tell us where you are based, someone here may be able to help with that.

 

Also, remember, when you start to push speakers harder and harder, their response tends to become less linear, so whilst your gain before feedback may be fine to start with, you'll find some very erratic curves and changes in response when you start to push the system. A larger system at a moderate level will give you more headroom. There's a good chance it will sound better aswell.

 

Rob

[mr_towers]

I've done a reasonable amount of outdoor theatre noise, so here are some of my suggestions.

 

What we've done in the past is have a small shed to house the FOH position. Depending when you're doing this, that may be overkill but don't forget the great British weather will nearly always conspire against you.

 

I notice there is a light fitting just this side of the path. If I were you, I'd work out if that was yours and maybe consider flying your cabling from that somehow (especially if you didn't need a huge amount, say a 12/16ch multi + Power + DMX). On the plus side, it gets the cable out the way of the punters. On the downside, it's complicated to do. Our normal method involves polyprop 3 strand rope, which is more than strong enough for the application. Oh, and you'll need that trundle wheel! (or laser measurer, or really long measuring tape :unsure:).

 

Barrier wise, I wouldn't bother with that one. The only reason you'd want a proper barrier at a mix position is to stop people crashing into it at a particularly energetic gig. I suspect this won't be that bad (you're not planning an after show rave are you? ;)), so I'd just use metal rod things into the ground and some hazard barrier tape (if a shed isn't neccesary). If you decide to use a gazebo for your FOH position (as quite a few people do) then hazard tape around the legs should be enough.

 

Security wise, if you have a rehearsal the day before, you're going to need to take everything down overnight (possibly bar cabling) so it don't get stolen. Don't forget to budget time in for that!

 

For your system, get your speakers high and pointed down. If you can hire, try and hire high end. I don't know where you're from, but you'll want something along the lines of D&B Q7s (just a pair, or maybe 2 pairs should be enough assuming people don't go off too far), C6s or maybe wee Martin boxes? I'm sure StevieR would recommend Fohhn for this situation too. At any rate, wideish dispersion and flat boxes are what are needed. I'd be putting your amps onstage as well as your radio RXs (no doubt the lampie will want his dimmers there too).

 

If I'm lucky, some of that will have made sense! Hope that helped!

[henny]

Oh, and you'll need that trundle wheel! (or laser measurer, or really long measuring tape

 

the way I have started to work out cable runs for outsude gigs is to find the venue in google earth and using the mesure path tool draw in whare my cables need to run.

 

ian

[paulears]

I'm confused a little - the picture shows a church in a graveyard - is this a 'park'? People are giving some useful info - but here's a few extra comments. I'd make sure that if there is any chance of damp or rain - then use 16A connectors - the fair much better if there is a bit of water. The common problem is that you arrange 13A connectors to be under cover, but moisture runs down the cable, into the plug. 16A versions have seals. Assuming the picture you've posted is about right - then is it possible to block off the route behind the stage leading to the church wall? If so, then it would not be a safety issue as people wouldn't be able to walk that way - and leaving the others just laying on the grass wouldn't seem to be an issue. So the problem seem to be just getting the cables to FOH? If it's a public park then getting permission to do a slit so you canbury the cable could be difficult. If it is a graveyard, it probably belongs to the church anyway.

 

If the distance is isn't too far - a catenary wire to which the audio/lx/power cables can be attached might be possible. Suitable trees, lamp posts - that kind of thing make sense.

 

My own experience is smaller outside events - I've worked on large ones, but not in any senior capacity. Water is the biggest problem - putting bin liners on everything is ok, but you do need to be very careful that you don't create spaces that collect water, rather than stopping it get in. For instance where you have a mains cable with connector, I've seen people take the plugged together cable, 'point' it upwards, with cable doubled back, and stick a bin liner over it. Somebidy later tugs the cable, the upwards slant flops over, making the bin liner collect water, leaving the connectors immersed rather than draining. Really simple mistakes like that. Sensible precautions are usually simple to implement.

[Sinfayth]

wow! Thanks all for your replies! This is a great forum!

 

Yes, the event will take place in the church grounds, however merges into the park further behind FOH tech.

 

And yes the area behind the stage (infront of the church) will be classed as backstage / off limits.

 

Thanks for all the valuable advice!

 

Best Wishes,

 

Sam

[Rob_Beech]

So there is area for people to sit and watch BEHING FOH aswell. depending on the system you use, you may wish to utilise the fact you have some power at FOH to setup a pair of delays (with the necessary processing) here to reinforce the sound further back.