Muting Headworn Radio Mics

[DanSteely]

Hello BR,

 

We are hiring 8 channels of headworn RF for an upcoming school musical. What is the best practice as an actor leaves the stage: Mute the channel from FOH, or get a stage tech to mute the transmitter – then un-mute prior to their entrance?

 

Cheers.

 

Dan

[rob.williams]

I would always without a doubt mute them on the desk not stage crew. it is a lot more simple just to press mute or drop the fader. Also if the stage crew forget to mute or unmute the mics you are in a word screwed!

[iamchristuffin]

Bodypacks are also (usually) quite hard to access under layers of costume, so it's a lot more work and it would take a lot longer to mute on the transmitters.

 

Chris

[smalljoshua]

Ditto, also instead of straight muting the mics, pull them down to -10 to -20 dB first then mute. On entrance, unmute then bring back up to 0dB. This avoids accidentally cutting off lines or notes from songs.

 

Josh

[minty]

Mute / unmute at desk. Megalomania is the way forward!

 

Martin

[Bobbsy]

Indeed, I make it a practice to cover any and all switches on transmit packs with tape to avoid prying fingers...and let it be known that the death for anyone tampering with the switches will be slow and painful.

 

Seriously, actors or stagehands playing with TX pack switches is a recipe for disaster. The ones that get switched off are never on again for the next cue--and at least one will always either have the frequency changed accidentally or the mic connector damaged by inexperienced "helpers".

 

By the way, I agree with Josh's advice on using the faders rather than mute buttons--a sudden mute can make a noticeable change in the "sound" of the show that a quick fade covers nicely. In the digital age, I preset the desk to do a quick fade per channel rather than using the mutes at all.

 

Bob

[ian.michael.williams]

IMHO - just make sure all your Radio Mic Aux Fed Sends (if any) are Post Fader, and drop the fader to infinity when they leave, nice and simple. Juggling 8 Channels is not too much of an issue, although using a group as a "radio mic master" might aid those times when you have a lot of mics on straight away. (although this will not bring the mic out of your Aux Send)

[DanSteely]

Hi All and many thanks for the comments.

 

OK, clearly, muting from the desk is the way forward.. Thanks Josh for the dropping the level prior to muting suggestion – I’ll go with that.. (perhaps I’ll just drop the fader and the leave the mute button alone. Actor mics will be sent to various monitors including the MD and having these post fade makes sense – thanks Ian. I’ll be using an LS9-32 for the show. Are there any thoughts on this?

 

In my tech room I have a big pair of Falco cutters and will threaten to use it to remove digits if we start having finger problems with the RF-Tx…

 

Cheers guys...

[pisquee]

Post fader mons can work well for this kinds of work, but, you need to be careful, as you may end up pushing the monitors really high on a cast member who isn't singing/speaking loud enough, to get a decent level in the FOH speakers, and getting a load of feedback in the process. My preference is to keep monitors as pre, but use fader and mute buttons.

[jonathanhill]

Ideally the relevant radio mic channels should only be open when dialogue/lyrics are forthcoming. A handy way to make this quick fader action easier is to program VCA's for each 'scene' if you have such things on your desk.

[Shez]

Post fader mons can work well for this kinds of work, but, you need to be careful, as you may end up pushing the monitors really high on a cast member who isn't singing/speaking loud enough, to get a decent level in the FOH speakers, and getting a load of feedback in the process.

Putting headworn mics in the monitors, particularly in a school setting, is asking for trouble. I mix a fair bit of musical theatre and have never been asked for that nor have ever offered. With that many omni mics around, it's a recipe for a feedback fest.

[neilalexrose]

OK, clearly, muting from the desk is the way forward.. Thanks Josh for the dropping the level prior to muting suggestion – I’ll go with that.. (perhaps I’ll just drop the fader and the leave the mute button alone. Actor mics will be sent to various monitors including the MD and having these post fade makes sense – thanks Ian. I’ll be using an LS9-32 for the show. Are there any thoughts on this?

 

 

Just to re-iterate what has been hinted at. In musical theatre using desks with user programmable snapshots/VCA routing, snapshots are usually used to change VCA routing (user assignable master control faders), and also whether the channel is on or off (muted). Usually the channel input faders themselves are left at 0db, and the master level (what is heard through the PA) is all controlled by the VCA faders. Those channels not used in that snapshot are muted/turned off. The routing and muting can be changed with each different snapshot recalled. These snapshots can be anything from one per song/scene, to several per song/scene, depending on the number of mics used, and the number of lines being said/sung. (again common practice, where possible, is to aim to only have one mic open on stage at a time, or only mics with sound going into them! Mixing dialogue line by line can be tricky!) Plus if more than one mic is open and picking up the same sound, it starts sounding very odd.

In this example the VCA faders control any audio heard through the PA, not the mute buttons. (As has been said, muting suddenly doesn't sound great, a fader is smoother.)

 

Personally I've not used an LS9, so I cannot comment or advise in the best way to use the desk or set it up for this kind of operation. I remember reading somewhere that it doesn't actually have VCA's either (please someone feel free to correct). Some clever use of the user assignable layer might be useful?

 

Another point mentioned is that of monitoring. Given the changing relationship between the radio mics and speakers, onstage monitoring using head worn radios is something best avoided. This is because most head worn radio mics tend to have an omnidirectional pickup pattern (they hear everything around them. Obviously this varies from mic head to mic head, but it's worth checking, so you know what you are dealing with). In comparison a handheld mic like an SM58 or equivalent may have a narrower pickup pattern Which with careful setup, means you can sit an SM58 in front of a foldback speaker, without too much trouble, as it only hears the sound directly in front of it.

For musical theatre ideally you want an onstage music level that is quiet enough so that the singers can hear themselves acoustically, but is loud enough so that they are able to pitch from the music without struggling to hear themselves, and therefore demanding onstage vocal foldback.

Post fade is definitely the way to go with vocal radiomics, one less thing to worry about if it's pre-fade and you haven't turned a singer off to the MD's speaker, when they are in their dressing room complaining about a bum note from the bass player!

 

Oh and definitely do not leave anyone you don't trust to turn on or off beltpacks. Never rely on actors/stage crew/chaperones to turn a beltpack on before a show. Always give it to the actor on and working, and make sure it stays that way until you switch it off at the end of the show. That way if something does goes wrong, it's not their fault, it's yours or it's equipment failure. If you can guarantee the pack is on and working at beginners, because that's the way you gave it to the actor, and you still can't hear any audio in your pre-show checks, then you know something is seriously wrong, and you can investigate.

 

HTH

Neil

[Andrew C]

Something I haven't seen mentioned above; if you switch the beltpack off, the receiver will go looking for the next strongest signal. I've had this twice, once disastrously. A DJ using the same frequency blasting "Let's hear it for the bride & groom!" over the PA at a premier of an orchestral piece that was being recorded by three different organisations... Well, it wasn't good. Not my fault I'm glad to say!

[Rob_Beech]

As all are saying. This should all be controlled by the desk, but you really need to have things organised and know who is on and off when. especially if a cast member wanders off script. Generally speaking I'd drop a fader rather than use a mute or on switch. In less than ideal lighting you can typically see a fader at the bottom instead of "live" than mute / on lights. Also if you use different types of desks you have to remember whether it IS an ON or a MUTE switch and thus whether it should be lit or not when live. Finally, if the worst happens, it's much smoother to fade in a mic than snap it in halfway through a word.

 

To do this efficiently, comms or even a camera and a small monitor setup off stage (number of exits dependant) can help to know when people are ready.

 

Encouraging the cast to shut up when in the wings can also help.

 

If your wireless systems (you don't say where when and what sort) allow it, it can sometimes help to have a HIGHER squelch setting on better microphone systems as when they wander off into dressing rooms they will mute themselves early. This is NOT something to rely on but it can help if you are preoccupied. Nothing worse than the sound of toilets flushing on channel 41 during the middle of a scene.

[johndenim]

Nothing worse than the sound of toilets flushing on channel 41 during the middle of a scene.

 

Or even worse, someone using one!