Effectiveness of Boundary Mics

[ddproduction]

Hi Guys,

 

We're putting on a show in the summer on an outdoor stage, roughly 15x3m (don't ask). Most of the principles will have radio mics, but I intend to use boundary mics as well to pick up the ensemble etc, specifically Crown PCC160's.

 

Can anyone advise as to how well they would expect these to work in this situation? And if it's worth it, how many / how far they should be for decent coverage?

 

Thanks!

[Ynot]

Not my area of expertise BUT I will say that anything other than close micing in the great outdoors will not be anywhere near as effective as it is on the relatively controlled environment of a theatre stage.

 

(And OT, a pet hate of mine - if you're involved with theatre, please try to spell the various key roles correctly - it's principAL as in a main role in a show, whilst a principLE is a rule of actoion, or truth etc)

 

 

[ddproduction]

My thoughts pretty much, although it will be in a large enclosed garden mid-July.

 

Spelling duly noted ;)

[kerry davies]

They used to use them in a very hedge-enclosed space at Duffryn Gardens and some days they were fine, other days, when the wind blew, they were unusable.

 

You would just have to suck it and see on coverage and whether they picked up too much ambient noise to be of use.The projection of the cast, acoustics of the space and surroundings make a huge difference.

 

In theatre work, even close radio mics can be a real pain outdoors and drive the sound guys bonkers.

[Bobbsy]

For ensemble stuff, if the cast is projecting, they should help somewhat. However, as already mentioned, beware of any wind--they'll pick that up quite badly as will your head mounted stuff.

 

As for placement, Crown themselves recommend their mics be about 3 metres/10 feet apart and just in from the lip of the stage. Do you really mean the stage is 45 metres wide? That would indicate something like 15 mics for full coverage! However, I'd have to guess that your 45 metre dimension includes big wings so the acting area might be as little as a third of that. One good trick is to always use an odd number of mics so one can be located dead centre since invariably a lot of action takes place there.

 

One point that needs making: don't assume that these will be a turn on and forget scenario. Working with float mics along the lip of the stage takes a huge amount of mixing following the action otherwise you'll have problems with both phasing and feedback. The first issue can sometimes be helped by reversing the polarity of alternate mics but this has to be judged on a case by case basis through testing.

[laolu]

His stage is 15 metres wide, but anyway: I had bad experiences with boundary mics because they picked up mainly foot steps, something too loud already anyway.

Maybe headworn mics is the only way in your case, hoping you don't have too many actors, who all want to be heard equally loud. I work at an indoor theatre (rather small) in a school, where micing is not absolutely necessary, IF I have disciplined actors, which is rare. They too often compare TV studios with stage and wonder why it can't be done if it can be done on TV .

[Bobbsy]

Sounds like your stage must be extra "live". On normally solid stages, the PCC160 mics work well and are pretty isolated from footsteps. If you stage is too live, you can often improve things by putting the mics on a mouse mat or any other sort of rubber mat (as long as it's not too thick since they work by having the mic flat on the stage floor.

 

That said, it's a sad truth that any form of "stage mic" works best when the cast are projecting well anyway--and they can't pick up sounds that simply aren't there.

[paulears]

15m is the bit that worries me - nothing to do with the technical elements, just simply that voices will be live, from over there - and amplified, from a totally different direction. Add a bit of wind and it sounds very odd. Boundaries behave a little weirdly in even light wind - just the wrong angle of arrival makes even a gentle breeze sound like a storm, so I often tape a bit of foam over them.

 

With your 15m run, outside I suspect I'd space them quite close, maybe as close as a couple of metres, but be prepared to not have them all on at the same time - playing 'follow the actor'. Outside, finding the right mic and using it gives more gain than indoors, but it's hard work. I've even tried numbering the mics with little cards, or colours to make ID easier.