Where should sound come from?

[GridGirl]

I've done a number of shows where a record player or radio has been "switched on" and it's always been a case of hiding a small FX speaker as close to the "source" as possible, as Ynot said. One show I did had a large radio cabinet which was brought on by two actors, then the director wanted sound to actually come out of it...hiding the speaker in the cabinet was no problem, but guaranteeing that the actors would plug the power in, then plug the speaker cable in was a little more nerve-wracking, so I ended up rigging another small speaker directly above it in case something went wrong. To be fair, they nailed it every night (but I did use a jack plug so they didn't have to get the plug into the socket in a specific orientation!).

 

I do find this an interesting subject though, given that I'm now working in opera where a large number of productions call for musicians to be either backstage or onstage. Very, very occasionally these parts are played from the pit, but this doesn't happen much at all (and obviously only in cases where the pit players aren't playing at that moment!) So, usually no matter the expense (we had 17 onstage musicians in Don Giovanni), we'll have musicians onstage because having actors mime while the sound comes from the pit is just not the same, or players backstage because the effect required can't be replicated any other way. Turandot or Aida are good examples - loads of extra brass players backstage, because it adds an effect you can't otherwise achieve. An early version of directional sound?!

[indyld]

The talk of record players on stage reminds me that our guys did a WWII show last year that featured multiple radios in different "houses" all around the stage. Plus one around the same time used a "practical" record player with a feed to it. It works well when the sound starts at the source, in it's tinny format and then expands throughout the theatre system at the end of the show to a rousing reception.

 

Some of my students worked on a site-specific dance piece in a multi-storey car park that saw the dancers all arrive in cars with their headlights on pointing into the performance space. The music was provided by a tiny Casio type keyboard played live, connected to an iTrip with the car radios all tuned to the relevant frequency. When the car doors were all opened and the dancers sprang out, sounded great.

 

I'm interested in the notion of an orchestra pit these days, if it's even used, given that often every attempt is made to acoustically isolate everything and then replay it through the line arrays in the sky. I often encourage students to experiment with reinforcing a live band from where they play, rather than pumping them out front. It does create the possibility of spill with the company mics, depending on their location, but in a smallish theatre the majority of the sound can easily be direct, with some of the less forceful instruments/frequencies just given a little help. Of course, this only works in smaller venues.

 

Or at least, it should sound direct.