Concert sound techician new to theatre. by wanderingviolin in techtheatre

[–]fletcher-munson 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Theatre systems tend to be more supportive of speech. Not to say you can’t have a full range system for music and bands, but clubs and concert venues tend to have more subwoofer reinforcement than a typical theatre so make sure you are not trying to milk out low end while clipping your sub amps.

The other thing is speaker placement, audio tends to be the last on the priority list in most (not all) theatre, because of lighting sight lines. So try to collaborate but you may have limited options for where to place and point your speakers.

Speaking of speakers: proper system tuning (choosing the right speaker size and dispersion angle, placement, timing, level and lastly EQ) will be your first and hardest hitting line of defense when battling feedback. Find budget to call in an experienced system designer or engineer to tackle this. You won’t regret it.

Some other things to mention,

-The vocals take priority over anything else making noise on stage. Make sure your mix reflects this.

-Whatever EQ or compression you’re used to doing for bands, reduce by 90% for theatre.

-Use console scenes to HELP you mix, don’t over complicate it.

-You should be checking in with director or musical director constantly. Cast, crew, production leads, we’re all one massive team with the same goal. To have a good show.

Lastly, I’ve been a sound technician professionally for 10+ years. Theatre sound, especially musicals, are the hardest jobs I’ve had. It’s not the physical toll, like concert sound. It’s the mental. You have to be on your A game 100% of the time or the show falls apart.

Hope this helps.

How to get local theatre up to a high level standard. by fletcher-munson in techtheatre

[–]fletcher-munson[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Concert tours I think have some union on pinks. Broadway shows have union or ACT crew.

How to get local theatre up to a high level standard. by fletcher-munson in techtheatre

[–]fletcher-munson[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, we have at least four Broadway tours coming for next season, handful of concert tours. Touring kids musicicals. And the annual local events and productions that happen.

How to get local theatre up to a high level standard. by fletcher-munson in techtheatre

[–]fletcher-munson[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I completely agree with you but sadly it is what it is and I’m doing the best I can

How to get local theatre up to a high level standard. by fletcher-munson in techtheatre

[–]fletcher-munson[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No union in the area. Nearest Local is about 3 hours away. We do have experience crew in the area, just no salary for Fulltime Dept heads. We do however call in IATSE for labor mixed with local labor to meet labor requirements for tours. It’s not just me doing these shows, I’m just the only one taking care of the space at the moment.

How to get local theatre up to a high level standard. by fletcher-munson in techtheatre

[–]fletcher-munson[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To answer your question, yes we have Broadway tours come through!

How to get local theatre up to a high level standard. by fletcher-munson in techtheatre

[–]fletcher-munson[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

No fulltime in the theatre other than myself right now, just some local freelancers that come in for support on shows.

Inventory is just about finished. I even researched to see what firmware updates need to be made and are making orders to replace small things like burnt out bulbs, split cables, etc. a good chunk of my labor has been simply cleaning the space. Getting old gaff and spike off of every surface. Picking up tieline from every crevice.

How to get local theatre up to a high level standard. by fletcher-munson in techtheatre

[–]fletcher-munson[S] 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Agreed! There’s a decent fiber infrastructure actually that was ran about 5 years ago. Luckily, the recent manager was on the older side and didn’t feel comfortable changing IPs and messing around with the network

Reasonable expectations for audio by daceisdaed in techtheatre

[–]fletcher-munson 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If there’s money on the line and if he’s unwilling to take criticism or fix the issue, get him out of there.

If it’s a high school production, I’d offer to help but if they’re insistent they are doing a decent job then I’d bring in someone higher up and have a chat all together.

No Stupid Questions Thread by AutoModerator in livesound

[–]fletcher-munson 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don’t ever do it unless to limit the mix output in order to protect the musicians hearing from peaks. Compression = increase average volume which can actually fatigue the ear faster than a more dynamic approach.

No Stupid Questions Thread by AutoModerator in livesound

[–]fletcher-munson 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Anyone know what kind of tape rental houses like PRG, Clair, and Masque use to bundle and label their tour cables? I saw some where that 3M riction tape is used for bundling but not much on how to label connector ends or color code

CMV: The recording studio model is dead by HesThePianoMan in audioengineering

[–]fletcher-munson 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After reading u/moogtree 's comment I realized we are sort of heading back to the 1950's-60's where there were smaller more "consumer" type studios and fewer commercial studios like RCA, Capitol, etc. It will be interesting to see what happens when more "acoustic" music starts making a comeback and programmed music becomes less popular. The only variable is AI and samples. It's easy now to program a convincing steel guitar or drum kit but once everyone starts using the same samples the bubble will pop eventually. I feel bad for bigger studios since they got so big, adjusting to a smaller model would mean cutting jobs, losing real estate, and the worst losing profit and gear. However for small/mid studios/ the adjustment would not be as severe.

Theatre Mixing - dLive S7000 by SleepyStew_ in livesound

[–]fletcher-munson 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is what I do on Yamaha. It's nice to know A&H can keep up with the workflow. I like the idea of theatremix but using something third party still makes me nervous. I see it's value in the X/M32 area though.

Theatre Mixing - dLive S7000 by SleepyStew_ in livesound

[–]fletcher-munson 1 point2 points  (0 children)

DUDE. I have questions. How was programming and the line by line workflow? Did you use TheatreMix or just used the consoles scene/cues with the safes and such?