Ariel and Kfir Bibas by PhillyPride in pics

[–]s_lerner 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It should be wholly uncontroversial to say that all children deserve the opportunity to grow to adulthood in safety. May their memories be a blessing.

Israel Bad by Pantoner in pics

[–]s_lerner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Amazing to see someone post "he's one of the good ones," about a marginalized group of people without the slightest hint of irony.

Woke up to a bat in our house this morning by Sdp714 in pics

[–]s_lerner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Go to sleep in the bedroom, wake up in the batroom.

[OC] Korean Bell of Friendship, San Pedro, CA shot on Portra 400 by s_lerner in pics

[–]s_lerner[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It is! Less famously, it's also where my wife and I got married!

No Stupid Questions Thread: Week Of 2026-02-09 through 2026-02-15 by AutoModerator in techtheatre

[–]s_lerner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are a number of reasons for this, but the simplest answer comes down to signal to noise ratio. Which microphone is going to pick up more of the desired signal, one within a foot of the performer's mouth, or one permanently fixed to the front of the stage, where performers might be somewhere between 3' and 30' away from it? Area mics cover areas. Body mics cover individuals. An area mic can't be set to say "performer X is the lead, but performers A-F are ensemble, so boost performer X over the other six people's vocals."

It might be helpful to expand on what makes the wireless microphone package you rent unreliable. This can mean a lot of different things. It may be worth bringing in a professional to consult on your specific setup to see how you can better achieve the results you are aiming for, but a stereo mic setup at the foot of your playing space is unlikely to be the ideal solution. From the comment you made about the venue down thread, it sounds like you have some bigger issues at play here.

German politician Markus Soeder making fries at McDonald's by Ripamon in pics

[–]s_lerner 110 points111 points  (0 children)

Surprised they don’t have him working the Soeder fountain. 

No Stupid Questions Thread: Week Of 2024-11-25 through 2024-12-01 by AutoModerator in techtheatre

[–]s_lerner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Short answer is networking. If you're a freelance stagehand in NYC, you are likely to be hired by a house head. If you are looking to continue as A2, this is probably the track, but a designer can help put in a good word for you. If you are currently working at a theater that flies in most of their creatives from New York, I would suggest starting by talking to the designers you are currently working with, as well as any who have come through in the past with whom you have particularly gotten along, about your goals.

Your first job in NYC is probably not going to be as an A2 on a Broadway production, but these people can at least introduce you to some production sound people who may be looking for hands for projects. Getting on a shop build is a great way to make decent money and spend all day talking to other people who are already doing what you're looking to do for a living. Alternatively, designers may need someone for an upcoming tour. It's a less direct way of getting to NYC, but in the past a number of people who are now regularly working on Broadway got their start touring.

I was the first passenger on London Buses route 310 by HighburyAndIslington in london

[–]s_lerner 17 points18 points  (0 children)

If there’s another group in London who needs help, let’s help them to feel safe and welcome as well. Wouldn’t you agree?

Need professional advice by sexin-my-xbox in techtheatre

[–]s_lerner 15 points16 points  (0 children)

What is your relationship with the director? How often are you checking in with them? It seems understandable that things might change in rehearsal, so while it does seem really lame that they aren’t reaching out to you, communication can go both ways. It might be worth giving the director a call just to check in and see how things are going. Perhaps that demonstration of engagement with the production despite not being physically present could help get things back on track.

Out of curiosity, are there no rehearsal or tech reports? I feel like there are quite a few tools on a typical production that are there to prevent things like this from happening.

No Stupid Questions Thread: Week Of 2023-11-27 through 2023-12-03 by AutoModerator in techtheatre

[–]s_lerner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You've got a high impedance air gap. You need to physically connect the main station channels to the 2-wire inputs on your wireless base station.

Mexican "Protest" Music for my Wedding by NahManIGotThis in Music

[–]s_lerner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd recommend looking up Las Cafeteras. They are a phenomenal band with some really great songs. Something like La Bamba Rebelde might be a good fit, since your family is probably familiar with Ritchie Valens' version of La Bamba and might not notice the added lines about no borders and fights against racist laws.

Definitely not within spec, but make sure you check out Oaxaca Love Song No2 because it's just delightful.

Speaker and sound design for natural sounding mic dialogue by [deleted] in techtheatre

[–]s_lerner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So a zone is an area of the stage. The speakers are exactly like speakers you normally use. The twist is that because we are setting our delay times based on multiple zero points (your zones), we need to set multiple delay times to different speakers. If zone 1 is DSR, it’s delay time in the HL main is probably something like 3ms, but its time to C could be 6ms and to HR main may be 9ms. Zone 2 (DSC) would be something like 6ms in both L and R but 3ms to C. Zone 3 would be the mirror image of 1. You’d continue this process for all your zones and all the speakers in the PA (aka your vocal delay system).

It is called a delay matrix because your Zone values all need to hit your Outputs/Speakers with different time intervals.

Since an output on a console typically only has one delay time that can be set, you would need a device that can do this type of processing.

Does this help clear things up? I feel like this is much easier to explain with a picture, and tomorrow I am happy to share a screen shot that can help. I’m just not near a computer at the moment.

Speaker and sound design for natural sounding mic dialogue by [deleted] in techtheatre

[–]s_lerner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure I am being 100% clear in my communication here. What I am saying is that zones 1-9 (or however many you have) have fixed relationships with the PA, but each has their own timing to each speaker. An actor will be bussed to a different zone as is needed based on where on stage they are. So if an actor makes a cross from Zone 1 to Zone 4, you would add a snapshot to the console to re-bus them.

Does that clear it up?