Advice on micing dancers on theater stage

T

TeleDan

Well-known member
I'm helping my son's high-school theatre teacher with some audio questions for their upcoming spring musical. She would like to mic a couple of dancers for both dialog and singing. I tried to talk her into an ear-worn or headset type mic but she doesn't like the appearance of them. What she wants to do is to rig a lavalier as a 'halo' mic with the mic at the hairline. Does anyone here have experience with what works or what doesn't work in this kind of arrangement?

Unfortunately, the wireless units she has are some really bad POS Samson's that were forced on her a few years ago by the school district. The transmitters are spec'd at something like 10 milliwatts. We had to relocate the receivers down to the stage because they could not reliably make it across the room to the sound booth.

She'd like some new TX/RX units along with the mics but her budget is around $800. Not really enough budget to do both well, IMO. I think a couple of Countryman B3s would work nicely but they would have to be connected to the Samson's. I could probably get a couple of G2 sets for that but would have to make the kit mics work. I've used G2s in the same theater before and they have performed well.

Does anyone have suggestions on what would work well and still come close to this budget? Keep in mind this is a high-school production and not feature film stuff. Also, is there a particular audio shop that would have some expertise in theater applications? We've talked about renting but the prices for 2 weeks of performances is not cheap either although the rental units are better quality.

Thanks,
Dan
 
B3's are pretty much the standard for theatrical sound reinforcement use. I'm sure you could cut a deal with one of the rental houses (Trew or Coffey or one of the others) for some older model Lectro's, like 195D's that you can rent for the run. You might also do a post on Craig's List to see if anyone out there does theatrical sound reinforcement and can cut you a break. Because (and I'm sure you already know this) it isn't just a matter of getting a couple of good mics and wireless kits, you also have to mix everything fairly carefully so the two actors that are mic'd don't blast out the others (unless that is the director's objective :-).

The problem you'd run into with the stock mics that come with the G2's is clothing rub, especially if they're dancing. They also only come in stock black color. You can get B3's in flesh tones so they stay hidden better, and you get very little cable rub interference with them.

(BTW, I just checked and Trew has two used B3's for $150 each, wired for Lectro.)

I have also seen EMW's used for theater, but glued to the side of the actor's face, about half-way down their jaw line - in flesh color they don't look too bad.

Hope this helps.

Phil
 
Thanks, Phil, for the good suggestions. Didn't think of gluing EMWs. The B3s at Trew look tempting but are also black. Any tricks to changing their colors?

Thanks also for your suggestion on Craig's list. When I checked in the past, there doesn't seem to be much local activity there but it's worth a shot. I'll try again to see if she would consider renting.

I understand what you're saying about the mix. This teacher prefers to not use mics at all so even when she does, she keeps the levels low. She's not into the tech stuff but knows what she wants artistically. I'm hoping to make it over to a rehearsal this week to discuss the blocking.

Thanks,
Dan
 
If she's really just wanting a little extra "umph", you could just look at hanging a couple of Omni's over front edge of the stage (or even a couple of Cardioids...you could pick up a pair of Rode NT5's for like $250 or so...)

Phil
 
For musicals she usually has 2 to 3 overheads but they have trouble with getting sufficient gain before feedback. My son is running the mix so I plan to see if I can eq some of that out. Btw, there will be more wireless lavaliers used in the production than just the two I've been talking about. She just wants two in particular that she can depend on. Once I see the blocking I expect that I'll understand.

Thanks for your thoughful replies.
-Dan
 
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