The actors' mic system in BETM and elsewhere

[patc]

Could someone please explain how the mic system works in theatre and why so many lines are currently not being heard or the mic only comes on late and the first part of sentences are missed. These are the types of individual queries I have but a broad description would be most welcome:

1. When more than one actor with speaking parts is on stage are all mics on at the same time or does the sound desk turn each mic on only when that actor has to speak and then turn it off?
2. Is the mic turned on/off by a slider being pushed to a certain position or by an on/off button at the sound desk?
3. Is there one technician responsible for the operation of ALL actor's mics or is it spread around more than one?
4. When a line is not heard or only partly heard what has gone wrong?

At a recent show I was sat beside a student who was doing a project for a degree in theatre. He told me before the show that he was not there to see the show as such but to watch and make technical notes all thoroughout the show. He had already seen two other shows that week for the same reason. He made copious notes in his chart during Part 1.
During the interval I wondered to myself if he had picked up on the sound problems that were evident to my ears. He most certainly had!! He added that it was inexcusable when lines spoken by an actor changed volume during the delivery of those lines. Nevertheless, despite these shortcomings, at the end of the show he said it was a brilliant show, by far the best of the three and he had made hardly any notes in Part 2 as most of the work was done in Part 1.

So, over to the experts. Break, break, Steamboy, are you there?

Pat

[James.R]

Pat

To answer a few of your questions. It really depends upon how complicated a show you are dealing with and how much automation is needed. BETM is extremely complicated and would be impossible without 95% of the repetitive tasks being done by computer with human intervention when things go off track. Essentially the whole show is cued down to the individual line of scripted dialogue if necessary (and even clothing/hat changes....think about it..). All the technical element of the show is then triggered off that cue sequence which is usually overseen and put back in time by the assistant stage manager.

1. When more than one actor with speaking parts is on stage are all mics on at the same time or does the sound desk turn each mic on only when that actor has to speak and then turn it off?

Mics are generally turned off when the actor is not speaking. If you don't you get a) high levels of hiss and b) very strange effects when actors speak both into their own mics and into each others when they are mixed back together in the speakers. Given the speed of dialogue in BETM the microphones are very short cued indeed. It's how Paul Arditti the sound designer achieves the quality of sound he does. As an interesting view on the extraordinary skill of the Sound Supervisors, look closely and you can sometimes see/hear the results of them compensating if one of the principal's mics has a problem by using feeds from other actors' mics close by .

2. Is the mic turned on/off by a slider being pushed to a certain position or by an on/off button at the sound desk?

The sound operator would need about 30 fingers if she needed to control all the mics on sliders. The automation system on each cue drives the sound desk to the pre-programmed setting. The sound operator/supervisor can take control and overide settings if necessary..by grabbing the controls..as it were.

3. Is there one technician responsible for the operation of ALL actor's mics or is it spread around more than one?

There is one supervisor I believe. Some shows have another monitoring some functions and of course there are the sound assistants running around backstage and the quick change areas microphoning people up as miners change wigs etc and Billys rip off mics with coat hooks etc.

4. When a line is not heard or only partly heard what has gone wrong?

Assuming everyone is still on script?, it usually means the cue system has got very slightly out of sync and is needed to be corrected by the operators. That's live theatre.



Hope that helps

James

[burtond]

Well thanks for all the technical input but I haven't been to a single show when the audio has been perfect. Indeed, for many of the shows a good number of the lines are lost to the main auditorium but only picked up by the front row. This doesnt happen in other West End shows that I have seen so why is it this bad at the VP? It is inexcusable given the seat prices.

[patc]

Thanks, Jamie, for your most interesting reply which I have now read several times but, maybe I'm just thick, I don't really understand the cue system and how it's computerised. I think my problem actually begins with the word "cue", its correct meaning and what exactly does it do or trigger when "cued".
With so many different actors playing the same roles the timings are never going to be the same with pauses of different lengths etc. So let's take a very simple scene:

The short scene before Take me Up:

Michael: Billy, do you know why they're on strike, like.
Billy: It's to do with Maggie Thatcher isn't it?
Michael: Why, what's she done, like?
Billy (pause), followed by: Fxxked, if I know.
Michael: See ya at boxin' then?
Billy: Yeh, see ya Michael.

So, can you explain what "cues" are and how they work in that scene and what happens to the mics during it. Is Billy's exact pause length specified in the script? Are you saying that the boys don't speak until they get a cue? If so, from where do they get the cue?

I may get slagged by certain Forum Members over this but it will be worth it to get the answers.

Pat

[Billy Whiz]

I may get slagged by certain Forum Members over this but it will be worth it to get the answers.

Pat

No slagging off from me Pat. This is a very interesting topic.

[James.R]

Hi Pat

No you are not being dim...the word cue is used in a number of different ways. Trouble is the example you used it not too helpful since I doubt the mics are switched during that short dialogue as there is no need.

A "cue" is something that in a manual show would be written on a copy of the script as a sequence of numbers. Cues denote changes - either in lighting, sound or scenery etc. In older times the stage manager used simply to say over the intercom "Que 21... Ready....Go" and the various lighting, sound staff would do their stuff. It's termed "calling the show". There used to be an in joke ...The only thing worse than shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre is to shout "Go!"

Nowerdays, the dialogue of the script is placed in a computer and the assistant stage manager steps through the script and presses a button when he/she sees the point in the script marked as a cue being said/completed. This "Master Show Controller" tells all the other computer systems controlling the lighting,sound etc to move to the next step. Sometimes sequential cues are linked in a timed sequence without having to manually move them on.

You normally find cues immediately after a line of dialogue to switch off that mic and switch on the next ones ready. However it could be :

Dead Mum: You'd forget your head" {cue 15.3}
Dead Mon throws hat to Billy - puts it on {cue 15.4}
Billy: I wrote you a letter ........ it's a bit scrumpled etc
{cue 15.5 -sets up orchestra mixer to start number}

The actors would not normally be "cued" while on stage but are normally done so for entries by either a stage hand or cue light behind the scenes. When the cast are acting the assistant stage manager is effectively trying to follow them.

Any clearer Pat?
James

[burtond]

So then the system is not being moved on fast enough.

Tonight, in one of the final scenes as Billy enters the Hall with the Ballet Girls. One of the girls says 'did you get in then?' to which Billy replies 'Yes'.

In my view these are extremely important lines but 5 times out of 10 the audio system never picks them up. As in didn't tonight along with many other examples.

So do we need a amendment to the cueing system, an assistant stage manager who can react a little quicker and move the cues forward or what? I'm still frustrated by the incompetance of all this.

[patc]

Any clearer Pat?

Well, difficult to say, James, but, again, thanks for taking the trouble to explain. If my understanding of your explanation is correct it's a miracle that ANY line is heard at the correct volume or at all during the show. I can see the cue situation clearly enough for stage lights, music, etc but for a mic to be primed in a computer to be on at a precise moment that someone is supposed to speak seems crazy. I'd expect the "over-rider" must have a hectic time every show!!!

Or, have I got it wrong again, (as Mr. D. Emery used to ask).

Pat

PS, I just noticed that, with this post, we are both on 337

[Todd]

Glad that this issue was brought up Pat, as I had some of the same questions you had after seeing the show in Durham, North Carolina recently and hearing a number of missed mic cues where you could hear the actor speaking his line from the stage (if you were sitting close enough) but clearly their microphone wasn't on when they said their line.

Makes you wonder if the production is trying a new cueing system in all the cities where the show is performed, as it sounds like from what you are saying that the microphone problems in London have been on the increase only as of late. I don't remember hardly any microphone problems until the performances I saw just recently, which I more or less attributed to it being the beginning of the tour where they were still getting the kinks worked out.

[tzwicky]

So, that's why you should always sit within about 4 rows of the front of the house. The first time I saw BETM it was from the Dress Circle, and I think that was the last time. I got the overhead view. Been there, done that.

I've even sat in the Stalls further back than row D and was still OK on the sound. After 70+ shows, I think I've got the sound cues in my noggin'.

But, bottom line, sit well forward to avoid any blips or bleeps, soundwise.

What freaks me out vis-a-vis the sound cues ever working perfectly, is that if I'm sitting back any further than 6th or 7th row, I've got my great, immense and intrusive field glasses. I watch the show mostly through the glasses. Light travels a bit faster than sound, but the show has rarely come even the slightest bit unglued for me, sound and vision.

So it remains, as Geoffrey Rush puts it in "Shakespeare in Love," " ... Strangely enough, it all turns out well. ..."

tzwicky