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[Mike Christy]

That's a scary resemblance Tony LOL

And the 2 raised rectangular plastic thingies are for?

[Andrew Loftus]

Tony Williams wrote on Tue, 23 February 2010 18:36

--The White House Communications Department is the President's sound people. --Also the White House carries around small more portable podiums --The seal is carried around separately of the podium and is only put on the lectern the day of the speech if there are setup days. --My info may be a little dated now, but every speech is recorded with two feeds. Each having a Sound Devices mixer feeding a HHB MiniDisc recorder (at least thats what it was the years of #43).

note: I've only had experience on 2 "in office" Vice Pres shows and a bunch of campaign gigs.  While the campaign gigs do have some rules, they are much more flexible than when its for someone in office.

The White House Communications Agency does send trained personnel out.  They handle the podium, mics, prompters and ensure you--the audio provider--are set for the room, press feeds and the many feeds to the White House staff.

White House Com guys told me that the small portable lecterns are for EMERGENCY speeches (note: this was for the Vice Pres, not the Big Guy).  An emergency speech such as: something horrible happened to The President and the VP's motorcade has to pull over so the VP can address the nation even if its on the side of the road.

IIRC the seal doesn't get put on until JUST before the official gets to the venue.  The picture of me at the podium doesn't have the seal--DANG IT!

For a public event, on top of the press feeds, The White House gets program feed to a phone line and 4 separate feeds directly from the house console to two or three HBB recorders.

Generally, these shows have a lot of hurry up and wait...followed by lots more waiting.  But they'll keep ya on your toes by doing podium mic checks ever 30 minutes or so!  
And my experience with the WH Com guys has been nothin' but pleasurable.  Great bunch to work with!

[Milt Hathaway]

Andrew Loftus wrote on Wed, 24 February 2010 10:37

Generally, these shows have a lot of hurry up and wait...followed by lots more waiting.  But they'll keep ya on your toes by doing podium mic checks ever 30 minutes or so!   And my experience with the WH Com guys has been nothin' but pleasurable.  Great bunch to work with!

Yup, and don't set any of your plans in stone because they will all be changed. I understand why, and it's not so bad when you are prepared for it, but the first time can be a nightmare. Work schedules, equipment placement, input and/or output requirements will all change.

Campaign stops for an incumbent President are the worst, because you've got Secret Service, national party staff, local campaign staff, White House Communications, etc. all telling you what to do, and ultimately only what the Secret Service (and sometimes WHC) says really matters.

[Jamin Lynch]

I was lucky enough to provide PA for a whirlwind stop for Ronald Reagan back when he was running for his second term. After going through mountans of paper work, background checks, bomb sniffing dogs, and a search of my gear, airforce one landed at the airport with a couple of secret service guys who brought out the same podeim every other president has used for ever. 2 SM57's with windscreens. After I hooked it up to the PA, Reagan came out and spoke for about 15 minutes and was off again.

One mic was for a back up. It wasn't too hard getting it loud enough for all to hear. The big problem was the 30 mph wind. The windscreens worked OK, but a big croosswind created some issues.

[brian maddox]

i cut my teeth in audio working for RCI sound systems out of D.C.  back in the day, the system install division of RCI used to manufacture the audio gear used by WHCA, which mostly consisted of shure 267s and various splitters and custom panels for feeds and such, so RCI was a preferred vendor in the D.C area.  so yeah, i did a few POTUS gigs.

the deal with WHCA is redundancy.  it's all about fail safe.  we used to have a preset package of gear that went out on all POTUS gigs that consisted of all the multi-pair they wanted for various press feeds, etc. as well as press mults [WHCA may still use RCI press mults.  they did for at least a decade or two], offstage announce mics [also a pair of redundant 57s], offstage powered monitors, etc.

aside from the fact that 57s sound like 57s, the gigs were usually pretty straightforward.  i did a lot of clinton events and if it was late in the day he'd get hoarse, but would still be pretty loud.

i would usually run one mic in the pa eq'd for feedback, and the other straight to record and control them both with a single VCA, although i usually didn't tell WHCA that.  they  didn't like 'change'.  

most of the other stuff has been mentioned.  yes, the lectern is armor plated.  yes, they would have extra armor plates beside the lectern in 'exposed situations'.  and yes, it is cool to stand behind the 'goose' and do sound checks.  although WHCA usually insisted on their guy doing it most of the time.

now if you want to digress, i can talk to you about the stuff i found doing gigs in the White House...

nah, never mind...

have a grade A day...

brian maddox
www.fcfchurch.com [yeah, i work at a church now...]

[Michael J Brown]

Mike Christy wrote on Wed, 24 February 2010 08:46

That's a scary resemblance Tony LOL And the 2 raised rectangular plastic thingies are for?

http://www.telepromptermirrors.com/speechteleprompter.htm

Bob Burke wrote on Tue, 23 February 2010 07:48

Monitors - sometimes three.

Nope... at least 2 are teleprompters... the casing hides the LCD screen thats displaying the speech on the semi-reflective glass/acrylic.

[Brian Larson]

I remember seeing Obama with Sennheiser wireless on the campaign and thinking that was really revolutionary. Most other presidents had used Shure systems.

[Bill Kessinger]

Obama has been to my venue twice in the past few years.  Once as President elect and once as President. Both events were a live broadcast. The rules of engagement were quite different each time.  Before his inauguration,  no White House communication staff were involved.  I provided two 57s on a stereo bar, and 1 monitor wedge.  Minus all the press and security, it was just another talking head event.

As President, the security was about the same, however the White House Com guys provided podium, mics, instant replay for introductions, and backup battery powered PA system.  I was given two basic instructions.  1.  Flat EQ on the mic that is being sent to the press.  2.  All sends to be post fade, so the mute kills everything.  

I ended up using 1 mic with eq for the house, and 1 mic flat for the press.  

Bill  

[Kristian Johnsen]

Brian Larson wrote on Wed, 29 September 2010 02:24

I remember seeing Obama with Sennheiser wireless on the campaign and thinking that was really revolutionary. Most other presidents had used Shure systems.

Shure you don't mean "Evolutionary"?  

[Kristian Johnsen]

Michael J Brown wrote on Wed, 29 September 2010 02:21

Mike Christy wrote on Wed, 24 February 2010 08:46 That's a scary resemblance Tony LOL And the 2 raised rectangular plastic thingies are for? http://www.telepromptermirrors.com/speechteleprompter.htm Bob Burke wrote on Tue, 23 February 2010 07:48 Monitors - sometimes three. Nope... at least 2 are teleprompters... the casing hides the LCD screen thats displaying the speech on the semi-reflective glass/acrylic.

I'm thinking there is no monitor.  Looks to me the speaker is facing the camera.  Ivan B commented a while back on the White House using a single floor speaker to adress a whole room.