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[Taylor Phillips]

My friend teaches at an inner city high school and was finally able to start a drama program this year.  The school has a nice auditorium, but almost no sound equipment.  There's an installed system that may or may not be working right now, but they have a grand total of 0 microphones.  I'm assuming the system is working since he only asked me, volunteer sound guy at church, about what mics I would recommend.  The theater stage is pretty small, I'm not sure if it's even 40 feet wide, and appears to be about 20 feet deep behind the proscenium at most, with an apron about 5 feet in front of it.  Auditorium seats right around 500.  He wants to spend less than $3000.  His current with list consists of 5 lapel mics, 2 hanging mics, and one floor mic.  The play is "A Raisin in the Sun".  Does his plan sound reasonable, and what would you recommend? 

[Scott Holtzman]

My friend teaches at an inner city high school and was finally able to start a drama program this year.  The school has a nice auditorium, but almost no sound equipment.  There's an installed system that may or may not be working right now, but they have a grand total of 0 microphones.  I'm assuming the system is working since he only asked me, volunteer sound guy at church, about what mics I would recommend.  The theater stage is pretty small, I'm not sure if it's even 40 feet wide, and appears to be about 20 feet deep behind the proscenium at most, with an apron about 5 feet in front of it.  Auditorium seats right around 500.  He wants to spend less than $3000.  His current with list consists of 5 lapel mics, 2 hanging mics, and one floor mic.  The play is "A Raisin in the Sun".  Does his plan sound reasonable, and what would you recommend?

The hanging mic's won't do much.

I think you should take a mic over and test the system, see what kind of mixer.  5 wireless for $3000 is really close but doable

[Mike Caldwell]

The hanging mic's won't do much.

I think you should take a mic over and test the system, see what kind of mixer.  5 wireless for $3000 is really close but doable

Like Scott said, check the system with a mic and playback music to be sure it all works before spending money on wireless.
Like wise I have never had good results with hanging mics.

As for budget wireless, the absolute low as I would go to have something that will actually work is the Audio Technica 2000 series.
Go to Ebay and get some of these headset mics.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Double-Hook-YAM-Skin-HM3-C4AT-A-Headset-Mic-For-Audio-Technica-Wireless-Mics/182435844517?hash=item2a7a0611a5:g:husAAOxyGJFR7eog

They work perfect for school plays and sound better than their cost would suggest. They hold up well, I did not one go bad during my run of school plays this year, even so get a extra or two.

Another option would be a couple floor mics like a PCC160.
Those are a little more demanding to get decent gain out of, if your system is a little lacking those may not be a great choice.

[Tim McCulloch]

Hanging mics get in the way of scenery, tall props, etc.  I've used "choir" hanging mics but success depends on too many variables beyond my control and simply hanging pencil mics down at the stage floor is almost worthless.

PCC160 and the new Bartlett versions are great if you need to pick up actors downstage, but consider that after about 8' from the mic they don't help much.  They pick up lots of shoe/foot/moving scenery noise, too.

All area micing requires defensive EQ.

If this is a straight play, why is there amplification?  I thought that was for musicals.

[Brian Adams]

I mic the stage for our local community theatre, and I've done it basically the same way for a few years now. Their proscenium opening is 50' across and 18' tall, with an installed center cluster that's not amazing.

I space 8 PCC160's across the apron, 7-8' apart. I'll try to get some upstage of the proscenium if I can, but that's not always practical with moving scenery. I also hang 2 rows of 5 condensers over the stage, trimmed at 14'-16', spaced 8' apart. It takes a fair amount of EQ to make it sound decent, especially the PCC's, but it actually works pretty well. It's a lot easier now that I just drop an X32 in there instead of using their analog Mackie.

[Stephen Kirby]

I mic the stage for our local community theatre, and I've done it basically the same way for a few years now. Their proscenium opening is 50' across and 18' tall, with an installed center cluster that's not amazing.

I space 8 PCC160's across the apron, 7-8' apart. I'll try to get some upstage of the proscenium if I can, but that's not always practical with moving scenery. I also hang 2 rows of 5 condensers over the stage, trimmed at 14'-16', spaced 8' apart. It takes a fair amount of EQ to make it sound decent, especially the PCC's, but it actually works pretty well. It's a lot easier now that I just drop an X32 in there instead of using their analog Mackie.

That's a lot of open mics straining to pick up distant sounds.  The more open mics the easier for feedback to get started.  So you gate them so that only the one closest to a speaking person opens up?

I've tried putting pencil mics OH and on the apron on a similar sized stage for dance recitals to both pick up taps and try to get something of when the little kiddies sing.  Apron mics work much better, although marginal.  I don't have any PZMs to try on this since I only do this show every other year and just use my drum overheads.

[Taylor Phillips]

If this is a straight play, why is there amplification?  I thought that was for musicals.

Well, they do want to work up to doing musicals in the future. They also want the drama students familiar with the technical aspect of theater. 

Picture of the space attached.   It is from a few years ago, and they supposedly did some renovations since then, but I think it can give you idea of the space and the stage.  Hopefully I'll get a chance in the next few days to get a look at how the space is currently and make sure the sound system works like it should. 

[Stephen Kirby]

So, which are the speakers you have to work with?  I've seen a number of times where there was some professional install that may have had some small problem like needing one driver replaced, and someone comes along and hangs a couple of JRXs up telling everyone how they improved things by getting "JBLs".

[Mike Caldwell]

So, which are the speakers you have to work with?

I was wondering the same thing, assuming the white boxes above the stage are speakers.

What is in the system, makes, models, how is it configured.

I've seen a number of times where there was some professional install that may have had some small problem like needing one driver replaced, and someone comes along and hangs a couple of JRXs up telling everyone how they improved things by getting "JBLs".

I've been on a service call/sales call where the guy before me said the customer needed  and quoted a complete new system.

Where all they needed was the system gain structure brought back in line, some proper signal routing and few hums and buzzes taken care of.
Of course there have been times when a replacement/upgrade of some equipment was needed but not a complete new system.

[Taylor Phillips]

I was wondering the same thing, assuming the white boxes above the stage are speakers.

What is in the system, makes, models, how is it configured.


I've been on a service call/sales call where the guy before me said the customer needed  and quoted a complete new system.

Where all they needed was the system gain structure brought back in line, some proper signal routing and few hums and buzzes taken care of.
Of course there have been times when a replacement/upgrade of some equipment was needed but not a complete new system.

The picture was taken before the renovations last summer, but I don't know if they messed with any of the A/V stuff since I haven't had a chance to visit yet. They have always borrowed systems from area churches or DJs for the events that I have been to there.

I think it's probably correct that the JRX speakers were installed when the installed speakers should have/could have been fixed instead. Only whoever installed then didn't understand that the install system was tri-amped and after disconnecting everything else, only sent the high frequency signal to the JRXs. That was the case a year ago at least.

Anyway, the speakers to be used I haven't seen yet as they are either newly installed, or will be borrowed from another institution.

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