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sabletones

Joined: 07/03/11
Posts: 165
Loc: uk

kids in a forest. mic arrangements
#988123 - 18/05/12 08:30 AM

Hi all.
I have been asked to provide p.a. for a school play (class 8 - midsummer nights dream). This is in a small clearing in the grounds...essentially outside in a copse etc. Fidelity not main issue....intellegibility is though (i do understand that they are related).

I will hang mics and hide mics....but...would you counsel a simple set up of mics as if they were a band on stage for example (SM58's or various condensors? - no monitors)....or would there be advantage in having say...a number of stereo pairs variously placed? any thoughts welcome

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Sheriton

Joined: 27/01/03
Posts: 1554
Loc: Leicester, UK

Re: kids in a forest. mic arrangements new

[Re: sabletones]
#988128 - 18/05/12 08:53 AM

Unless you're right on top of a 58, you won't get much useful level out of it. Stereo pairs wouldn't be much use as if you're aiming for fidelity and even coverage, running in essentially mono would likely be better.
I've used float mics for outdoor Shakespeare before a few times; as long as the surrounding area isn't noisy (e.g. a main road right behind the performance area) you can get lots of clean gain from them. (Bartlett TM125 or Crown PCC160 are good mics to consider.) It will never be a set & forget job though; you'll need to constantly push faders as the action moves around to keep the minimum number of mics open at any one time.
The kids will have to project - as always, if the mics can't hear them, the PA can't make them louder. There was a thread about this exact topic very recently; I'm sure a search will bring it up.

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There's nothing we can't face... Except for bunnies

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Exalted Wombat

Joined: 06/02/10
Posts: 4196

Re: kids in a forest. mic arrangements new

[Re: sabletones]
#988136 - 18/05/12 09:37 AM

Quote sabletones:

Hi all.
I have been asked to provide p.a. for a school play (class 8 - midsummer nights dream). This is in a small clearing in the grounds...essentially outside in a copse etc. Fidelity not main issue....intellegibility is though (i do understand that they are related).

I will hang mics and hide mics....but...would you counsel a simple set up of mics as if they were a band on stage for example (SM58's or various condensors? - no monitors)....or would there be advantage in having say...a number of stereo pairs variously placed? any thoughts welcome

I've never found hanging mics much use. The real answer is individual wireless mics. A few shotgun mics covering the acting area would be my second choice.

I'm thinking back to a school production of "1066 and all that" somewhere around 1960. An idyllic outdoor location, audience on a terrace, actors on the lawn backed by a lake - far too far away, with no reflecting sufface behind them. There were some horn speakers on poles, as at a church fete. And there was one microphone, in a parabolic dish reflector, 20' from the action. You couldn't hear a word.

This was my first experience of "loads of gear, for no useful purpose whatsoever". There were to be many more :-)

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