StageSoc Training Oliver Trojak

 Techy things (Signal path, general equipment etc)  Equipment in The Annex  Design  ‘Doing the design’ (sfx, micing, communications w/ director etc)  Choosing equipment  Crew  Etc

 The Signal Flow

 AKG C1000s  SM57s  Allen & Heath MixWizard 16:2  FOH amplifier  Peavey auxiliary amplifier  Speaker ‘wedges’  Ramsa Speakers  Install and relay  Behringer DI boxes C1000 MixWizard

 Two areas:  Balancing the sounds on stage with the sound of the orchestra (sound reinforcement)  Adding sound effects to add atmosphere to the performance, or simply to tell part of the story (eg. phone ringing)

 Before reinforcement the stage might sound like this!

 Our aim is to BALANCE the sound, not to necessarily make it louder!

 The listener hears a combination of the two Stage Sound PA Sound

 Sound effects alone are a huge part of the sound design allowing plenty of space for your creative flair to get to some exercise!  They can either be a distinct event…  Or can be used to add atmosphere  Sound effects or a sound-scape aimed to set the scene

 Where can you get them?  Variety of internet sources, some you have to pay for some you don’t.  Sfx libraries  Make your own!  Much more fun  Useful for a very specific sound  Use a DAW or waveform editor to ‘sculpt’ your sound to literally anything you want!  Then use CD/MD/computer for playback

 Most of the time we’ll use many more speakers than simply a FOH PA  May add ‘fill’ to boost/mimic FOH PA where there is no coverage  Often speakers will be placed around the auditorium or on stage  Foldback  Source speakers (hidden behind a telephone or TV, or perhaps for a more general use)

 Dynamic  Close micing, versatile, crude sound  Condenser  Close & ambient micing, precise sound

 PZM  Ambient micing, Boundary mics  Electret  Head worn mics, used with radio mics

 Omnidirectional  Response is identical in all directions  Mostly used in lav-radio microphones  Cardioid  Heart shaped pickup  Don’t pickup anything from behing  Most widely used polar pattern

 Hypercardioid  Narrower pickup at the top  Small pickup at the back  Good at rejecting sounds from other sources  Shotgun  Long narrow pickup pattern  Good for picking up the stage from a distance  Construction aids polar pattern

Pre-amplification Equalization Auxiliaries Fader/Routing Master Section

 Smoothens out a waveform  Used to tighten up a sound….  Or can be used to make a sound more punchy  Essentially limits the maximum sound level  Limiter, gate

 Time based effect  The sound of a room  Used to stop the singer sounding ‘dead’  Could also be used for a very deliberate effect  Echo, Chorus

sound design Now that we know what equipment we have at our disposal, and how to get the most from it, we can think about doing the sound design

 Designer and technician/engineer overlap surprisingly often  Sound Cues  System Design and Equipment selection  Sound Department (your crew!)  Logistical Co-ordination

 Get to know the show!  Read the script  Read the book  Watch the film  Listen to the soundtrack  See rehearsals (note the plural additive ‘s’!)  Figure out what your doing for each cue/idea  Including speakers/microphones  Be prepared to make changes!  Director/logistics/finance

 Communicate with the director and other members of the production team  It is important that your design matches the lighting, set, and director’s ‘vision’  The director may have a very specific idea of what he/she wants from the sound (and lights)  Elements of the set and lighting can have a large impact on your design, especially with respect to speaker placement  Start sourcing/making sfx

 Make sure you’re in budget!!!   Try and plan in detail  FOH console, Loudspeakers (and cabling), Amplifiers (and cabling), playback devices (and cabling), microphones (and cabling), fx units (and cabling), radio microphones (and cabling? :S) ….oh and what happens if something goes wrong??  How well do you know the equipment?  How many people will it take to run/get-in the rig?

 The size of the sound crew will depend on how many people you need to implement your design (and how many budding noise boys there are!)  You don’t need experts…  But anyone keen and a quick learner  Who you think will make a good noise boy  Make sure your team can all contact you and each other!

Sound Designer Assistant Sound Designer Production Sound Engineer (PSE) Assistant EngineerTechnician Sound Operator ♯ 1 Sound Operator ♯ 2 Sound Operator ♯ n

 Pre get-in  Make sure everyone in your team knows what is going on….BEFORE the get-in!  Confirm equipment delivery, check you’ve got everything you will need. Organise a sound plan on paper)  Get-in & fit-up  Make sure all equipment is there  Introduce you and your team to house techies  And you have completed and implemented your successful design!

 There is no right or wrong way  Experiment  Have fun!!!