"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
...
On 5/23/2011 4:23 PM, MG wrote:
Anyone out there ever mic tap dancing to mix a little into
the house PA? We tried a couple of PCCs in front of the
dancers and didn't get much. Any advice welcomed.
No, you won't, since the dancers tend to move around a lot, and you want
to put the mics where they won't get kicked. Irish step dancers always
used to ask, no, demand, that there be a mic for their feet. I humor them,
set something up, and don't use it in the house but will put it in the
monitor so they'll know that it's live.
I feel like telling them that if that's what they want the audience to
hear, they should hire a drummer.
I'm aware that there are shows where the dancers' feet are an essential
element of sound design. For those, the dancers usually wear a wireless
transmitter and have mics attached to their ankles. But that's out of my
league.
--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be operated without a
passing knowledge of computing, although it seems that it can be operated
without a passing knowledge of audio." - John Watkinson
http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and interesting audio stuff
The problem on this show was that it was a dance school recital, with
dancers ranging in age from 4-ish to 18, so some of the tapping was nearly
non-existent anyway. We decided to try to mix a little into the house so
the parents could hear. Feedback was a little bit of an issue in rehearsal,
even though the tap mics were not in the stage mix. I had thoughts about a
bit more of an array in front of the stage but logistics were impossible for
that. It was a school auditorium, temporary Marley floor, and between the
Saturday and Sunday performances there was a church service that required us
to strike everything. I'll read the Radio City article, but if these kids
could tap like that, I'm guessing they wouldn't have needed the
reinforcement. The irony of the situation was that the acoustics are such
that I could hear the taps pretty clearly up in the booth, but they flew
above the audience's heads. Thanks for the thoughts.
mg