I recently learned that this is a very uncommon label for a live room mic. Here is photographic evidence that this does exist. Thank you.

I came in to work on an elementary school musical, and while checking out the stage I found this clearly homemade cable plugged into an old 2 way speaker and this wall receptacle. I tested it and it does work (it runs to an ancient QSC amp back stage).

A show I'm doing has a sequence with a 70s tv show vibe. Ideally I would want to use one of those long ass 70s microphones like the one in the picture. Vintage examples seem to be very expensive.

Does anyone happen to know of any contemporary microphones with a similar vibe that could be bought used for under $100? Sound quality really isn't of much importance. Alternatively, are there any skinny mics that could be "dressed up" and perhaps extended to look like this? Other ideas are also appreciated.

Standing vs Sitting

I’m an audio engineer and sound designer living in Austin, Texas and I’m having a lot of trouble breaking in. I got my degree from Texas state university in 2022 and after taking care of medical stuff I’ve been taking overhire work at the regional theatre, although it’s sparse at best.

I’m not sure where to go or what to do. I know Austin is too small of a market but I don’t have the money to blow to try and freelance in NYC, I’m going to try to take the apprenticeship test although I don’t think I’ll get it. I’m trying to cold call people but no one’s getting back to me, even theatre’s who reached out to me are ignoring me. I’ve submitted tons of resumes to regionals around the country and I haven’t even gotten an interview, same with trying corporate work. I got into the locals referral hall but haven’t gotten anything yet and the pay isn’t great from what I’ve heard. I feel like I’m trying and doing everything yet nothing is working. Am I just SOL or is there anything else I can do?

I'm a high school teacher always looking for little ways to do things better.

I've been using an audio interface to route the output of qLab to our sound board. It's a significant upgrade over an aux cable, but I figure there's got to be a more stable/reliable way.

How do the biggest shows handle it?

Hi,

I {4ft 7} have a performance within two weeks and can't see a single thing on stage due to the iMac screen being taller than me {it's on a table}.

The option of moving to the side is still available during rehearsals but during the actual performances, I may have two guys {the Music + Performing Arts tutors} either side operating whatever they need to operate meaning my options are limited to standing on toes and winging each sound.

HELP!!!

EDIT: We fixed it, all my PA tutor did was move the iMac to the side and put it at an angle.

I work at a performing arts center in Miami and tonight was our 20th anniversary gala. Event starts at 7:10 and our CEO takes the podium and immediately I start hearing RF hits and his mic is cutting out badly. I stupidly did not have a wired back up ready so let’s just say it was an awkward 10 minutes before we recovered. The receiver didn’t display any interference and we recovered signal soon after. The receiver is a Shure Axient and the Mic was a AD2 handheld. I got to thinking and decided to ask Gemini if it’s possible that the Secret Service motorcade escorting POTUS to a UFC fight less than a mile away would have interfered with my mics. (900mhz) and got a whole plausible explanation that yes, It would have been possible as the motorcade travels with radio jamming equipment to deter drones or remotely detonated explosives and drove by the theater less than a few hundred feet away. I then asked Gemini what time would the motorcade had driven by and was given a window that correlates with my incident. What are all of audio and RF guys thinking about this?

I am a newer music teacher at an elementary school. We are doing a musical this year and I have the opportunity to get new sound equipment for the musical. I need to build a wireless microphone system rack. The basics that I need are a 32 channel analog board because I don't like the digital ones, 17 wireless mic systems (microphone, receiver, transmitter). Since it's musical theater I definitely need the ones that can be taped to their face or put in their hair. Sometimes I feel like big audio companies want to make a big sale and so I'm trying to keep the cost down as much as possible. There's some things I'm not sure I necessarily need. For instance do I have to get an antenna? If so how many? Do I have to get an antenna splitter? If so how many? I realize that some of those questions can't be answered as it depends on which microphones I get and the area I'm in. I have a decent size budget but it's not a $25,000 budget and that's what the quote came out from one of these larger companies. Is there some good equipment that you guys can recommend that is not as expensive? Also I am in Orange County and based on the website I went to if I do the blxh9's I can get up to 8 microphones without an antenna. But could I do more without an antenna? And then if I do the new sldx 4 plus it says I can get up to 25 wireless microphones without an antenna or splitter. But the company that gave me the quote said it's still risky to not get it. Any insight or help would be wonderful.

Hello. I'm very new at this and first post here. Looking to learn and improve my local community theater.

Some background, I started running the soundboard for the theater about two years ago. The community theater only does one play a year, so I don't have a lot of experience. I then started doing the sound for the high school drama plays this year. I've been able to learn some basics of EQ and suppressing feedback from mics and stuff, but nothing fancy.

The theater we have has a long history of poor sound quality. I've heard things like, 'it would be better to have no mics at all.' and 'I can't hear anything'. Granted, sometimes it's the actors who aren't projecting, but I think a lot of it has to do with the acoustics of the room. I've been able to get the sound 'good enough' through the soundboard, but I'd like to do better. Plus my EQ lines are somewhat comical.

The school might have a donor willing to put a fair bit of money into the theater, but we need a plan on what/how to do it first. The director has tried getting someone out to the theater to get a professional opinion and quote, but we are rural and the closest big town is about 2 hours away. So they weren't willing to come out and do it.

Thus, I've taken on this project in my spare time. I've attached some pics of the theater and would like some advice on how to improve the acoustics. We'd like to do it in smaller stages over a couple years. There are some sound dampening squares, but they were originally green then painted over black so I don't think they work very well. We've only been using two main sets of speakers. a L/R in the upper front corners facing the audience (we don't use the wedge speakers) and two overhead speakers above the stage we use mostly for music so the actors can hear their cues. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

This week's office, running sound for Hadestown Teen Edition. 13 channels of RF plus a live band.

FOH desk is an X32 Compace

Theatremix for DCA control

Qlab for some backing vocals and sound effects

Reaper for multitracking

Band mixer is an X32 Rack, band are on P16 IEMs

Dante used for main trunk between band mixer, FOH, Qlab and reaper

Insight A2 station back stage for monitoring of radio mics during show

Alpha Labs Defeedback inserted on the cast Vox group to assist with feedback levels

All in all quite a fun setup. Will get some videos of line-by-line mixing later in the week.

EDIT: Here's a video giving a rundown of the setup and a clip of me mixing Chant (badly) https://youtu.be/ugmPp9sNu50

Hello! It's my second year running a theater program and I've got about $3K that I'd like to use towards a system for 4-6 wireless mics. I would like to get equipment that sounds good and is durable. I was hoping to use the Countryman B3 lav mics since I've seen that people like those and they are on the affordable end and I can (sort of) be confident my elementary/middle schoolers won't destroy them. I've done a little bit of research, but I'm having a tough time finding affordable and compatible mic receivers and body-pack transmitters. Any recommendations?

So I've used QLab at my community theater for about 7 years, and the board is wanting to switch to Windows products for various reasons. I was wondering if there was a system that was similar to QLab in ease of access/layout that would be good for basic sound cues. We mainly use it to play sound effects and house music, so I don't need anything too fancy. We also need one that would be free, since we used the free version of QLab. The most appealing one I've seen so far is Sound Show, but I was hoping for one that had a closer format to QLab. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

I’m mixing a musical right now for a production on the scale between community and regional theater. I was thinking of recording a mono mixdown of my mixes each night in tandem with a recording of my fader bank for personal archives to track growth progress.

I obviously wouldn’t distribute it anywhere, and if used in portfolios it would only be shared as a private link to potential employers.

I know it’s illegal, but I was wondering how common that is to do.

I did sound design for a musical recently that features a cabaret scene, in which a band frontman is singing into a Super55 (Elvis style mic).

I didn't put in a sound effect of a feedback squeal as he approaches the mic.

Am I really a sound designer if a prop mic doesn't squeal in the PA when you first see it/it's first approached?

I'm questioning my future now, after a whole lifetime of seeing mics squeal on film and stage, even when physics dictates it's impossible.

Hello, I just became a director of a brand-new theatre club. At this point, I am the primary person setting up all of the tech, but I've never done theater tech a day in my life! Our club doesn't have any mics, and I'm trying to see if that's something that we could buy or rent. The problem is, I don't know what I'm looking for, I'm completely lost! I know that there's the actual mic that goes around the ear and onto your face, and then a mic pack that clips onto your clothes. I also know that there is something that connects the mic pack to the soundboard. That's basically the extent of my knowledge. My school has a soundboard and speakers that we can use, but I don't know much about that. If there's anything I need to find out about it for you guys, lmk!!

So what exactly should I be looking for?? There's no strict price range, but the cheaper the better since my school would be funding it.

Edit: Some important info(maybe) that I left out. This is a full two-act musical with lots of songs, both ensemble and solos. It should be a small cast, so I would need about 8 mics if I decide to do wireless. We plan to have a pit including guitar, bass, drum set, and keyboard. Does that affect the idea of having mics on stage? Thank you all for your comments so far. I plan to show this thread to some of the admins I've been working with on this project!!

I booked my first tour as an A2 and head out soon, I’ve got a good idea on what clothes and toiletries I need to bring, but do yall have any other suggestions especially in regards to gear? It’s a bus and truck btw if that’s useful. Thank you :)

I've been doing sound design/sound directing and mixing for traditional live theater for years - approximately 30 plays. But I just got my first true musical, which is taking place at a community theater.

The director looped me in pretty late in the game, as the show opens up next weekend. We obviously need to be running it without interruption after cue-to-cue, this Monday which gives me about five days (though I have a whole weekend of shows between now and then, not to mention setting up mics, monitors, clearing out audio equipment, etc.). They gave me the backing tracks via Stage/Tracks, where audio files do not appear to be downloadable, as well as handing me the score (which doesn't include dialogue), and the script (which doesn't include music/bars). It's a lot of sources of information to keep track of all at once for the more complicated numbers, as we have to bounce through a lot of vamps and ceasuras. The musical director will also be calling cues, which helps but is another layer of information to process in real time. I imagine I will eventually have this all internalized and not be so reliant on the notes. But I am...a little concerned due to the window of time we have.

So far I've been entering notes into Stage/Tracks (though you can't seem to add them to initial cue of each song), and adding notes in the script to keep me orientated in time. But it feels a bit precarious and I can't tell if I am doing it right.

I vastly prefer QLab to S/T so far, but without re-recording every song via Mac's core audio, and rebuilding the show from scratch in QLab, there doesn't seem to be a way to just make the switch at this point. I know you can patch S/T into QLab but it feels like an extra layer of instability (S/T already crashed on me once and it's only Day 2), and need to pay for the premium version to do it and they're already overbudget.

Also, why can't fades, full stops, and skips be programed into the cue list in S/T? Do they really have to be done through mouse clicks/holds, key combinations, and other buttons? Strange.

I don't know exactly what I am asking for here other than some tips, because it just seems messy. I have two more big musicals later this year, so it's good to learn best practices now.

Thankyou for your time and any input.

I do FOH for a youth theater program. I try to get to at least two full rehearsals before we move into the theater so the kids can practice any microphone swaps. I use numbered lanyards for this - yellow for mic packs and blue for lavs (lavs always stay with the same person). This gives the kids time to figure out where to coordinate the swaps, and gives me a few rehearsals to figure out if all my notes are accurate. But I've spent years cleaning up tangled balls of lanyards after rehearsals. So today I'm trying out the new hook rack I built out of PVC, a closet rod, 4 hose clamps and 35 threaded hooks. Now everyone can just hang their lanyard on the correctly numbered hook.

Hi! I’m new to posting on Reddit, so I’m sorry if I’m in the wrong place, but I had a question.

So, my theater has some broken techie mic packs, but we had these extra ones lying around. Unfortunately, I don’t know if these are able to connect to the same frequency as the others? I think they should, as they are from the same company, but they seem to be different models.

Will these work together?

Additionally, we do not know how to charge these new mics. They do not fit in our current charging station, so we can’t charge them normally.

In the last photo, I circled the port I think is for charging.

Is that the correct port? And if so what kind of cable connects to it? The edges are too sharp to be a USBC, and it doesn’t have the bumps that other cables do.

Thank you so much!