Tuesday, February 11, 2025

The Music Director and Me

So I was designing a musical and I got the most hilarious email from the music director, telling me that there would be hotspot amp/speakers [shudder] in the pit and also dictating microphone placement. Here is that exchange:

The image features a small skunk standing on a colorful toy xylophone. The skunk has a distinctive black and white coloration, with a prominent white stripe running from its head down its back. The xylophone beneath the skunk includes several vibrant bars in colors such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, each with a white button in the center. The toy is shaped like an orange animal, possibly a tiger, with playful markings and wheels suggesting it can be pulled along. The background shows a textured carpet floor.
Honestly? One of the better musicians around here.


We: You specify two microphones for the woodwinds doubling. Where... do you suggest those microphones go exactly? Perhaps we have wildly different ideas about how to mic woodwinds. 

They: There are many changes of instruments for the player so the constant repositioning of the mic is not the best idea.  Flute mics high close to the players mouth while a clarinet mics close to the players hands.  This would be the correct way to mic these instruments, which is why we need 2 separate mics

We: There is no "correct" way to mic any instrument. Close to the mouth might be fine for flute if this were, for instance, a Jethro Tull concert in 1972. But we might want a somewhat more delicate sound for a small-ensemble musical theater experience. This will help enable the subtle dynamics and phrasing of the material to be realized with more musicality than otherwise achievable with rock-and-roll mic technique. I suggest we do not close-mic the woodwinds.   

They: Actually, that’s incorrect.  The micing is dictated by where on the instrument the sound is coming from.  If we were in an isolation box then you can mic the space, but that is not the case here.  Flutes and clarinets produce sound from different parts of the instrument.  We will need 2 mics. 

The image displays a vertical list of channels and corresponding names on the left, with a sequence of matching labels on the right. The channels, labeled from CH17 to CH28, are highlighted in a light blue color, followed by various names in white text. Adjacent to each name is a corresponding label ranging from DANTE17 to DANTE28 in white text against a gray background.  Alt-text:  A list of channel names and labels in two columns.  Transcribed Text:  CH17 1 Alice DANTE17 CH18 2 Rabbit DANTE18 CH19 3 Queen DANTE19 CH20 4 Hatter DANTE20 CH21 5 Cheshi DANTE21 CH22 6 Dutche DANTE22 CH23 7 Q.Diam DANTE23 CH24 8 Dormou DANTE24 CH25 9 Caterr DANTE25 CH26 10 Jbwok DANTE26 CH27 Spare 11 DANTE27 CH28 Spare 12 DANTE28


This is maybe the funniest thing I've ever heard about how sound is amplified. So yes, from here on out "The micing is dictated by where on the instrument the sound is coming from" is one of those things which should be a cartoon sign on every mixing board. 

Anyway, can you tell I got fired from that show? Thank the gods too, I've heard nothing but bad things about how these shows sound and, well, now I know why. "The micing is dictated by where on the instrument the sound is coming from." Huh. I wonder how that works on violin? ;-)

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