Factors To Improve Sound For Dramas

Achieving high quality sound reinforcement for dramas can be very difficult. This article will explore factors to improve your sound.

Performer

A sound system cannot amplify "nothing." The actors must be trained and encouraged to project with good diction and volume. Then, the sound system can do its job of providing reinforcement for the voices.

Sound System

Why should a sound system even be used? First of all, because of modern home sound systems, the audience expects and wants to hear clearly without straining. Couple that with a noisier environment, and a sound system becomes necessary.

Let's assume you are planning to use the sound system. It is very important that the sound system itself is capable of producing a natural intelligible sound. If it doesn't, the best microphones and operator won't correct that basic fundamental problem. You must start with a good basic system. Please call a local systems contractor if you want more information.

Microphone

There are several microphone methods to use for a drama or musical. Floor microphones can be effectively used for drama. However, they rely on fairly strong voices. If music is being used, the floor microphones and sound system will probably not amplify the voice over the music, especially with weak voices. In this case, wireless microphones are the best alternative.

Operator

Having multiple wireless microphones on the stage at the same time is usually necessary but difficult to handle. Feedback can become a problem.

Another problem occurs when two actors are close to each other. If both microphones are on, the combined result will be very unnatural sound due to the phase differences.

The solution is for the operator to constantly turn the wireless systems on and off. This method can work, but the operator must be very sharp and familiar with the production. What is the answer? It is the automatic microphone mixer.

Automatic Mixer

The automatic microphone mixer has been around a long time. However, in the past, it has been quite expensive and often not effective. Now, there are very good units available which can solve the sound operator's problems. An automatic mixer will inaudibly turn the wireless microphones on only when the actor or actress is actually speaking. Even with eight or ten wireless microphones on the stage, the automatic system will only turn on the unit that is being used. The result is very clean sound, even at maximum gain before feedback. With weak voices, that can be a show saver.

There are automatic microphone mixers that can even help solve the phase problem described above. The "smart" automatic mixer will turn only one microphone on if it senses the same voice in both microphones. That eliminates the phase cancellation problem and the resultant poor sound.

Figure 1

The automatic microphone mixer could be used by itself. However, we recommend the setup in Figure 1 if your manual mixer has the capability. Connect the wireless microphones to your manual mixer. Then, take the direct output of each channel and send each wireless signal to an input on the automatic mixer. Do not assign the individual wireless channels on the manual mixer to the mixer main output. Unfortunately, many older mixers do not have a direct output on each channel. Now, connect the output of the automatic mixer to another input on the manual mixer. This input is assigned to the mixer main outputs which feed the sound system amplifier. If you configure the system in this manner, the operator will be able to use the manual mixer tone controls, channel fader, and the on/off switches. The automatic mixer will do the actual control of the wireless microphones. You can use the manual mixer on/off (mute) switches to turn off the wireless systems that are off stage.

Using an automatic microphone mixer will prove to be very effective in providing high quality sound reinforcement for drama productions. It can also be used effectively with music, but you will have to be more careful. The smart systems can be fooled with music, and may only turn on one microphone even if there is a duet. If this happens, you can simply assign those channels on the manual mixer and bypass the automatic mixer. When the song is over, switch back to the automatic mode.

Summary

Using the above tips and tools can help improve the sound quality of any production. It certainly takes a lot of stress off the sound operator. Best of all, the audience will experience great sound. The ultimate compliment on the sound system and the operator is when a listener comments about the great acoustics since they could hear everything clearly. Just smile and say thank you!

by Ron Huisinga © 1996 Internet Sound Institute (www.soundinstitute.com). This article is for personal use only. Any commercial reproduction is not permitted without permission. To obtain permission, contact ISI at hopi@soundinstitute.com

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