Communication

photo courtesy Gregory Reed Photography

(Originally posted November 14, 2013)

Here I am fiddling with my radio while not wearing my headset because communication is important BUT when you're the FOH engineer, it sucks! Why does it suck? Because what I hear coming from the PA is skewed by the humongous ear muff on the side of my head.

Working a theatrical show with limited rehearsal means the headsets are critical because I really don't know the show and rely heavily on the director to call the cues. So, soundcheck is extremely important, compression keeps from having any surprises, and using VCAs (or DCAs) keeps me from having to reach all over the console. If the room sounds good and the sound system is well tuned it makes everything much easier. Depending on the show type and amount of cues a handset is preferred to be able to get on the "partyline", chat it up and get out of there!

Best Audio has a ton of information on intercom systems as well as how to get intercom audio into the console to listen to whats happening on headset via cue mix. Perusing online I also found a informative article on theater sound that was a good read.

And for non-readers here's a video

Happy Mixing!