Andy Woodward Diary
PLANNING AND OPERATING THE PA FOR A FULL PRODUCTION OF
ANNIE AT THE GULBENKIAN THEATRE, CANTERBURY.
I
was asked last year if I would do the PA for a production
of Annie for de capo school for performing arts. I had
worked for de capo on smaller productions on previous
occasions, but Julie Tugwell the principal told me that
once a year she put on a large scale production so that it
gave the performers a chance to experience what it would be
like on a West End Show.
I thought about the job a lot to make sure I got it right
as this was the biggest theatre job I had done. The
following is the way I went about it.
PLANNING
Soon after being asked to do the job I had a meeting with
Julie to get an idea of what she wanted.
Her requirements was initially for 24 discrete face worn
radio mics, a few on and off stage hard wired mics and to
mic up an 18 piece orchestra.
Upon looking into the cost of the radios, the cost was
prohibitive even the cost of the extra JMFG licence was
nearly £300 for the week, plus as I only have a 24ch A and
H GL2400 desk that I bought from Howard after the course I
would have needed to hire a 48ch desk. More cost! I could
always link my small SX20 to give another 9 channels to the
A and H.
Another meeting, and I explained the situation and we
agreed the best way was to swap the mics on some of the
actors and leave the main seven characters mic’d up
for the duration of the show, and that some of instruments
that had a very small part in the show would be left out.
(are 2 toots in act 3 of the 2nd
half really warranted.) We then needed 13 actual channels
of radio and I could mic the orchestra up with 7 condensers
and a DI box. A quick re-price and we had an affordable
working show.
I then went to 2 rehearsals at the de capo studios to get a
feel for the show.
I planned the desk on paper using channel 1 to 14 for
radios 15 and 16 for CD players 17 to 23 for the orchestra,
24 reverb return. (the show was to be in mono).
I could see that I needed extra help with this so I got
another guy who knows a bit about sound to do the sound
effects and to cue the mics. I decided that it was best to
set the faders and then mute the mics as and when. I also
had 2 people from de capo (volunteers to put the mics on
the actors and change them when necessary). Leaving 2 mics
spare for breakdowns the other spares were put on the
actors to speed up change overs so only the transmitter
needed to be changed.
As I always try to have a backup I ordered 14 radios (in
fact I was sent 16 as they were rack and ready units) and I
was given 4 extra mics.
I sent all radios to group 1 all orchestra to group 2. I
used 2 stage monitors at the front of the stage pointing
backwards with just the orchestra through them from Aux 1
inverted to group 3 fader and as the orchestra was to the
rear side of the stage, they had a monitor with just the
actors voices and sound effects routed through Aux2 going
via group 4 fader. That way I had overall control of the
main sections with a single fader. There was no room to
have a centre fill.
THE
SHOW
Monday
10am load in and set up.
1pm - those of the orchestra that could turn up did and had
sound check. As they were in a confined space I gently
gated 4 of the mics to reduce spill a bit. In front of the
2 trumpets I put a clear perspex screen,, one to stop the
person in front being deafened, and two to help reduce the
spill from their volume.
6pm onwards individual sound checks on most mics.
Looking forward to the next job with de capo
Tuesday. 5pm dress and tech rehearsal. Slight disaster as
we were given a script (117 pages) and some of the mic cues
were not only in the wrong places but mics were left on
when they should have been cued off several pages later.
Finished approx 10pm.
Wednesday 5pm dress rehearsal. Cues sorted. The stage
managers job had previously been given to a university
student studying theatre management and drama as
‘work experience’ and the other real stage
manager who knew the play intimately gave me the on/off mic
cues. Leaving me to balance the sound and raise and lower
the volume accordingly.
Thursday and Friday Showtime. 7.30pm until 10pm. Would
normally arrive 2 hours before show if all set up ready to
go. Thursday got stuck on motorway for 45minutes so flew
the rest of the way when cleared. (that’s why I try
to get there 2 hours before). The ‘just in
case’ factor!.
Saturday arrive 11 am for 1.30 matinee, 7.30 evening
performance, Standing ovation at the end. 10.30 to midnight
pack away and load out.
PROBLEMS
Wednesday.
Although I had shown the backstage people how to put the
mics on they left some of the actors to do it themselves.
Consequently some of the capsules were up by the ear and
some dangling in front of the mouth. Throws all the gains
and levels out. Sorted with bit more chat to them. One main
actor had slight hum from transmitter (found by using pfl
on each channel) Changed transmitter and retuned.
Thursday. 2 mics stopped working during change overs during
first half. Got them changed through talking to the stage
over comms. Found what was causing them to break during
interval. Backstage, trying to be tidy the girl in charge
of the mics was winding the cord so tight around the
transmitter that she was breaking the mic connection.
Sorted.
Friday. Ordered 4 more mics to be over-nighted for spares.
During show 2 actors came on and costumes had nearly pulled
jack out of transmitter causing bangs and cutting out of
the vocals. Have heard this sound before so knew what it
was and easily remedied when they went off stage.
Saturday. Matinee was being filmed (single camera for
copyright reasons) using radio mic to get some sound from
stage to camera. Using a 4ch uhf mic had
interference/breakthrough on my system. During the interval
changed it for one of my vhf mics. No more problems
Only other problem was in the second half of the final
show. Right from the start I had told everybody to have
their transmitter turned on and double checked by the
backstage crew right at the start and to leave it on for
the duration. Simple….No!. One of the main
characters turned his off during the interval and went on
stage and had to do an acoustic set!!!
CONCLUSION
The
way I work is,
1. Plan everything you can and write it down so that at the
gig when people are talking to you etc it is one less thing
to think about.
2. Sods law, something will go wrong. Don’t panic
(doesn’t always work), work logically through the
problem and use your experience to get over it
3. Look after your gear and keep it maintained. Minimises
breakdowns.
4. Be courteous and helpful to others, they are the
customer and paying you.