Tech
Booth
What
do actors need to know about working with sound effects?
by Alice S. Bass
Title Index
Topic Index
Scripture IndexArticle Listing:
The Touchy Stuff:
How to Handle Edgy ScenesThe Unspoken Contract: How to Keep Your Audience Satisfied
Method Acting and the Church Drama Team
Incorporating Drama into Your Church’s Ministry Program
Don' Call Us...We'll Call You!
Cross Where and
Don't Break What?Let Me Check...
I'm Only the Assistant DirectorSeven Deadly Sins of Directing
Finding Your Character from the Inside Out
Why Some Christmas Dramas are Doomed for Disaster
How to Take it From the Page to the Stage
What to do When the Unexpected Happens on Stage
Do You Know Where You're Coming From?
What Your Kids Get From Drama Ministry
What to do When Your Drama Team Doesn't Care Anymore!
10 Things to do Before Your Performance
Extraordinary Lessons from Peculiar People
Tech Talk: Costumes
Jeni Fabian's costume book recommendations
Q & A with Sound
Technician Steve Groves
[expanded article from January 2001 Encore]
by Alice S. Bass
AB: Steve, tell me about your background and how you got interested in being a "sound guy."
SG: I'd been interested in audio since I was a teenager. Then, when I was going to college, I got a job at Disney World driving a boat, and found out that they had jobs for technicians. It didn't know you could actually have a job as a tech.
AB: So, did you get on-the-job training there?
SG: Once I knew what I wanted to do, I transferred to the University of Illinois and got my BA degree in theater technology. When I joined the theater department there I wanted to be a lighting technician but I noticed there were 20 lighting guys and only one sound technician.
AB: So you figured sound was the way to go.
SG: It's what I liked originally and I became sound tech number two.
AB: That's great! In the last 10 years I'll bet you've seen a lot of changes in the technology.
SG: Yeah, it's gotten a lot easier.
AB: Really? I thought the advances in technology would make it more difficult to learn.
SG: It's easier to do the same things we used to do with a lot less. When I was in college you had reel-to-reel and to do music or sound effects you had to splice the tape with a razor and put it back together. Cassettes were more affordable than reel-to-reel but cassette is a terrible format for drama.
AB: Why's that?
SG: Because you can never tell where you are. If you have a quick sound effect on a cassette you might be at the very beginning of the effect or you might be a few beats before it.
AB: So, now you are a professional at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando. What is your role there?
SG: I'm the Crew Chief for the Hoop Dee Doo Review, responsible for all things technical.
AB: That sounds like a big job.
SG: It is. We do three shows a night, 365 nights a year.
AB: How difficult is that to maintain technically?
SG: Very difficult. I run the audio for the show. The show is so fast-paced and with six performers on lavaliere microphones and about 20 sound effects at split-second timing, it is a lot of work to make sure it all comes together with no feedback and no missed cues.
AB: Is the timing the main focus of your job?
SG: My job is really more about the performers. They work so hard that I have to make sure I provide enough support so they don't strain themselves or get sick. It's a fine balance to provide that support without causing feedback.
AB: What do the actors need to know about working with the sound effects in a script?
SG: There needs to be a clear understanding between the sound tech and the actor. Of course, the director is part of that in rehearsal but it really is one-on-one communication between me and the actor once the performance starts. So we need to be sure we both understand when the sound effect needs to happen, how it needs to be and how long it will last.
AB: So the actor and sound tech really need to develop a relationship so you know each other's comic timing and rhythm.
SG: A good audio tech will understand comic timing and working with an actor. You have to consider yourself part of the scene.
AB: Sort of an offstage player?
SG: Yeah, you really are.
AB: You also were a sound technician in a large church.
SG: That's right. When I started at the church, we were doing seven services on the weekend and it was just me running audio for the services and for anything during the week. Two years later, there were five full-time people under me and five part-timers.
AB: What about volunteers?
SG: We had a few volunteers but when you are doing tech, consistency is important.
AB: So it didn't really help to teach the weekend service to seven people.
SG: No, that's much more work.
AB: You also helped with smaller churches.
SG: Yes, we consulted with other churches that needed help and made recommendations for how to maximize their sound system.
AB: What was usually the first thing a small church needed?
SG: Usually an appropriate speaker system. Often the sound system is put in by the contractor and builder and they get whatever is cheapest.
AB: And they probably don't know much about sound.
SG: Usually not.
AB: How big does a congregation need to be to have audio support for actors?
SG: At about 150 people in the audience you need audio support.
AB: What is the biggest difference between a traditional church building with the stained glass and arched ceiling and a newer worship center?
SG: There isn't much ability for subtlety in a church because the echoes are so big. Everything needs to be big and deliberate. The actors' speech has to be measured and the sound effects and music cues very definite.
AB: In either arena what do you need to know to integrate sound effects into a sketch?
SG: Sound needs to come roughly from where the actors are-not only the same place where the scene is set but at the same level.
AB: You mean speakers set close to the actors?
SG: Yes.
AB: How can effects be a smooth part of the scene so they don't jar the audience and break the mood of a scene?
SG: It can be pretty cheesy if sound jumps out at you. Sound effects need to start out at the same volume level as the actors' conversation. You can increase the volume once you establish that there are effects, but first you need to be at that same level as the scene.
AB: What is the best process for you to rehearse in a drama?
SG: First I want a copy of the script-with the sound effects marked-for me and any other technicians. When the actors come for rehearsal, we get a mike check to set a level without feedback. Next, I want to go to each place in the script, starting about two lines away and set the sound effects.
AB: So you do a cue-to-cue rehearsal first?
SG: Yes, from sound cue to sound cue. Once that's set then we run through the scene as it will be performed.
AB: And the best microphones for actors are lavaliere, wireless mikes?
SG: Yes, that's the best. The best placement is centered on the forehead, hidden under the actor's bangs.
AB: How do you attach a mike on the forehead?
SG: At the Hoop Dee Doo Review, the girls put them under their wigs and bobby pin them to the wig cap. For a more realistic scene, you can run the wire through your hair and down your back and put the microphone pack in your pocket. Then girls can still bobby pin their mike into their hairline.
AB: What about the guys?
SG: That's a little tough, especially with the hairstyles guys have. Some of them are able to put them through their hair and then we use surgical tape and tape it to the forehead and neck with the wire down the back.
AB: Surgical tape?
SG: Yep. We use a clear tape called Transpore. They don't feel it and the audience can't see it.
AB: Wow! Who knew all this was going on behind the scenes?
SG: I think you could figure it out if you ever sat down and thought it through but most people in the audience just don't think about it.
AB: What if you only have two lavaliere mikes [and more than two actors]? What are the other options? I know there are "area" mikes. Are those the little square ones that are placed on the ground?
SG: Those are called PZM. Actually in a church those are pretty ineffective; in a theater they are very effective.
AB: Why is that?
SG: Well, a mike on the floor is very sensitive and will feedback unless the speakers are controlled. In a traditional church there is too much echo to control the sound from the speakers.
AB: What about mikes that hang from the ceiling or loft onto the stage?
SG: For actors that still isn't the best way. Those would have to be very low and again you'd have trouble controlling the sound.
AB: So really the only thing for actors in church is the lavaliere mike.
SG: Well those are the best but not the only way to go. You can do area mikes, you just want them close to the actor. If you have a table or a desk, put a wired mike on that. Hide mikes on the set, like on the arm of a chair. Just hide them close to the actors.
AB: So talking into someone else's forehead is not effective?
SG: Only if that was part of the scene.
AB: I don't think we have any sketches that require that.
SG: I hope not.
AB: Do you need a special kind of microphone for hiding it on the set?
SG: Just one of the wired mikes.
AB: So I could take a singer's mike and move it over for the drama.
SG: You could.
AB: What about for a reading, if you wanted mikes on stands?
SG: I would prefer that everyone had their own mike, but if you are short on equipment you can put several people around a microphone. But no more than three people.
AB: What is the best way for an actor to do a mike check? Does the "testing, one, two, three, testing one, two …" really work for you guys?
SG: Yeah, it does. The important thing is for the actor to go to the place he'll be standing or walking and speak in a normal voice. Just keep talking, recite your lines or something else you've memorized.
AB: And that goes for a lavaliere or an area mike?
SG: That's right. Just do what you are going to do at the place you are going to do it.
AB: That makes sense.
SG: It's all common sense. Don't come out shouting for the mike check if you are doing a tender vignette and you don't want to rehearse at a mousy whisper if it is a confrontational scene.
AB: Do what you're going to do at the same place …
SG: … and at the same level.
AB: What is the biggest mistake actors make?
SG: I think relying on the sound too much.
AB: So they still need to project?
SG: To a certain degree. Stage acting is not like film acting. Even in the most tender scene onstage, you can't talk like you would really talk-you have to make it more pronounced and clear while making it realistic. That's the actor's talent.
AB: I know you said that lavaliere mikes are the best, but don't you think it can be dangerous to have a bunch of actors with microphones on during a church service?
SG: Well, I want to be on top of the mikes at all times. I don't want the actor ever touching the mike.
AB: So when he comes offstage, you don't want him turning it off?
SG: No. If he turns it off, he may come back onstage with it off. At the end of the sketch, I pull the volume all the way down on the soundboard and then it is essentially off.
AB: Do you have the actor turn it off anyway?
SG: I actually put black tape over the on/off switch. That way not only can he not turn it off and on, but the mike won't catch in the his pocket and inadvertently switch off.
AB: What is the biggest mistake you find that sound technicians make?
SG: I guess it is in not communicating with the actor. You can't assume the actor knows everything about the way to maximize the microphone and the sound. You need to communicate with him.
AB: As far as playing the sound, what is the best way to do that?
SG: The best playback for music and incidental sound effects is a mini disk. It is the most cost-effective.
AB: Is it like a compact disc player?
SG: It works like a compact disc but it is much easier to record on. And once you've recorded you can divide it into tracks, which makes it instantly cue-able.
AB: How does that work?
SG: It looks like a floppy disk for a computer and you can record on it the way you can record on a cassette tape. Along with the added benefits of instant cueing you can input the name of the sound effect and that will show on the display.
AB: So you'd always know what you were doing and where you were in the scene, unlike with a cassette player.
SG: Exactly.
AB: Can't you do that on computer or a CD player?
SG: Yes, but a computer or a CD player is more expensive. And it is really expensive to have the equipment to burn your own CD.
AB: I don't understand. Why do you need to make your own CD if you had a couple CDs of sound effects?
SG: Well, a professional sound tech might have a collection of 200 sounds but you don't want to scroll through 200 sounds for a scene with four effects in it.
AB: That makes a lot of sense.
SG: That's the thing about being a sound tech, it is not how good you are, it's how much you know to make it easy for yourself to not mess up. A professional sound tech would never even think about working from 200 sounds. They take the collection and from that make a "show tape."
AB: Except you don't use tape anymore.
SG: Not if I can help it.
AB: Do you have any other advice?
SG: Yes-about placement of the mike. The closer the microphone is to the actor's mouth, the better.
AB: So that's why you put it on the forehead. What if you have to put it on the shirt?
SG: Then move it down to the lapel. You don't want it under the actor's chin.
AB: Away from the throat?
SG: Right. Sound comes from your mouth-there is no sound that comes out of the Adam's apple.
AB: Okay, so what is the funniest sound blooper you've ever been a part of?
SG: Well, the actors I work with at Hoop Dee Doo are pretty tight. Some of them I've done more than 1,000 shows with, so we don't make too many mistakes. But before the show I do test the mikes.
AB: While the actors are backstage getting ready?
SG: Yes. I wear the headsets so no one else can hear them, and they know when I'm going to test them but on occasion I turn on our young ingénue's mike and hear a loud belch.
AB: From the sweet young thing?!
SG: It's been known to happen.
AB: I guess you've heard it all.
SG: I sure have.
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Steve Groves is a professional sound technician with Walt Disney Resort in Orlando Florida. For several years, Steve was the technical director for a church that has seven services each weekend. While there, he regularly consulted with other churches to help in maximizing their sound systems. Steve holds a degree in theater technology from the University of Illinois. |
