Miccing a Musical
In musical theatre, it's often the case that every instrument needs to be micced to ensure the mix sounds accurate to the original music. This is a guide of which mics to use for which instruments.
| Mic | When to use | Does TC own? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radio Mics | Principle cast / Singing volume | Yes - 16* (*on a good day) | RMs are expensive but can be used on secondary/ensemble cast if budget allows. |
| AKG PCC160 (With foam) | Ensemble cast / Talking volume | No | Boundary mic that has a very high pickup. 2-3 can cover the entire WAC theatre. Comes with a small piece of foam that it should be placed on to avoid picking up shoe sounds. Has an arrow on the bottom to show where sound is picked up. |
| AKG PCC160 (Without foam) | Tap dancing | No | As above for ensemble. Don’t use the foam if you want shoe sounds to be picked up. |
| Mono DI (the Ultra-G GI100 TC own is bad) | Any instrument with a DI (normally Jack) | Yes - 2 good, 1 bad | Electric guitar amps normally have a phones out that can be used for a DI. This is useful in a small space like Avon where you would want to mute the amp and control all monitoring from the sound desk. |
| Stereo DI | For instruments with L-R DI (mostly keyboards) | Yes - 1 | One of the jack outs on the MTW keyboard has a lot of static noise so use mono for this. |
| SM58/MB85/e835s/D880s | Generic (wired) vocal mic | Yes - 2 SM58s, 2 MB85s, 1 e835s, 1 D880s | MB85s are the off-brand equivalent of SM58s that TC own. |
| SM57/MB75 | Generic instrument mic - can be used on most instruments to good success | Yes - 5 MB75s | MB75s are the off-brand equivalent of SM57s that TC own. They are basically the same quality for ~¼ the price. |
| RE20 | Alto Saxophone | No | Also suitable for Soprano or Tenor |
| M88 | Baritone Saxophone | No | Also suitable for Tenor or Bass. M88s look like vocal mics but are suitable for saxophones |
| MD421 | Trombone | No | Trombones are really loud before miccing. |
| Beta 52A | Drum Kick | Yes - 1 | TC owns one with a stand that fits into kicks very well. |
| SE300/P170 | Strings | Yes - 1 P170 | |
| SE300/SC140 | Overheads | Yes - 2 SC140s | TC own a pair of SC140s that work well for drum kit overheads. |