Audience questions

Greg Miller · June 30th, 2023, 08:24 PM

Oh, yeah, guys, I didn't mention that some of the presenters are off site and will be coming in via Zoom. Getting the audio out of the Zoom computer seems straightforward compared to this Q&A jazz. Chris, it's an interesting idea, but I don't have the courage to try a 30-person Zoomer. I wouldn't want to take credit if the whole thing went south.

Allan, that's a great story. I can relate. When I was just out of high school, I got involved with a community theatre group. They had bought an old frame church building to use as their venue. The entire building had 120/240 volt service with a total of four screw-in 15-amp fuses. Just before the curtain went up, my job was to run downstairs to the "lobby/lounge" and unplug the refrigerator, cold drink dispenser, and popcorn popper. Otherwise, when the stage lights came up, the fuses would blow, causing an unscripted blackout. After two or three shows, I moved on to other things. The group did not fill my vacant position. Instead of the "load balancing" scheme, they just put pennies in the fuse sockets, allowing for infinite amperage. And yes, the theatre eventually burned to the ground. The cause was determined to be "defective wiring." I guess the fire inspector never found the pennies.

Show biz ... gotta love it!

Allan Black · June 30th, 2023, 09:12 PM

Ha hah, great times. We’re off topic but here’s another one. I wasn’t old enough for a drivers licence, and one night the senior engineers wife rang to say he was ill, could I record the 2 shows tomorrow?

I’d seen enough, he even let me record a show, so I said yes. The gear truck came for me early next morning and we went to a community hall just out of Sydney. We gradually set all the gear up, laid all the cables out, 2 big audience speakers with 2 mics, then the mixer and 2 tape recorders, but my position was very small.

The only place I could put the big power amp. for the audience speakers, was in the halls kitchen sink. I went out to the truck and got a big spanner to lock the taps off, the audience and talent arrived and off we went.

About 1/2 way in the first show, an elderly committee lady decided she wanted a cup of tea, not being able to turn a tap on she found her own big spanner, turned a tap on and flooded my amp. There was a loud crump! the hall main fuses blew, all the lights went out, my recorders stopped dead and the quiz master and his attractive assistant stood staring out into the dark hall. I managed to fix the problem and we started again. After that I recorded more shows and that’s how I learned all the tricks.

At Xmas 1957, the big bosses presented me with a new Swiss Breitling watch and I still wear it today.
Maybe we should start a thread here, so others can relate their war stories?

Larrie Easterly · June 30th, 2023, 10:06 PM

As to wireless mics, we use the Rode Wireless Go II and have good success in a crowded spectrum. One of the nice thing about it is that each transmitter can record an internal safety track while still sending to the receiver. The batteries last for several hours of continuous use, https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...2855/KBID/3801

Rode also makes a handheld adapter for the transmitter, https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...2855/KBID/3801

Paul R Johnson · July 5th, 2023, 09:04 AM

I have a conference kit - it's too small for what you want, but I have 12 identical cheap electret condensers and individual round table stands - connected to an X32 using just the mite buttons. Plenty of ins and outs and with a dozen people and a good direct line of sight to them, it's easy - plus you can always stuff gates and things on the channels and let the thing automate itself. I guess it would scale up to the maximum input quite well?

The other thing you could do is hire in a proper conference system, where each delgate gets a little panel, where they can control volume into an ear piece and a button to make their mic live. These can handle up to parliament size conferences. Might be expensive to buy but hire costs are usually expensed anyway.

Paul R Johnson · July 5th, 2023, 09:07 AM

I have a conference kit - it's too small for what you want, but I have 12 identical cheap electret condensers and individual round table stands - connected to an X32 using just the mite buttons. Plenty of ins and outs and with a dozen people and a good direct line of sight to them, it's easy - plus you can always stuff gates and things on the channels and let the thing automate itself. I guess it would scale up to the maximum input quite well?

The other thing you could do is hire in a proper conference system, where each delgate gets a little panel, where they can control volume into an ear piece and a button to make their mic live. These can handle up to parliament size conferences. Might be expensive to buy but hire costs are usually expensed anyway.

EDIT

The spirituallist things are very popular here, and extremely odd - and while there is always an element of showmanship, sometimes they just get weird.

The person on stage makes contact with the spirit world (yes - people believe this) and they talk to the audience. If you want to see how they manage the mics in the audience

Greg Miller · July 8th, 2023, 11:23 AM

I listened to only the first three minutes. After that I muted the audio. I couldn't listen to any more of the nonsense. I'm rather incensed by the thought of this guy profiting from other peoples' grief. That doesn't even address the issues of authenticity, honesty, etc.

However, I saw the lady in the stalls with the wireless hand mic. Of course it sounded great. I did not see any other audience members using hand mic, nor any passing around of same. I'm not sure how that lady came to have it in the first place, but of course she's a member of the cast, and that's not relevant to the audio quality. Of course that venue is completely different from the one I'm discussing.

At any rate, thanks for posting. It clarifies what goes on at these shows. Show business ... wow!

Andrew Smith · July 10th, 2023, 10:19 PM

Yeah, it's all a bit cringey and irky. "Someone between 70 and 71." Yeah, 75 will be close enough.

I can guarantee you if he is communicating (as a medium) with a spirit, it's not a dearly departed human spirit. But that's another issue and well outside the scope of mere video and audio stuff.

Whilst the audience member appears to have the mic already, they may well have edited out the fumbly part of her raising her hand in response and having the mic handed to her. I'd certainly edit it out for brevity in a recorded (not live, boom-boom) programme.

Andrew

Paul R Johnson · July 12th, 2023, 12:09 AM

Mic runners in aisles, but the gaps “hang on wait for the mic” and for the camera to find them have been edited out.

We have some legal stuff. Every show MUST contain words and a warning that the event is for entertainment purposes. But the audiences are absolutely convinced. While the event is on, the crew on headsets are very vocal about what is going on. There was a famous one who had a man feeding her info via an earpiece and she got caught out badly and outed. Colin fry was a genuinely nice man, and I never saw him preparing to cheat or doing anything I could identify as dodgy. Sadly he passed away suddenly, so they’re not immune.

My own sound man was usually vocal about it all being a clever scam, praying on susceptible people, until the time when his voice popped up on comms. “That’s my wife and daughter!” Horror in his voice as he didn’t know they were coming, and has even paid for their seats. It got worse. The spiritualist suddenly said he was in contact with aunty Joan who passed the year before, and she had a message congratulating the daughter on her good news. Ian was shocked. This daughter had told the, she was pregnant only a few hours before and they’d told nobody! I’m science based, and hopefully intelligent and I would love to say these things are 100% fake, and I’ve seen too many weird things to say they are. Clearly there are old frauds and showmanship, but some things they reveal are too weird to work out.

The strangest thing was when chatting with Colin fry, he started humming a song. The stranglers, golden brown. A tricky song from the 70s. We chatted about how hard it was to play with the extra note every few bars. Next day I went to a funeral, and the coffin was carried in to that song. The family said it was my friends favourite song, how strange.

June 30th, 2023, 08:24 PM	#16
Greg Miller Trustee Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,786	Re: Audience questions Oh, yeah, guys, I didn't mention that some of the presenters are off site and will be coming in via Zoom. Getting the audio out of the Zoom computer seems straightforward compared to this Q&A jazz. Chris, it's an interesting idea, but I don't have the courage to try a 30-person Zoomer. I wouldn't want to take credit if the whole thing went south. Allan, that's a great story. I can relate. When I was just out of high school, I got involved with a community theatre group. They had bought an old frame church building to use as their venue. The entire building had 120/240 volt service with a total of four screw-in 15-amp fuses. Just before the curtain went up, my job was to run downstairs to the "lobby/lounge" and unplug the refrigerator, cold drink dispenser, and popcorn popper. Otherwise, when the stage lights came up, the fuses would blow, causing an unscripted blackout. After two or three shows, I moved on to other things. The group did not fill my vacant position. Instead of the "load balancing" scheme, they just put pennies in the fuse sockets, allowing for infinite amperage. And yes, the theatre eventually burned to the ground. The cause was determined to be "defective wiring." I guess the fire inspector never found the pennies. Show biz ... gotta love it!

June 30th, 2023, 09:12 PM	#17
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,887	Re: Audience questions Ha hah, great times. We’re off topic but here’s another one. I wasn’t old enough for a drivers licence, and one night the senior engineers wife rang to say he was ill, could I record the 2 shows tomorrow? I’d seen enough, he even let me record a show, so I said yes. The gear truck came for me early next morning and we went to a community hall just out of Sydney. We gradually set all the gear up, laid all the cables out, 2 big audience speakers with 2 mics, then the mixer and 2 tape recorders, but my position was very small. The only place I could put the big power amp. for the audience speakers, was in the halls kitchen sink. I went out to the truck and got a big spanner to lock the taps off, the audience and talent arrived and off we went. About 1/2 way in the first show, an elderly committee lady decided she wanted a cup of tea, not being able to turn a tap on she found her own big spanner, turned a tap on and flooded my amp. There was a loud crump! the hall main fuses blew, all the lights went out, my recorders stopped dead and the quiz master and his attractive assistant stood staring out into the dark hall. I managed to fix the problem and we started again. After that I recorded more shows and that’s how I learned all the tricks. At Xmas 1957, the big bosses presented me with a new Swiss Breitling watch and I still wear it today. Maybe we should start a thread here, so others can relate their war stories? __________________ Drink more tap water. On admission at Sydney hospitals more than 5% of day patients are de-hydrated.

June 30th, 2023, 10:06 PM	#18
Larrie Easterly Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Oregon City Posts: 42	Re: Audience questions As to wireless mics, we use the Rode Wireless Go II and have good success in a crowded spectrum. One of the nice thing about it is that each transmitter can record an internal safety track while still sending to the receiver. The batteries last for several hours of continuous use, https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...2855/KBID/3801 Rode also makes a handheld adapter for the transmitter, https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...2855/KBID/3801 __________________ Travel blog, www.luinil.com.

July 5th, 2023, 09:04 AM	#19
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,016	Re: Audience questions I have a conference kit - it's too small for what you want, but I have 12 identical cheap electret condensers and individual round table stands - connected to an X32 using just the mite buttons. Plenty of ins and outs and with a dozen people and a good direct line of sight to them, it's easy - plus you can always stuff gates and things on the channels and let the thing automate itself. I guess it would scale up to the maximum input quite well? The other thing you could do is hire in a proper conference system, where each delgate gets a little panel, where they can control volume into an ear piece and a button to make their mic live. These can handle up to parliament size conferences. Might be expensive to buy but hire costs are usually expensed anyway.

July 5th, 2023, 09:07 AM	#20
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,016	Re: Audience questions I have a conference kit - it's too small for what you want, but I have 12 identical cheap electret condensers and individual round table stands - connected to an X32 using just the mite buttons. Plenty of ins and outs and with a dozen people and a good direct line of sight to them, it's easy - plus you can always stuff gates and things on the channels and let the thing automate itself. I guess it would scale up to the maximum input quite well? The other thing you could do is hire in a proper conference system, where each delgate gets a little panel, where they can control volume into an ear piece and a button to make their mic live. These can handle up to parliament size conferences. Might be expensive to buy but hire costs are usually expensed anyway. EDIT The spirituallist things are very popular here, and extremely odd - and while there is always an element of showmanship, sometimes they just get weird. The person on stage makes contact with the spirit world (yes - people believe this) and they talk to the audience. If you want to see how they manage the mics in the audience YouTube (Short URL)

July 8th, 2023, 11:23 AM	#21
Greg Miller Trustee Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,786	Re: Audience questions I listened to only the first three minutes. After that I muted the audio. I couldn't listen to any more of the nonsense. I'm rather incensed by the thought of this guy profiting from other peoples' grief. That doesn't even address the issues of authenticity, honesty, etc. However, I saw the lady in the stalls with the wireless hand mic. Of course it sounded great. I did not see any other audience members using hand mic, nor any passing around of same. I'm not sure how that lady came to have it in the first place, but of course she's a member of the cast, and that's not relevant to the audio quality. Of course that venue is completely different from the one I'm discussing. At any rate, thanks for posting. It clarifies what goes on at these shows. Show business ... wow!

July 10th, 2023, 10:19 PM	#22
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,019	Re: Audience questions Yeah, it's all a bit cringey and irky. "Someone between 70 and 71." Yeah, 75 will be close enough. I can guarantee you if he is communicating (as a medium) with a spirit, it's not a dearly departed human spirit. But that's another issue and well outside the scope of mere video and audio stuff. Whilst the audience member appears to have the mic already, they may well have edited out the fumbly part of her raising her hand in response and having the mic handed to her. I'd certainly edit it out for brevity in a recorded (not live, boom-boom) programme. Andrew

July 12th, 2023, 12:09 AM	#23
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,016	Re: Audience questions Mic runners in aisles, but the gaps “hang on wait for the mic” and for the camera to find them have been edited out. We have some legal stuff. Every show MUST contain words and a warning that the event is for entertainment purposes. But the audiences are absolutely convinced. While the event is on, the crew on headsets are very vocal about what is going on. There was a famous one who had a man feeding her info via an earpiece and she got caught out badly and outed. Colin fry was a genuinely nice man, and I never saw him preparing to cheat or doing anything I could identify as dodgy. Sadly he passed away suddenly, so they’re not immune. My own sound man was usually vocal about it all being a clever scam, praying on susceptible people, until the time when his voice popped up on comms. “That’s my wife and daughter!” Horror in his voice as he didn’t know they were coming, and has even paid for their seats. It got worse. The spiritualist suddenly said he was in contact with aunty Joan who passed the year before, and she had a message congratulating the daughter on her good news. Ian was shocked. This daughter had told the, she was pregnant only a few hours before and they’d told nobody! I’m science based, and hopefully intelligent and I would love to say these things are 100% fake, and I’ve seen too many weird things to say they are. Clearly there are old frauds and showmanship, but some things they reveal are too weird to work out. The strangest thing was when chatting with Colin fry, he started humming a song. The stranglers, golden brown. A tricky song from the 70s. We chatted about how hard it was to play with the extra note every few bars. Next day I went to a funeral, and the coffin was carried in to that song. The family said it was my friends favourite song, how strange.