Microphones hanging on Foreheads

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 11:10pm

Nothing drives me crazy more than seeing a microphone hanging down the middle of a performers forehead or taped to the side of their face. The illusion is totally ruined for me. Just one of my pet peeves of today's theatre experience. Yes, sometimes they are discretely placed in wigs but often they are just hanging there.

When many of the Broadway theatres were built there was no amplification at all for performers.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:30am

Don't sit in the first 5 rows; you won't see them.

Most Broadway theatres were built for vaudeville, not vocal performances. I'd rather risk seeing a mic than an actor have to croak out a performance.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:34am

This has probably been covered before, but why do some shows use visible microphones (say, as the OP described) taped to their forehead, some use Janet Jackson style mics actually sitting apart from the actors face, and others have mics completely concealed under the actor's hair/wig?

[Tag]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:51am

^Whatever the sound designer wants and what best works for the sound of that particular show.

Different mics and different placements create different sound.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 1:50am

It's about finding the best compromise between aesthetic quality and aural quality. The closer you can get the mic element to the performer's mouth the better sound quality you are going to get, as you can keep the gain low and better isolate the sounds coming from that microphone and eliminate bleed from the other performers and ambient sounds. So the mixer on a show that used the boom style mics (what HorseTears referred to as Janet Jackson style), such as Rent, had a greater amount of control over the sound of the show as opposed to a show where the mic elements are concealed in the hairline (though that would also vary depending on the skill of the person mixing the show).

Now that's not to say that there are not some very good (i.e. expensive) microphones that can be placed in the hairline or some other discreet location (take a close look at any Broadway musical where people, especially principals, are wearing a lot of hats with wide brims and you may spot where they've hidden secondary mics along those brims) and still give the mixers a great level of control, but I'd be willing to bet that if the visual factor was removed entirely from the decision making process you'd find a very large majority of sound designers would turn to the boom mics.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 4:02am

Yes, they would, AEA. Many of those boom / headband style microphones are getting smaller and more discreet as well. Even standard miniature microphones wary GREATLY in size... The particular model of mic used in Wicked on most actors is about the size of a match head.
As far as where they are placed on the forehead or hairline, much of that is determined by the costuming, hairstyle, use of wigs, etc. it is not slopped up there with no consideration.
We have covered this many a time, but the need for a microphone has little to do with an actor's ability to project and everything to do with the conditions of the physical space, the production elements used, and the audio expectations and requirements of a modern audience.
My only thought when I see microphones visible is how well the designer is serving the show and, hopefully, uniformity as far as possible. If you are able to accept styled scenery, stage lighting, conventions of stage blocking, etc., I fail to see why one can not accept microphones as part of the experience.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 6:18am

It's certainly contributed to the ubiquity of wigs. I have noticed how often actors wear versions of their own hair with mics contained therein. (Easy example: the Sondheim show in 2010, when both Williams and Cook looked un-wigged, but wore their own hairstyle via wigs that had discreetly placed mics.) Someone recently claimed that Menzel isn't wearing a wig in "If/Then," but of course she is. Miking is now routine in non-musicals, not body mics of course, but just about every space is covered by amplification now, other than opera. You can't "hear" the sound, but it's there. Even in small summer theaters mics are used to pull up sound in bad weather. I've talked to a designer. If there's music and a soundboard, somebody can sweeten the sound at any stage (and if you've heard a downpour during a show, you'll appreciate it).

Updated On: 3/11/15 at 06:18 AM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 10:24am

Re: wigs.
I think that is a fair, but too simplistic observation that confuses two issues.
Yes, wigs certainly help with ease of mounting the mic and styling the hair, but overall wigs are just easier for the production to deal with... It makes getting in and out of costume simpler, changing hairstyles during a show easier, consistency in style from day to day easier, etc etc etc... The list goes on... And nowaways, actresses and production teams have become so used to wigs that most everyone just simply prefers it to dealing with the performers own hair.
Aesthetically though, look at certain shows where men with short hair are opposite wigged women. The mic cords, etc are always much more discreet with the wig... So yes, you are a absolutely correct on that point.

Re: Amplification in all venues.
As covered in other threads, to elaborate on your point about downpours, good amplification can often be subtle, but really is absolutely required to boost the sound levels, and Allow the performers to SAFELY project over levels of white noise in theatres that simply never existed 50 years ago. Not to mention, again, that modern audiences need sound delivered to them, rather than them focusing in on the sound.

[Tag]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 11:47am

I've found that, more often than not, sound designers are much more concerned with the sound rather than the aesthetic of the mic placement. Often even disregarding the aesthetic. As with most designers (set, costume, & lighting too), they aren't sitting within the first 5 rows of the theatre during tech. They are sitting at their production tables, usually positioned in the premium seated areas. Some don't even venture away to other areas (ie. balconies) to check out their designs from those vantage points. It's unimaginable that a professional designer would do this, but I've seen it time and again.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:03pm

The designers themselves may not worry about the look, but there are directors who will. I have seen directors and designers get into some fairly heated discussion over microphone placement and visibility. Costume and wig designers will also weigh in. On the DVD commentary for Passion Marin Mazzie talks about how in the opening scene her entire mic pack was in her wig (since in the theatre she was fully nude and not trying to awkwardly wrap herself in a sheet like she had to for the filming). The costume designer insisted that during her change into her first costume they also had to move the pack as she didn't like the way it looked under the wig.

[FireFingers]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:16pm

Sound designers aren't paid to care how something looks. You pay set, costume, make up, lighting designers to care how something looks, with the director at the top. The sound designer will crest the best sound possible with placement to achieve that, and it is up to the visual designers to say they have an issue. That is then taken to the sound designer and is negotiated.

As to why a mic is positioned where, it is down to 2 things. 1. How loud the performer is 2. How loud the orchestra is on stage. A quiet performer or a loud orchestra requires the mic to be closer to the performer's mouth and thus more visable. Another factor increasing visibility is that leads will wear 2 mics, instead of 1, to allow for the show to seamlessly carry on if one fails.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 12:28pm

Well, I was told by a young designer fresh from Yale's sound program that wigs are more likely to be added in shows requiring body mics (though of course, plenty of wigs turn up in straight plays, too, without the mics; more than the old days). In a way, they are two changing dynamics that landed at the same time and, work in tandem, served each other.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 5:02pm

Nothing drives me crazier than walking into a Broadway theater and seeing all these lights hanging from the ceiling! Totally ruins the illusion of theatre - why can't they just use a real sunset instead of faking it with artificial lighting? And remember that a lot of these Broadway theaters were built before there was such a thing as a "dimmer rack" or "400 amp service."

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 5:35pm

I much prefer the forehead mics to the ones of the side of the head - which can look pretty ridiculous. I would imagine that the theater itself and the sound designer make the decision. I have always wondered why the Matildas in London use the side mics but here in NY, they use the forehead ones. Size of theater?

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 8:59pm

They usually don't bother me at all. In fact the only time it annoyed me a tad was Laura Osnes in Bonnie & Clyde. I just didn't find it to mesh well with her costume, hairstyle, etc and it looked a tad ridiculous.

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 9:28pm

My information is several years old, because I got it when I took the Phantom tour at the Venetian in Las Vegas in 2008. A tech person told us that most of the performers wore two mics -- one in the middle of the forehead (quite visible to those of us in the front rows) and one in the hairline. Either Andre or Firman wore only one mic (in the middle of the forehead) for what the tech person explained was a very practical reason: He was bald and didn't wear a wig. There was no place to hide the second mic.

Audrey

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 3/11/15 at 9:59pm

When I was in high school in 1187 C.E., our "theater" doubled as the cafeteria. So the ceiling was composed of sound-dampening anti-acoustical tiles. Area mikes sufficed for dialogue scenes, but nobody could be heard singing once the 40-piece show band (no strings, lots of brass) kicked in!

So we used hand mikes. And in that ancient time, wireless mikes were still picking up police calls, so we used hand mikes with cords (LONG cords), even for period musicals.

The audience got used to them in about 5 minutes and simply forgot the hand-mikes were there. I do the same when actors have Q-tips sticking out of their wigs.