do people on broadway still have to project their voice?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/18/10 at 9:42am

since they have microphones?

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 6/18/10 at 10:10am

When I saw FENCES, I sat in the second balcony and was pleasantly surprised at how good the sight lines were from the steeply banked seats. But there was another pleasant surprise: I could swear that there was no amplification at all and that the actors, especially Denzel Washington, were projecting superbly. There was no trouble hearing anyone. But now that I have checked my playbill, I see that the sound design was by Acme Sound Partners. Could this have been used solely for the original music by Branford Marsalis? I would like to think so.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/18/10 at 10:21am

I'm not saying one way or another, but they could have used area mics just to add a subtle bit of amplification, to sweeten the sound, per say. And yes, Acme Sound could indeed have been brought in just to deal with the score and any recorded sound effects. Even when not using microphones there is still an art and a science behind speaker placement for things like recorded effects and underscoring, and Acme Sound is definitely one of the most proliferate sound design teams/firms in the NY area and often the default go-to for Broadway.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/18/10 at 10:22am

Yes.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 6/18/10 at 11:36am

Yes.

Projection is part of the deal when you sign your life away to be a stage actor.

Not all jobs are on Broadway or on 1st class tours. There are loads of other venues where individual mikes are non-existant. Even if the theatre has stage apron, floor level mikes (or 'mice' as we used to call them), you have to project to get your voice the distance to the mike to get it picked up.

The Grand Manner is done in 3/4 round, and I saw no visible microphones for instance. I also heard every word.

The Cort and the Golden are acoustic gems. Every whisper just floats up into all corners of the house.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/19/10 at 8:51pm

Yes, but sadly they don't and even sadder is they don't know how anymore. I remember being at a preview for 9 TO 5 and the microphones went out early on. I was in the 6th row, center orchestra and couldn't hear a thing. Each of the ladies was on stage talking and not a word was understandable. They stopped the show shortly after that to fix the problem and I was talking to the Ass I was dating at the time and we were just dumbstruck that they couldn't naturally get their voices past the first few rows.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 6/19/10 at 9:04pm

stupid question... but can actors tell if their microphones go out mid song or mid dialogue... i would think dialogue but not so much song if you were very much into it and could only hear the orchestra... just wondering

[timote316]

Posted: 6/19/10 at 10:11pm

I can't say I have experience in a 1,000+ seat venue but in my experience, yes, a performer can tell when their mic craps out on them.