New FCC rules could compromise use of wireless body mikes on Broadway — Page 2

Nobody is putting down Broadway actors or sound technicians who use microphones judiciously as an enhancement of the live performance. The argument is that many of today's Broadway singers are not encouraged or required to be as vocally equipped as their predecessors and that most of today's stage musicals are so over-miked that one loses the sense that it is indeed a live performance. The sound designer is given more importance than the performer and this is detrimental to the live theater experience. A Broadway musical is not a Rock concert and should not be miked as such but that is what is happening in many productions.

The fact is that most of the singers on Broadway in its golden age could do 8 shows a week with minimal miking and they did not have to strain or scream. Opera singers can do this without any use of microphones at least 4 times a week with appropriate rest in between. On the other hand, most of these people had and have genuine talent which is becoming a much rarer commodity on the musical stage today. Unfortunately, many of the actors in musicals today are being hired for their ability to look good in cutoffs, short shorts and photo opps rather than any discernable musical talent, not all but too large a number to ignore, in my opinion.

Updated On: 11/1/08 at 08:29 PM

There were two questions I had when I saw the headline of the article that weren't answered in the article itself.

Why is there all of a sudden this big urge by the FCC to switch how things are done in terms of mics on Broadway? And secondly, when did this come up. It seems pretty sudden to me.

---

As a sound designer, I feel that I have an obligation to inform you all about some of the many layers of problems here.

1. Contrary to what you may think, this is not a Broadway centric issue, the FCC didn't decide they all hate broadway all of a sudden, but anything with a wireless mic, rock and roll, sporting events, etc. This is just a result of a confluence of factors. A: The shift to Digital TV (see point 2), B: Powerful cell phone lobbies (how else do you think Verizon V-cast works?), and C: The inevitable shift in FCC commissioners which will come with a new President.

2. Wireless microphones use the same radio spectrum as Television. As all TV is shifting to digital transmission, this is already going to cause a considerable drop in available frequencies. Since an analog station will have only three or four spikes within a channel spectrum, but a digital channel will kill the entire bandwidth of a channel. They also want all channels below a certain frequency (Somewhere in the 700 MHz range), so no matter what, many wireless channels already purchased are already illegal.

note to temms, the reason that a Wi-Fi system won't work is latency, aka delay. It would seem that the internet and a wi-fi network is instantaneous, but it's not, a difference in 25-30 milliseconds could be perceived by anyone, and is frankly bad.

3. Another point to consider. Consumer sound systems today are vastly superior to professional sound systems of the 1980's, let alone the 1950's, your average broadway patron probably has a 5:1 home theater system in their living room, and as consumers, they expect the system in a theater to sound crystal clear and better (read as louder) than their living room. My biggest complaint in this category is it makes the sound scape very planar, as in coming from a single plane, i just think that if a set is in 3 dimensions, the sound should be as well.

4. I find it interesting that you all focus upon the upper end of the dynamic range, of course Paolo Szot could fill the Beaumont with no effort, but I feel that microphones are more important for the quiet end of the spectrum, allowing for greater intimacy within a piece. Take for example Paolo in This Nearly Was Mine, thanks to the amplification, he can make the start of the song that more quiet and subtle so that when the build kicks in towards the end the dynamic range is set up so he doesn't have to crank it to eleven.

---

So what are the chances of this change actually going through.

---

So there's a very slim chance that this might actually go through?

---

Why, if this is such a big deal, aren't there more articles plastered all over my favorite websites? Like during the strike last year. Why is this such a quiet thing if it could mean the end of Broadway? I'm just wondering if this is really going to be a big deal or not.

I would love to see them disappear. I hate the over-amplification of theater.

I'm a teacher, and I often help the drama teacher with our school's musicals. The performers are miked during dialogue but not during songs. This makes sense to me; I do wonder about the loss of body mics during very quiet spoken lines....

Here is a little more information regarding this topic.
The Commission adopted certain important elements of Shure’s recent wireless microphone interference protection plan. However, Shure is concerned that, despite technical evidence to the contrary, the