recording a theatrical production

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kayagum
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Post by kayagum » Fri Oct 07, 2011 4:06 pm

You can also try flying some omnis from above the stage.

goose42
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Post by goose42 » Sun Oct 09, 2011 8:34 am

A quick update: got to install some of the gear yesterday. Sets still being moved to site and assembled, so dry tech today will be my first opportunity to really get something going in the space.

Found out the area mics we have are Crown PCC-160s. They also provide a basic idea for using them on page 6 of this document; closely reflects what had been suggested, so that's awesome.

Oktava MK012s in NOS at the mix position, Beyer M160s and CAD M179s on standby to add to the stage if needed. I'm still waiting to find out where I could hang or fly them, if they're needed. Tonight's going to be critical for that!
Cheers,
Stephen "Goose" Trageser
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goose42
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Post by goose42 » Thu Oct 13, 2011 11:55 am

Another update. A very interesting week so far. The Crown PCCs work very well in this situation. I've arrayed them stage right, center, and left, and the fourth mic is on an island at extreme stage right where about about 15% of the action happens.

There's another 10% or so of action offstage, which I have miked up using CAD M179s in omni on low-profile stands. So far, so good!

There was room for negotiation on keeping the outside doors shut; there are just way too many scene pieces to fit inside. On the wise counsel of the sound designer, I asked them to keep the doors open the whole time, so the noise will be consistent (school steam plant's evaporator runs constantly and is housed just outside the stage right door). I have to process everything with Izotope RX's Denoiser, but it's an easy fix since the noise is consistent.
Cheers,
Stephen "Goose" Trageser
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goose42
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Post by goose42 » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:27 am

Another update:
The recording phase of the project is now complete! They played to a packed house three of the four nights the show ran, and about 60% on the dead night. Final setup:

- 4 Crown PCC-160s (older model of 166) arrayed extreme house left, house left, center stage, and house right
- Kel HM7U upstage on the only piece of set that didn't move
- 3 CAD M179s offstage in the pit in the middle of different action areas (pit house left, pit house right, pit extreme house right)
- Shure SM-81 on a bracket attached to a seat to capture an entrance from back of house left

We ended up doing all of the offstage action in a pickup session, because the show lighting was too dark for the cameras. Also ran two stage sequences (one inside a vehicle and the other where all the action was upstage) in a second pickup session. This was great because I got to optimize the mic position. I did kill an entire roll of gaff tape in the two weeks I've been working with the production.

Noise reduction software is working great at minimizing the HVAC issues. I have to keep the "smoothing" control pretty high to avoid artifacts, so the plugin's ability to separate noise from regular signal is somewhat limited.
Cheers,
Stephen "Goose" Trageser
bucketcitymobilesound.squarespace.com

jhharvest
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Post by jhharvest » Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:22 pm

Excellent. Good to hear it went well!

goose42
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Post by goose42 » Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:21 pm

Hey, all,
I am now back into this project, mixing all of the audio so that the video edit for DVD can happen. I just wanted to offer my sincere and profound thanks for all the help you gave me in getting this thing off the ground. The results so far are excellent - I can already see lots of ways to improve, but with your help, I was able to deliver for a client on a project that I had only the most basic knowledge about. Thank you!
Cheers,
Stephen "Goose" Trageser
bucketcitymobilesound.squarespace.com

goose42
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It's alive!

Post by goose42 » Mon Nov 18, 2013 3:45 pm

Hey, all,
For anyone who was interested in this project, it's finally out in the world. I was mostly done with my part by late summer of 2012, but there were lots of other details to work out. Long story short, a web store has been set up where you can download the video and/or the soundtrack album, much like Louis C.K.'s self-released special:

http://www.terminatorthesecond.com/store/

Anyway, I wanted to say thanks again for all the advice you gave me. There's lots of room for improvement ? the next time I do something like this, I'm going to make sure we have lavs; the area mics worked fine, but that would have been another huge step in quality ? but it turned out quite well, overall. The last step of the mix happened in Final Cut, where the video editor added new music and other sfx sweetening after the fact, but I did get to run the whole thing through one last quickie mastering stage.

The film screened to a packed house at Nashville's Belcourt Theatre, and again at Mercy Lounge before a show with Protomen, the group who did most of the music. The audience reacted with as much enthusiasm as they did at the live performance ? that was hugely gratifying.

Besides being an awesome learning experience, this project was huge for helping me make social and professional contacts in Nashville, and spurring me to try new things. I'm not doing a ton of engineering these days, but I am doing a lot of freelance writing, mostly for Nashville Scene. It's a whole new career I would have written off as inaccessible if it weren't for working on Terminator the Second, and I couldn't have done the project without you. Thanks!!!
Cheers,
Stephen "Goose" Trageser
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Gregg Juke
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Post by Gregg Juke » Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:45 pm

I forgot all about this...

Everything looks great! I tried to get what looks like a trailer/clip to work, but it wouldn't play...

GJ
Gregg Juke
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goose42
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Post by goose42 » Tue Nov 19, 2013 7:22 pm

Thanks for the kind words! Sorry for the trouble, try this link for the trailer:

http://vimeo.com/74541958#
Cheers,
Stephen "Goose" Trageser
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Gregg Juke
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Post by Gregg Juke » Wed Nov 20, 2013 11:41 am

Great, thanks. That looks like a lot of fun.

Where did they get the budget for those vehicles? :lol:

GJ
Gregg Juke
Nocturnal Productions Music Group
Drum! Magazine Contributor
http://MightyNoStars.com

"He's about to learn the most important lesson in the music business-- 'Never trust people in the music business.' "

goose42
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Post by goose42 » Thu Nov 21, 2013 12:53 pm

It was like joining the circus for a week!

Aside from the semi truck, which was the hood yanked from a scrapped dump truck, most of the vehicles were made from 2x4s and cardboard by a really talented local artist, a guy named Tim Kirkpatrick, whom I haven't seen or heard from since the show ended. At one point during the preproduction, he put a hilarious mural on the "b" side of the SWAT van, which you see during the sequences at Salceda's hideout... fun trivia fact: before the directors had him paint over it, it said "Atacolypse Now."
Cheers,
Stephen "Goose" Trageser
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