body packs and lavalieres
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Lights and Sound
Forum Discription: Technical discussion
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2257
Printed Date: 11/03/25 at 8:58pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: body packs and lavalieres
Posted By: Scott B
Subject: body packs and lavalieres
Date Posted: 2/10/07 at 6:07pm
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Most of the groups (very small) don't have a lot of $$ to spend so they end up with something like a Sennheiser 100 system ... a lavaliere and body pack. What is the best way to hide the transmitters that still allows for quick costume changes? I know that the gals can wear a sports bra, but how about the guys? |
Replies:
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 2/10/07 at 11:11pm
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Do the same with the blokes if it’s a major problem, get them a bra! But generally with the battery pack they can wear it in the small of the back. Normally they don’t say ‘Does my bum look bigger?", but there is always the odd one oor two! So you won’t have a problem in that respect. Or in a lot of cases they will have pockets, the pack can go into ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: TimW
Date Posted: 2/11/07 at 10:28am
| Also, make a 'belt' out of elastic and Velcro. This can be adjustable for different 'midsections'. If the transmitter doesn't have a belt clip, sew a pocket to attach to the 'belt'. |
Posted By: tblan
Date Posted: 2/19/07 at 11:16pm
| Both of these ideas work well. I'm a personal fan of the mic belt. If everyone is wearing a belt all the time, its real easy to swap mics. |
Posted By: Scott B
Date Posted: 2/25/07 at 2:59am
| Thanks for the suggestions. I've not heard of a mic belt before, but it makes sense. At least with a bra the mic can stay in place during the costume change. Guys always have a bit more of a problem. |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 2/25/07 at 5:05am
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In all the years I have been in it, I think I have only used radio mic's twice, is there a reason you need to?
------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: brendan
Date Posted: 4/26/07 at 11:53pm
| normally what we do is put the pack inside a large condom to reduce the affect of sweat, then inside cloth pouches, then we place them in the small of the back and wrap their midsection in clear duct tape a couple times where the pack is. We used to try to use velcro belts, but they wern't adaptable to different people and took too much time to replace. they then go into costume after they get the pack and mic attached, and you can change their costume as much as you want with 0 interference. |
Posted By: POB14
Date Posted: 4/27/07 at 9:27am
This is the dirtiest post in the history of this board! I'm offended!  ------------- POB Old Bugger, Curmudgeon, and Antisocial B**tard |
Posted By: jphock
Date Posted: 4/27/07 at 12:04pm
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We put our mic's in condoms too...we generally work in an outdoor ampitheater. This protects against sweat and the rain that seems to threaten every performance. We then create a mic belt out of a baby sock that is saftely pinned to a piece of elastic...and then the elastic is safety pinned end to end to wrap around the actor's midsection. A VERY inexpensive solution.
We've also used very thin black elastic to create a headband to attach the actual mic to the actors head instead of taping. Personally I prefer this because tape never seems to want to stick to my sweaty head. We have limited sound equipment...so 50+ actors are sharing 12 mics....which makes for some VERY fast mic changes backstage. So far this method has worked for us. Just pull the mic out of the baby sock and leave the belt on the actor for the next time they need a mic. |
Posted By: eagle10
Date Posted: 5/01/07 at 8:11pm
| We use mic belts for male characters and mic pouches for female characters. Usually we got more than 20 characters that need to go on stage and only 8 mics to work with so they have to swap. Having any speaking characters wear one works very smoothly. For the mic belts, we attached bags/pouches to them for some because there were sword fights involved. No sweating problem at all. Surgical tape/medical tape is definitely something needed with mics to tape to the characters clothes/necks. |