Recently, the author had the honor to participate in a musical performance as a microphone during the internship, and learned some tips on the use of wireless microphones in American musical performances, so I summarized it and shared it with you.
The identification and production of microphones for each actor is an important part of the production process before the production of the musical begins. Here is the microphones for Evita.
Musical plays usually use wireless microphones, and the designer or director of the microphone decides whether to make the microphone "invisible", that is, how much to reduce the presence of the microphone, before wearing it. Various musicals have different requirements for the hiding of the receiver, such as the Broadway musical A Chorus Line "Song and Dance line", most actors wear tights or backless clothing, not only with the microphone, but even the microphone line and the microphone waist pack are fixed to achieve the hidden effect. Moreover, the microphone of Rent House is obvious, and the audience can clearly see the microphone near the mouth of the actors, which is also the intention of the entire design team.
Then there is the problem of placing the phone Fanny pack, which actors usually wear a belt, actresses sometimes sew a bag behind the bra, and for actors wearing wigs, a bag can be sewn into the wig cover, so that the Fanny pack and extra microphone can be buried under the wig, and it also solves the problem of wearing backless or some special clothing microphone. Below is a Fanny pack on a wig.
Then the microphone can be placed in position. In the center of the forehead, the middle of the hairline, near the cheekbones, near the temples and around the mouth, different positions of the microphone have different requirements. Put microphones in both ears, like the ones worn by last year's ghost actors, and the microphones must be around the mouth, as shown below.
The other kind of microphone is bare wire in the hand, can not be used directly, and needs to be made according to different needs. First of all, the microphone line exposed in the front of the face is surrounded by a thin wire, the purpose is to make this part of the microphone slightly "fleshy", so that it is well fixed in the required place. Although tape is usually used to strengthen the fixation again, when the tape fails to stick with too much sweat, the "flesh feeling" plays a big role, and the existence of thin wire can easily bend at various angles. The picture below is of thin wire connected with ear clips.