Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1179544
32 idea after I explained the technical complexity of what we were all embarking on. This was the point where the per- formers were moving from their rehearsal studios to begin rehearsing on the actual sets we would be shooting on. This was very important for the choreography because the sets were three times larger than reality. My main point was that making the performers feel comfortable and supported by the process was absolutely paramount to them being able to give their best performances when we were shooting. Up until this point, they had been rehearsing with keyboard and playback coming out of a small PA system operated by the vhoreography team, and vocals had not been a priority. Our cast was a mixture of film actors, theatre actors, musical theatre performers, ballerinas, and rock/pop/R&B vocalists. I felt it was incredibly important to introduce them to the workflow of singing and dancing with the TX/RX packs and hearing themselves in their IEM's, to help them achieve the perfect balance of vocal and music for their own particular needs. We did not give everyone a completely unique custom mix, as this would have meant twenty-four separate IEM mixes. Instead, we tried to group performers together, based on their taste and the range in which they sing. Some of our main cast were able to have a completely personal mix, espe- cially if that was what they were used to from performing on stage, but most cast were given a choice of a set few mixes. We also decided that giving all fifty cast personal IEM molds with receivers was cost-prohibitive, so chorus mem- bers twenty-five through fifty were fitted with personal mold- ed 'earwigs' being fed audio from an induction loop. This was the way we did Les Miserables, so we knew it worked well although at a lower SPL than the IEM's. We didn't put vocals into the loop, only the music playback, to help us get more volume for the beat of the music out of the earwigs. This section of the chorus was not being radio mic'd and were primarily incredible dancers rather than vocalists. We felt it would not hamper their performance in any way and they generally worked with only one earwig so they could hear the music to keep them in time; their other ear was open so they could hear the live singing on the set. In rehearsals, this whole process had been auditioned and fine-tuned. As I said to the producers, if we do not spend twelve weeks rehearsing the workflow, we would waste time on a very tight schedule due to cast availability when we started shooting. I explained that if a performer has a sound problem, it could easily suck up a half-hour working out exactly what blend they want in their IEM. It would be ter- rible if that happened with a whole crew standing by, waiting to shoot on a very exacting daily schedule. On our first couple of rehearsal days, that was exactly what happened. The producers present were shocked at how much time it took sorting out the performer's IEM mixes, instead of rehearsing the choreography. They realized just how important their decision was bringing the Sound/Music team in twelve weeks out. I also expressed that creatively I really needed to get a feel for the way the songs were being performed, and the dynamic range each vocalist used. I think because our visual colleagues don't "see" sound, it is often assumed that dialog/ vocals are just simply captured by a mic and that there is no need for a gain structure. One of my biggest responsibilities and the core of my job were ensuring the vocals were captured as richly and per- fectly as possible and that meant understanding the volumes our vocalists would use. I started to get familiar with which performers had huge dynamic range and which were the softer singers. I started taking notes and feeding that infor- mation to Arthur on where I wanted the gain settings to be on the Lectrosonics SMb transmitter packs. I am a great believer in recording full dynamic range and I don't like hitting the internal limiters in TX packs, even on loud pieces. The limiters in the transmitters cannot be completely turned off so I like to set them so that on a vocalist's loudest part, the limiter is not engaged. Each performer was given their own unique gain setting on their TX, which would change from song to song dependent on the kind of performance they were giving. When I first heard Jennifer Hudson and Taylor Swift sing, I was shocked at their dynamic range and the way they used their voices. In order to capture their vocals in the purest way possible, I had to ask them to wear two radio packs with two DPA 4061 Core mics. The mics were rigged next to each other in their head- bands but the TX packs were given two different gain settings that varied by about 6db. This gave me the best chance of capturing the lowest level pieces of their performances with perfect signal to noise, and the very highest SPL parts of their performances without hitting the TX limiters. Taylor and Jennifer were both assigned two tracks on the Deva with notes made for the Music Department regarding the track designation. Taylor and Jennifer were very supportive of this workflow and understood exactly why we were doing it this way after Arthur and myself explained the process to them. Tom Hooper asked, "Why are they wearing two mics?" and when I explained it to him he exclaimed, "That's genius!" That is how excited Tom gets about capturing live perfor- mances. He is incredibly enthused by the process. Another thing that came about in the rehearsal period was that our Keyboard Players, James and Mark, asked for a click track into their ears. Even though they were allowing the performers to have the freedom to express themselves when they were not locked to a playback track, they wanted to have a tempo guide for the next song when we moved into play- back. John Warhurst, Supervising Sound/Music Editor, told me it would be incredibly helpful for him while he was edit- ing to have access to that click. It was generated on Pro Tools and fed directly to my Deva ISO track twenty-nine. Phew! We were up to twenty-nine tracks of my forty tracks available. The opportunity to use booms to capture the performanc- es would be rare, due to the hard lighting style DP Chris Ross was using, alongside the huge sets and multiple cameras. However, we needed to be ready for any opportunities that would arise. We decided to use Schoeps Super CMITS, which