The approach to this production was to aim for a classic reinforced based musical. Myself and the director wanted the book scenes to be realistic, but have the songs be boosted slightly without being overly amplified. However, we did want the freedom to push the show’s volume for more excitement during dance breaks, or more raucous songs. Overall, I worked together with the music supervisor to really dial in the balance of the orchestra for each song.

We only had sound effects for the practical moments such as in “Pulled” the sound of Pugsley getting his limbs pulled, Wednesday’s crossbow, Fester’s Rocket at the end, the classic doorbell, and Pugsley’s dynamite.

The cast was mic’ed using a combination of Point Source and Countryman lavalieres, using the in-house Shure ULXD system. We had over twenty-two cast members. Everyone used very traditional mic placements of either the forehead, cheekbone, or boom rigs, depending on the needs of the performer and their costume.

We had a small, but mighty orchestra pit that included two keyboards (with Mainstage rigs), a guitarist playing both electric and acoustic, a reed player playing a variety of instruments, a trumpet player, and a five piece drum set with auxiliary percussion. To make up for the other missing instruments, our music supervisor recorded musicians at his home studio in New York City, and we had tracks triggered via an extra QLab laptop in the pit next to Keys 1. This was also the first time an orchestra at this theatre played to a click, and I think it worked swimmingly. Since it was a small orchestra pit, I made the choice to close mic every instrument to provide myself with this most control over the mix. They were all routed into a Behringer XAir 18 and summed into groups into the main console (Behringer X32).

This was a very classic and straight reinforced based sound design, but it sound spectular and I’m proud of the result.