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Improved theatre sound system

Use transponders to make actors' sound move with actors
 
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One of the big problems with many theatrical (live)productions is that when actors are mic'ed the sound comes from the PA system rather than the actors. While I have seen a few shows which did a good job of making the sound seem to come from the actors, on most the disparity of sound location was glaringly obvious. One reason for this is that making sound track the performers generally requires someone at the sound board to be continuously panning the different channels to different speakers. Very hard to do effectively.

My solution would be to have a few coded transmitters around the stage which would be wired to synchronize transmissions. Each actor's mic would include a receiver to detect these transmissions and indicate the amplitude by modulating a 25KHz subcarrier onto their signal. The main audio system could detect and measure the 25KHz pulses and determine the positions of the actors; this information could automatically be used to pan the sound among appropriate speakers.

supercat, Apr 21 2003

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       Good idea. +
snarfyguy, Apr 21 2003
  
      
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