Thoroughly Modern Millie

I worked as the sound designer, including sound effects, for this show. I also designed the opening movie, which you can view right here.

Millie was my first show as a sound designer and board operator. This is Edina's largest production, involving around 80 people and it ran for two weeks.

I previously had experience with sound effects and basic board operrations from Kindergarten, but I had never miced a pit or made a mic plot. I was left pretty much on my own to create the plot, and I decided to do it in a sort of visual table style. During rehearsals, I followed the script and wrote down who needed a mic and where. I then put their names into a table and marked what scenes they were in. To make it easier for my mic crew, I also noted what side each actor entered and exited from. With that information, the plot easily fell into place, with only a few corrections needed during tech week. You can view the plots for both acts below.

The show had a full pit that was miced by me with some guidance from Grant, our technical director. The show also had backstage mics for chorus numbers. Those came from discussions about vocal balance with the choral director for the show. The only real sound problem during the show happened during the closing number simply because we did not have any of the second chorus members miced. It was decided that the mics would be turned down a bit, and that balanced the two vocal lines sufficiently.

Plots

Act I Mic Plot

Act II Mic Plot

Photos

Click any photo for a larger image.