Mamma Mia: Pit Cam - Overture

[@lindsaykaul]

The musician behind me lost her headphone mix when we started the show. She couldn't hear anything, and we controlled our mix from a device (phone,iPad). Yes, she made some mistakes because of it and its unfortunate that it happened on the night I filmed, but it's not her fault. Live theatre is unpredictable!

[@Utkarsh_A]

Hey mate, just wondering is the App on your iPad for controlling your headphone mix, the app on the musician's phone behind you (the one that lost her headphone mix) looked like the UI as the app on your iPad , if so what is it called?

[@lindsaykaul]

It's called Monitor Mix by Yamaha. It connects to Yamaha mixing consoles via wifi

[@norbiesison9257]

You'd think that seasoned musicians play using muscle memory and only need to glance at the scores only as needed. But since I don't know much about performing in the orchestra pit vs on stage where they have stage monitors. Is it that easy to lose one's place or hit an erroneous note if you can't hear the other musicians?

[@mikosoft]

@@norbiesison9257 I'm pretty sure there is no sound coming from those keyboards directly. They seem to be only midi controllers connected to the computers each musician has next to them and those computers produce actual sounds. Those are hooked directly to the mixing console and go to main PA and monitor mixes, in this case they only use in ear monitors. So once that is lost you have no way to track precisely where you are. It's possible that she heard some bleed from stage and it was delayed so that's why she was late on her phrases. Also as a sidenote all the computers are apparently linked to a master track that plays click and does timing and sound changes for all the keyboards. This way the players really only have to "press the keys". Also 0:59 is the exact moment she lost the mix. She's checking if her phones are plugged in correctly which they seem to be and then she's trying to set the levels in the app. Seems like that by the end of the overture she has kind of fixed it.

[@chr9s833]

@@norbiesison9257 - In a pit situation there is so much ambient sound around you that it often is very difficult to hear your own instrument as it's easily masked out by other sounds. Especially if you have brass players around you. I play Keys 2 in a lot of theatre pits. Even with a personal monitor directly behind me I still use open backed headphones to "layer" my own feed directly to me and still be able to hear the sounds around me. Muscle memory only takes you so far because unless you are on tour and playing the show week in and week out a regular run of 2-3 weeks simply isn't enough reps to muscle memory a complete musical including patch switches.

[@davidleavitt835]

Love these orchestra pit videos. ♥️♥️♥️♥️

[@NickJay]

Me too :)

[@thefeebles]

My son is playing Keyboard 3 in his high school musical and is finding these videos incredibly helpful with some of the specific fingerings. Thank you so much!

[@lindsaykaul]

I’m glad! I’m not trained in piano so definitely don’t take what I do too seriously because I’m making it up every time! Feel free to send me an email if there’s anything I can help with!

[@alemobra5747]

Thank you so much for posting this! these type of videos really help

[@0chiang0]

I love those click sounds so so much

[@matthewpoon8529]

Nice to see Donna dropping in to watch the pit band when she's not needed on stage

[@Veronica_Sawyer]

Anyone have the piano sheet music for the overture or know where to find it? Great job btw! Its so interesting to see it in the pit, as I have seen the show live!

[@lindsaykaul]

We can't share the parts unfortunately, but if you send me an email I can point you in the right direction!

[@lileinstein104]

Awesome! Just got yourself another Aussie subscriber! Can't wait to binge all your vids :D

[@lindsaykaul]

Thanks for being here!

[@lileinstein104]

@@lindsaykaul Just noticed you did a gig in Taree, I am a ex-Taree resident myself. Small world eh?

[@lindsaykaul]

Constantly amazed by how small it is! Was a great gig at the MEC

[@oneman49instruments]

Wow! Amazing video! Very glad to see the show from musician's site! And the best part is when you play the main theme of "Mamma Mia" and you smile at cam, hahaha. Thank you very much Lindsay for this point of view!!

[@lindsaykaul]

Thank you very much!

[@jacobkeppler1984]

Sounds great

[@charliebosher9806]

Love this so much

[@NickJay]

Would have loved to watch the rest of it. Are there any others of this show please, Lindsay?

[@DJ-tv7zt]

Loved it!

[@MongerOfStrings8222]

Those synths are pure ear candy

[@elkatt3095]

Dang, I wish I had a metronome last time I was in pit! Would've made the endless measures of rests easier, lol!

[@djcfrompt]

Okay, so I recognize what looks like TF MonitorMix on your iPad there, but I don't recognize what you had going on there where you tapped one channel and it opened up others. Is that something like editing a DCA rollout on your aux?

[@jeremyd.silverman3311]

Hey Lindsay. Don’t know if you still check this vid, but first thanks for uploading it! Second, what is the in-ear monitor amp you all plug into? The little box you plug your ears into? Do you remember?

[@lindsaykaul]

It’s a Behringer P1 unit. A nice budget friendly way for individual monitoring!!

[@bowserjdev4462]

How do you guys change the keyboard patches?

[@lindsaykaul]

This is all with MainStage with programming via KeyboardTek!

[@bowserjdev4462]

@@lindsaykaul So are the patch switches programmed in MainStage?

[@theevanbarrett]

@@bowserjdev4462in this case, Lindsay programmed a separate foot pedal to change to the next patch. Normally it’s triggered by hitting the bottom note of the keyboard.

[@urkelofficial]

Hi, have one or two guitars in this show?

[@thefeebles]

Are the patches changed automatically by MainStage based on the click track? If you aren't using a click track, or are not in a professional setting will it be required to manually change the patches?

[@lindsaykaul]

Track is completely seperate. Some clever programming can achieve patch changing to timecode, but not in this instance. I have a foot pedal which I change patches with

[@lelliott3969]

Hello, I am performing Mamma Mia on Keyboard 2 at my high school, and I was wondering who is playing all the "special effects" and extra synthesizer sounds and ornaments? They don't seem to be in any of the physical parts we have, but some of my patches have the sounds bound to certain keys, and I was just wondering whether they are written in cues in a different version of the score.

[@lindsaykaul]

Hi! It’s not written down anywhere. In terms of the overture, I created a track by listening to so many different recordings and working out what was pre-recorded. In terms of the show in general, there are so many triggers and crucial synths that you have to hire the programming in order to maintain the ‘sound’ of the show

[@stevenponte6655]

wow I just checked your website, didn't realise you were Aussie from Sydney! same. Where was this show performed at??

[@martynhearn2856]

Just followed you after seeing your page on the Facebook KZbin Chain. So tell me a little more about the set up, performances etc? I can see all the keys are using MainStage . BTW love the Keys 1 Lolly!

[@lindsaykaul]

Thanks so much! We were all using programming from Ethan Deppe. We don't have an Aviom system at this theatre, so we use an app connected to the sound desk for our headphone mix. I made the click and the MD fired them from his setup (He played Gtr 1 as well). Aside from that, pretty standard stuff!

[@joelw4631]

@@lindsaykaul what app did you use for the headphone mix?

[@lindsaykaul]

It's called "Monitor Mix" for Yamaha mixing consoles

[@calrustad5746]

What software do you use for the headphone mix controls?

[@lindsaykaul]

We were linked to the house desk, in this case a Yamaha CL5 and its accompanying MonitorMix app!

[@stevenponte6655]

nice work! looks like there is so much going on. Thats a pretty annoying click sound you got there, don't you get a headache after 2 and half hours of it???

[@lindsaykaul]

The direct audio out makes it harsher than it is in real life. It's pitched at F# and C, detuned and reduced in tonality so it doesn't blend in with the music - if it was any less than what it is now, the click would blend into the music and would defeat the purpose! I've used the same click template for 4 years and have had no complaints so far!

[@sody2000]

ya'll are jammin!

[@MelsvanWees]

What’s being displayed on the MacBooks?

[@lindsaykaul]

Mainstage - it runs the keyboard programming

[@MelsvanWees]

Lindsay Kaul Thanks! Really like the videos!

[@julianrobbel4118]

Is it the original production?

[@lindsaykaul]

Community theatre just north of Sydney, Australia

[@NickJay]

Just out of curiousity, is your tempo beat that loud as it sounds on this video only the audience, who I notice are quite close to where you all are, don't seem to notice it?

[@timewithluca]

They just hear in on the headphones. The audience does only hear the music ;)

[@NickJay]

@@timewithluca Phew thank goodness for that! lol

[@johncooksey79]

Hypothetically, if the click track was ever lost, Could the keyboards do their parts, since the timing on some sections is very precise and you are not in the same area as the rest of the band. ?

[@lindsaykaul]

It happened a few times! We were all in the same space side stage and had conductor monitors on our stands. The drummer had played the show before and he has a reputation for being consistent. Many productions which don't have the capacity for tech don't even use the click at all (which I disagree with) so hypothetically it's entirely possible to go without, but risks the musical integrity of the show!

[@johncooksey79]

@@lindsaykaul Thanks for the great answer

[@DigitalAndInnovation]

Incredible! You have one keyboard player dancing and puffin away on her 100 Ultra Thin, another one missing her entrance at 1:19 cause she's texting away, and you have the dude on the right with his settings ready to go and is very focused on playing!

[@mrmattlovegrove]

She wasn’t texting. Her headphones had failed and she was restarting the app.

[@alemobra5747]

she obviously wasnt texting dingus, her mix got reset so she couldnt hear anything. Not everything is as it seems karen

[@borisboris5096]

I can’t hear the click it’s to leise

[@dennistedder3384]

Broadway?

[@lindsaykaul]

Community Theatre just north of Sydney, Australia in March this year

[@nickwilton6822]

What’s this, the retro computer games patch version . Lol

[@johnnywhite58]

`so - stick with your piano lessons ! no playing from ear here !

[@pbondia]

What about the woman more interested in her cell phone than in her parts?. She’s made some mistakes because of that.

[@lindsaykaul]

We controlled our headphone mix from our phones. Her mix got reset accidentally, so when we started the performance she couldn't hear anything at all

[@fabiang.9588]

@@lindsaykaul That's actually really interesting, thanks for the explanation!

[@lindsaykaul]

@@fabiang.9588 Made for an interesting Opening Night that's for sure!

[@pbondia]

Very interesting, It seemed something totally different. God job.