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Gear Review By Trevor Long | The Bartlett TM-125C www.theatreface.com/tm-125c I have an overwhelming desire to like the Bartlett TM-125C Super- Cardioid <strong>Stage</strong> Floor Mic. I’ve got a fairly intense love/hate thing with boundary mics in general. I love them in use for a variety of reasons but hate seeing the things. Despite claims in advertising literature, just because something is black doesn’t make it invisible—especially when it is so close to the audience. So, in that way the Bartlett TM-125C has an advantage for me. It’s a little less than an inch and three quarters shorter side to side than the Crown PCC-160 and a quarter inch shorter upstage to downstage. The height between the two is essentially the same. So, that’s one big checkmark in the plus category. Additionally, the same microphone has a model that comes without a permanently attached cable—the TM-125—so the cable can be detached and run under a piece of scenery or put through the floor more easily—also making it less obtrusive. Channeling my desire to spend as little money on equipment as possible, the other very attractive feature of the Bartlett microphone is the price. This supercardioid condenser stage-floor microphone will run you $199.00 per unit. For comparison I did some online shopping and averaged 20 retailers’ prices on the Crown PCC-160. The average price was $247.20. Another big checkmark in the plus column. But just because it’s smaller and costs less won’t mean a thing if the audience isn’t getting the best possible sound—or if your designer has been driven batty trying to get that sound. And that’s why we put this to use in as many different ways as we had time for: I got some time to play around with the microphone in a couple of rehearsal halls; a friend borrowed the two test units to do a Flamenco dance concert; a composer/sound designer tested them in his theatre; three additional engineers tested them in their home studios; and they were used to provide support for a business meeting/ corporate event. The rehearsal hall floor tests were first. Different types of materials were put under the microphones to see if there was any noticeable difference in the sound quality and to see how sensitive they are to picking up the severity of footfalls on things like linoleum, medium density fiberboard (MDF) and carpet (both ‘70s shag and office style). We all stomped around and talked and walked and talked, a few people even sang. (I didn’t.) The pickup of the voices was great. Only the hard-soled shoe and MDF combination caused some legibility problems, and then only at certain distances. The microphone diaphragm is perpendicular to the floor, so floor vibrations do not make the diaphragm move in and out. Next up was the Flamenco concert. When setting up the sound tech noticed that the pattern is more open on the backside than what he expected. He was getting bleed from the front row seats. Fortunately there was room to make adjustments in placement. The sound of the concert itself was very natural with minimal EQ needed. He felt the self-noise of the TM-125C was quieter than that of the PCC-160, and he also really appreciated the sturdiness and build quality. The other real world workout that the microphones got was to support a business presentation. For this event the engineer knew that the podium mic would not be sufficient because a particular VIP on the schedule was known for coming out from behind the podium The Bartlett TM-125C super-cardioid stage floor mic with permanently attached cable. at random times. With a house of almost 3,000, that can be annoying to the audience. He called the Bartletts into use, and the speaker came and performed as promised, stepping out a number of times in his speech. The board op was able to smoothly increase the gain on the TM-125C’s to accommodate. After the speech, the VIP’s handler expressed how pleased she was. There was a lot a feedback (the good kind) from the client as well. Tests aside, what happens when some working sound engineers and a designer take a look at the microphone side by side with the PCC-160? After all, Bruce Bartlett, owner of Bartlett Mics, designed both. He worked for years at Shure and Crown, and that company has a nice patent certificate for the PCC-160 with Bruce’s name on it. Of the five people who were interviewed the results were pretty similar. We’ll start with the matter of the two models. All five would choose the TM-125. They all cited the fact that for theatre a mic’s cable is hidden in some way. The ability to disconnect and replace the microphone easily was a key factor for them. In terms of sound, two of our testers stated that they would like to purchase the Bartlett to have in their arsenal of microphones. These were the same two that did the corporate event and the Flamenco concert. Four of our testers reported that the TM-125C required more EQ to get a natural sound versus the Crown. As one of the testers put it, “the initial sound through the new mics was boxy. It took some heavy EQ’ing to get a flat signal.” However, given that the PCC-160 has been the industry standard for years now, this may be a result of trying to get the TM to sound like the PCC, and what engineers are “expecting” to hear. [Bartlett responds: “The mic sounding ‘boxy’ is very odd…Maybe the frequency response of the mic changed when its cover was removed, and maybe the mic cover was reversed front-to-back. I’ll measure the mics when you return them to make sure their performance was what I sent from the factory.” During the review process (documented online at www.theatreface.com/tm-125C) the cover for the microphone was removed prior to sound tests. We’ll update the online page after Bartlett takes his measurements, and also run the update in an upcoming issue. —ed.] What separates the Bartlett microphones is the price. You can figure on anywhere from fifty to a hundred dollars less Bartlett TM-125C What it is: A super-cardioid stage floor mic (boundary mic) Highlights: Small size; picks up audio, not floor noise; good price What it costs: $199 www.bartlettmics.com than the Crown PCC-160s, and still get the sound you want from the engineer who designed both mics. ONLINE BONUS To see the entire review process, go to www.theatreface.com/ tm-125c 40 August 2010 • www.stage-directions.com
The Play's the Thing By Stephen Peithman | Word for Word New plays on truth, lies and language Words are the playwright’s building blocks, but in the plays featured this month, the use of words expands to become the central focus. Aditi Brennan Kapil’s Love Person is a love story told in three languages—English, Sanskrit and American Sign Language. This beautifully written and insightful work asks whether we can truly express love through language, and whether mere words can bridge the gap between two people. Layered with mistaken identities and miscommunications, Love Person becomes a kind of mystery play that reaches beyond conventional ideas of attraction and sexual orientation. Kapil’s characters yearn for deep emotional connections, forcing them to navigate—often awkwardly—a landscape of words and signs in their search for happiness. Three females, one male. [Samuel French, www.samuelfrench.com] A very different search is central to The Sequence, by Paul Mullin. Renegade researcher Craig Venter has developed a controversial “shotgun” technique for sequencing DNA, making him a fortune in the private sector. At once, he becomes both the most loved and hated figure of contemporary science. Competition arises in the form of a folksy doctor named Francis Collins, who wants to outdo Venter and be the first to synthesize life itself. Their rivalry provides journalist Kellie Silverstein with the biggest science story of all time—the race to decipher the dynamic code of life hidden within the human genome—while she runs a race with her own mortality. In this remarkable play, Mullin manages to combine dramatic tension with dark humor. The two scientists cheat, lie, manipulate the public, and generally have a good time doing so—sometimes with hilarious results. Two males, one female. [Original Works Publishing, originalworksonline.com] “A translaptation” is how David Ives describes his new version of The Liar, the classic 17th-century comedy by French playwright Pierre Corneille. In other words, it’s a “translation with a heavy dose of adaptation” of the adventures of a young and charming pathological liar named Dorante, who comes to Paris and passes himself off as a war hero. When an arranged marriage threatens to derail his romantic agenda, his actions prompt a mistaken-identity involving the winsome Clarice and her sharp-tongued friend Lucrece. As the tangled web of lies continues, so do the plot twists, each more complicated than the last. Ives has added subplots to Corneille’s original, trimmed long speeches that might not play today, merged two characters, and cut one character— but maintained the dialogue’s rhymed verse. Purists may object, but this should be a sure-fire audience pleaser. Five males, 3-4 females. [published by Plays in Print/Smith & Kraus, www.smithandkraus.com] Constructing an effective full-length play is always a challenge, but doing so in a play that lasts only 10 minutes is even more daunting. Nevertheless, there are 50 ten-minute plays by 50 New England playwrights in the new collection, Boston Theater Marathon XI. There’s amazing variety here. Some plays deal in absurdist humor, like Ryan Landry’s memorable Joan, Joan, Joan and Hitler, in which Adolf conducts a group therapy session for Joan Crawford, Joan Jett and Joan of Arc. Many plays go for the slice-of-life approach, from dramatic (Laura Crook’s But for the Grace of God, in which three women at a playground discuss the challenges of motherhood) to comic (Nina Mansfield’s Missed Exit, in which a family is taken in unexpected directions by their car’s navigation system). In Jack Neary’s Talkback, a playwright gets to speak with his audience—to his great regret. Andrea Fleck Clardy’s poignant Safely Assumed centers on a middle-aged shoplifter who shares her secrets with a juvenile offender while waiting for the probation officer. Scott Malia’s comic The Interview is about a young man who gets more than he bargained for as he chats up his date’s mother. And Stephen Faria’s Inheriting Cleo deals with a man who, in escaping from his own relative’s funeral, connects with a mourner across the hall. [Smith & Kraus, www.smithandkraus.com] Words are very much the centerpiece of John Kolvenbach’s Gizmo Love, a spoof of the Quentin Tarantino-style of movies, with each character exhibiting familiar traits and the snappy dialogue full of killer lines. Ralph, a mild-mannered author, has sold a property to a big-shot Hollywood producer who, it turns out, only likes the bare bones of Ralph’s script. The producer sends over a rewrite man, and then dispatches a couple of hit men—shades of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—to ensure the job is done properly, with unexpected results. Kolvenbach has created a brilliantly comic story that sheds light on the conflict between art and commerce in Hollywood film-making. Four males. [Oberon Books/Dramatists Play Service, www.dramatists.com] www.stage-directions.com • August 2010 41
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