Today, during the opening night performance of our schools musical, while I wasn't on stage I decided to use the restroom. I came out to find two of my fellow actresses putting their hands over my mouth. Apparently, I had left my microphone on and everyone heard me using the restroom. FML
I agree, your life sucks (20506) - you totally deserved it (6747)
On 10/03/2009 at 9:47am - misc - by Porcelain (woman) - United States (Kansas)
the only way i see this as being unfortunate is if you were really constipated, or if you just had extremely bad exploding diahrea, i mean what would they here, if its just a couple of plops not a big deal, if you were screaming at the top of your lungs because the poop was cutting you open on the way out i would probably be embarrassed, but than i would got and apply a bandaid to my anus
#16 - On 10/03/2009 at 2:40pm by ananamoose
This is not your fault at all the Sound Guys should shut your mic on and off at the sound board not you
#3 - On 10/03/2009 at 2:07pm by bullshitdetector
She could've also just taken the mic off - I think there's enough blame to go around.
But I gotta admit - that does suck....
Well, depending on how many mics were in use, they might have not been able to find the source without compromising the rest of the sound.
Yes, it is the sound guy's fault. He (or she) shouldn't have the actors be in control of the mics.
#31 - On 10/03/2009 at 3:39pm by killinglights
It actually is the sound person's fault. They do tech runs with the mics so that they know when to turn them on and off. As soon as the actor leaves the stage, the mic should be turned off by the tech people. This is therefore either fake, or the sound person screwed up. If it's the latter, that sucks. You'll get over it though.
#42 - On 10/03/2009 at 4:57pm by Insert_Wit_Here
#7 if you've ever encountered a sound person after taking off your own mic, you would know that this is not an option. Especially in high school. Furthermore, it's a bitch to take mics on and off. Could the OP have hit the "mute" button? sure, but they shouldn't have to (and risk forgetting to turn it off mute later) if the sound people were on their game
#54 - On 10/03/2009 at 7:53pm by theatregrl2
I agree. Our director told us to never do anything to the mics until after the show was over because people were always muting them or turning them off and then forgetting to turn them back on.
everyone goes to the bathroom. no big deal, they'll forget about it in less than a week
#9 - On 10/03/2009 at 2:16pm by totally_awesome
So that means it's impossible for this to happen in reality?
#18 - On 10/03/2009 at 2:45pm by Witchcraft
No, This is actually very real. I have never seen Naked Gun and this really did happen to me during the performance. It sucked at the time but it's hilarious, and now I have the nickname "Porcelain".
#20 - On 10/03/2009 at 2:56pm by Weezie_rm
This happened in our musical a few years ago... Only the girl ran back to the dressing rooms to do a costume change really fast. Everyone heard her say to someone "OKAY, TAKING OFF MY BRA NOW!"
Embarrassing... But this type of stuff really does happen.
#12 - On 10/03/2009 at 2:31pm by bugmenotmofo
fake!!! its been only a month at school in the us so they wouldnt be starting the opening night now you'd need at least 3-5 months to prepare
#13 - On 10/03/2009 at 2:31pm by Nathananagiya99
ah, true. and it's a musical, it would take longer than the 2 months they've been in school. speaking from experiance.
#15 - On 10/03/2009 at 2:38pm by xkayla_gorex
well they could have worked on the production over the summer, or at the end of last year and the summer. im also speaking from experience
it doesn't say when it's been worked on, either one of us could be correct. when I was in high school, the only thing we did over the summer was a camp to get to know the new members.
#23 - On 10/03/2009 at 3:12pm by xkayla_gorex
All FMLs are required to start with "Today". So this might have happened several months ago for all we know.
#26 - On 10/03/2009 at 3:24pm by cthulhu1138
It hasn't been a month in the us, it's been almost three months where I live. Dumbass.
#61 - On 10/04/2009 at 12:08am by vita_questa_roba
if you're in theatre, you should know everyone has to use the restroom before you start. you indeed diserve that. if you have a bad bladder, who gives a fuck, everyone pee's and shits. the audience won't know it's you. the cast will though :) and you'll probably be the root of all the jokes for a bit. again, who gives a fuck. I hope it wasn't loud enough to go over their singing and ruin the play.
#14 - On 10/03/2009 at 2:34pm by xkayla_gorex
Since all FML's should start with the word "Today," it might have happened months ago, but for some reason Porcelain hasn't sent it in until now.
Any respectable sound tech, would have muted your channel immediately after realizing what was going on.. and even if you were off stage, your mic channel should have been muted anyway.
#22 - On 10/03/2009 at 3:00pm by screaming_theft
I don't believe this one. The people in the sound box always turn your mic on/off when u walk on/off stage.
This is an obvious fake. The OP ripped his one off from a story about a professor that did the same.
#29 - On 10/03/2009 at 3:27pm by The_Derpinator
I love how people don't believe things that really happened. They should have turned it off but they didn't. There were 25 of us in the show going on and off stage at the same time. Each of us had mics. They had forgotten to turn off my mic as I went offstage.
#30 - On 10/03/2009 at 3:36pm by Weezie_rm
I hope you weren't constipated and making voice-straining sound effects, like "Uurrgh", "Mmmmph", and "Arrrrr".
Potty-pirate, maybe?
#32 - On 10/03/2009 at 3:44pm by Witchcraft
Ive been doing sound for live theater and when the actor goes off stage you shut off their mic so whoever was doing sound for you is obviously a moron
Yes, because we all know an event can only happen to one person ever in the entire. -rolls eyes-
Well, I'm going to breathe. By your logic, you (and everyone else) can no longer breathe because I'm doing it, therefore no one else can do it.
I hate fake callers. Just enjoy the freaking site.
LOL, You deserve it. It's your own fault. No one else is responsible.
#37 - On 10/03/2009 at 4:16pm by bugmenotmofo
ydi..... no doubt abt it. was it a number 1 or 2? it wouldn't be as embarassing if it were a number 2.
#41 - On 10/03/2009 at 4:55pm by xoxcinderellaxox
fake. they would have turned her microphone off when she started making noises.
#43 - On 10/03/2009 at 5:13pm by shauntp
awful sound guys!! it's their responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen as well.
#44 - On 10/03/2009 at 5:21pm by XxMaiWeingxX
I think it's fake, cause A) that would have to be a pretty long range mic more likely than not, and B) actors are typically never responsible for turning their mics off.
#45 - On 10/03/2009 at 5:23pm by ieatglue44
the B part, i have to argue with. in my ELEMENTARY school, the cast of yes, the musical, was required to handle their own mikes. and the lead girl was back stage talking about how cute one of the other guys was an pretty much everyone heard what she was saying. when she came out, she got yelled at for talking backstage. thank god it was a dress rehearsal though and not when all of the parents were there
#52 - On 10/03/2009 at 6:41pm by the_stereotype
a loud noise like a toilet flush would get picked up by a face mic. I would agree with B) but who knows perhaps it WAS the sound guy's fault or perhaps they just don't run their productions well.
So I wouldn't talk and the audience wouldn't hear me. And I didn't make any awkward sounds in the restroom either. All of a sudden the audience just heard a huge "FLUSH!!!!"Which is why the sound guys didnt have time to turn off the mic. And they apologized to me afterwards, but it was embarrassing. Now it's funny.
#59 - On 10/03/2009 at 11:14pm by Weezie_rm
This is the sound guys fault.
Even if he/she didn't get to your mike right away, it still wouldn't have taken more than a few seconds to turn it off.
Maybe she goes to year-round school...? Or worked on it over the summer...?
#50 - On 10/03/2009 at 6:32pm by Anonymous_2_u
I've gotta agree, your sound guys failed you. We always had all of the mics labeled by number, and then a cheat sheet with the names of the actor/actress and the character that they were playing so as to avoid this. If they forgot to mute the mic then they failed and should probably stop working sound
I'm a sound tech at my school. that's completly your sound guy's fault. he should have muted your mic when you left stage. along with that, I call fake, because if they had heard it, he certainly would have remembered and shut it off. if not, your sound tech is an idiot and should be replaced.
Why did they put their hands over your mouth? You don't go to the bathroom out of your mouth do you? Or maybe they thought she was gonna say something because she didn't realize her mic was on and so they stopped her, like she might've said something when she saw them coming towards her and didn't want her to disrupt the performance any more then she did.
This does happen. It has happened on several show that I have worked on. For all you "theatre" people out there blaming the sound guy, S.T.F.U! Please consider that reinforcing vocals did not come from us sound designers wanting to deal with more crap during production. It comes from the actors NOT KNOWING, WILLING, WANTING, TO F^({ING PROJECT PAST THE EDGE OF THE F*^$%ING STAGE!!!! And as for "the FOH should have turned the mic off" well duh!! In running sound for musicals we do not just stand back there & press the pretty buttons on our own. This could have been a missed que from the stage manager or who ever was calling the show, some board ops will & sometimes can, only take a que when told to. As musicals most often have multiple mics running at once, the mute or the channel could have be missed in the punch out, or there may have been a swap of numerous mics/channels & there was a lag in the taking action. Everyone makes mistakes. - = - and #45, the broadcast range doesn't need to be that good for this to happen, it is all in the antenna placement. AND I DARE ANYONE to run a 16+ channels live mix desk to find an offending feed without messing up your mix in under two minutes.
I have to agree with him. I've been in several musicals, and I never needed to have a microphone. The only people who did were the ones who couldnt (or didnt attempt to) get their voices loud enough to be heard by the back row. I worked on projecting my lines and didnt need to be mic'ed up.
I couldnt imagine being a sound guy and handling all that. I would expect every actor/tress to be responsible for his/her actions.
#64 - On 10/04/2009 at 3:29am by freetalklive
you are a douchebag. if a sound guy/board OP is smart, he will NEVER do ANYthing unless the SM calls it. That way, when it fucks up, it's on the SM and not on him. But, I mean, that IS why we have tech week...
In any case, you also obviously know absolutely nothing about singing. Not every song can be belted and projected to the last row. Some parts of songs are soft and in order to hit the right notes, they can't be screamed and therefore, must be mic'd.
And if you don't believe me, why don't you go see a Broadway show sometime, and then maybe you will notice that all of those highest-paid actors/actresses who obviously know how to project are ALL MIC'D. But I bet their sound guy(s) know how to do a simple thing like turn a mic on and off...
Actors are cattle. You cannot let them do anything. Come on, you should know this.
#66 - On 10/04/2009 at 6:16am by xandylytex
If this was the actual production (and not a rehearsal) the sound guy should not need a cue, but know when the mics need to go on and off. That's what the rehearsal is for. The SM cannot cue for the lights, sound, stage entries/exits simultaneously. People need to know when to do their parts.
And first you say STFU to people blaming the sound guy, but then you go on to admit that it could have been his fault for missing a cue? Make up your mind.
Also, most high school productions wouldn't have that many individual face mics - the main characters would be miced and the background vocals would be picked up by stage hanging mics.
And don't try to blame the actors for not "wanting" to project past the stage, in a freaking theatre you NEED to be miced because otherwise you'd have to yell for the back row to hear.
yelling is not projection, it is just yelling..
cues are the holy grail to be followed in most productions but if the production is not a big money show, most likely the poor FOH guy is running both audio & light cues
Musicals are hell on the sound department no matter what, if they don't have at least two board ops mike will be left on at times.
SHUT THE F%^& UP ABOUT BLAMING THE SOUND GUY/GAL THEY MAY HAVE MISSED THE BUTTON, BUT THEY ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES RESPONSIBLE.
and even cattle are smart enough not to shit in the food trough.
Sorry, you're an idiot. I'm guessing your experience of mixing is limited to your high school shows? Sounds like it. The SM cues almost nothing in a sound heavy show.
But vocal reinforcement is entirely necessary in a musical. It's not something that gets in the way, and if it pisses you off as a Sound Designer, then I think you might be in the wrong profession! Vocal Reinforcement in straight plays however, is san abomination, and usually only practised on the shit heap Broadway!
I also can't believe you feel that two board ops are needed on a musical... Go and see The Lion King some time and count how many guys there are behind the CADAC....
actually, the SM should cue EVERYTHING. it's kind of thier job.
and if you don't believe me- just ask me. I'm a stage manager.
#86 - On 10/07/2009 at 2:11am by xandylytex
I've had this happen during a performance, but not to me. One of the leads cursed extremely loudly off stage about something and the whole audience heard him. =)
Once I was doing lighting for a singer's show, and at the end of it they walked off stage and started bitching to the SM about how bad the band was (swearing and yelling at her), and the sound guy didn't mute it for at least a full minute. Personally, I thought it was funny.
I'd say both FYL and YDI. YDI because if you've been doing rehearsals with this equipment, surely you must have known to turn your own mic off. FYL because in most theatres, it is the sound operator's responsibility to turn the mics on/off from the sound mixing desk.
Well the way it works with my 26 channel mic board, is that my assistant and I each have a script and a cheat sheet. it tells is what characters have what mics at what time. so if this happened to me, I would check the cheat sheet, and whichever of the 26 people was not onstage, I'd make sure there channel was down. with an assistant, this takes about 45 seconds.
why would anybody say FYL? It is her own fault she left it on. YDI
#77 - On 10/04/2009 at 3:10pm by VraelVhalen
YDI for saying "using the restroom", just sounds so stupid. They didn't hear you using the restroom, they heard you shitting while you were using the restroom.
#78 - On 10/04/2009 at 5:49pm by TysonFawlay
That's accutally the crew's fault not yours. the sound crew is responsible for shutting off mics because the actors have enough to worry about with costume changes and lines and makeup and etc.
#79 - On 10/04/2009 at 7:22pm by musicfairy15
Generally, in high school shows, OPS and actors don't get paid, and the school would provide the budget. Therefore, there should most DEFINITELY be not only an SM, but also an ASM, a sound op, AND a light op. So there's not FOH being overworked in this case.
Yes, sometimes there are low budget shows- but if the show is smart AT ALL, they will have an SM or production manager of some kind, even if they get the director to double up as an SM/PM which does happen ocassionally. However, in that case, they would still need cues, standbys, and tech week. So there really is no excuse.
I never said it was the sound guy's fault- to the contrary, I blame the SM. I simply said if a board op is smart (this goes for lights, fly rail, anything) they will not take a cue unless the SM calls it.
#87 - On 10/07/2009 at 2:22am by xandylytex
oh, and p.s.: to be fair, though, The Lion King has an endless budget, which means they have state of the art equipment which is top-of-the-line computerized stuff. The most they ever have to do to run the show is press a button and the computer will automatically mute the mics for them- it's all programmed. It's that high-tech. This is Disney Broadway we are talking about. It doesn't get much bigger than that. Ever.
Are they fucked if the computers screw up? Yeah, but they are high-paid to be able to easily divert that disaster into a problem solved.
and p.s.s. i guarantee you the SM calls every single one of those cues.
#88 - On 10/07/2009 at 2:27am by xandylytex
I hope you werent constipated, or it would have been like "lalala! (UNNGGGH!!! ARRGHH! THIS SHIT HURTS SO BAAAD!!)". if it was diarraeha, it was prolly more like "lalala! (sploosh)
oh haha! my drama teacher told the class the other day that the same thing happened to him.
#91 - On 10/22/2009 at 2:19am by idontloveyou_86
