Instead of carrying on to the next installment on the care and feeding of wireless mics, (which I'll get back to, I promise) I'm going to enter an interlude blog about remounting productions.

In the last few years, I've done several remounts in different circumstances. Each experience has presented a unique challenge for me - either as a supervisor or as the designer - in some cases my own design, in others that of other artists.

The first (and perhaps easiest as it was designed to remount) was a packaged show - "Menopause the Musical" my first summer at ASF in 2007, which came with actors, set, sound design - everything but the actual sound designer and engineer. In that instance, it was pretty straight forward. The few cues were self explanatory and the music all pre-recorded. Put body mics on the cast and we were ready to do the show. The challenge in this instance was to adjust the show to the expectations of our own artistic staff... namely the volume. Finding the right balance between artistic sensibilities yet covering ABBA while singing about "the Change of Life" was... "interesting" but came out alright in the end.

Another show we brought in already designed, was 3 Mo Divas. This time, with a sound crew. This show challenged me to explain my sound system's limitations in addition to the artistic expectations to a guest engineer. I learned a lot about giving an guest control of your system - in this instance balcony fills. My advance and system explanation failed in impressing on the engineer that our balcony fills are just that - they are not a balcony cluster. They're also hung in a place where if you try to press them to being a balcony cluster, you interfere with the orchestra level sound. In addition to very odd imaging, you get some cancellation, some strange reflection, and lots of ugly. The engineer went the rounds with the balcony speakers, until they ended up right where they'd started... at a low fill level.

I have had several experiences remounting another designer's show. The first was an original musical "Crowns" and was an odd situation in that the original designer (although not being compensated) was available and in town, and came in to be a part of the remount. I didn't know he was in town until he was there for the company meeting. It all went well, but I often felt awkward when I was asked to make changes. The second remount taught me the most artistically - remounting a design we purchased the rights to for "Three Musketeers." The original designer, a long time friend and colleague, Joe Payne, sent detailed paperwork and the original SFX file. The design included his original score, and was (is) a beautiful, complex sound scape. Joe's natural artistic gift is very unlike my own, so my challenge was to do his design the justice it deserved. I did my best in remounting it as Joe would've presented it. I replicated speaker positions, adjusted levels for the space difference, and attempted to assist the stage manager in call placement. The third show was the most extreme - remounting a sound heavy new work "Bear Country" for it's second performance that had been produced first in the round in a black box, remounting it in a road venue in a proscenium space with limited equipment.

Currently, I'm supervising another remount of that last show, "Bear Country," with the original designer. We're back in a proscenium setting, but at least this go we have enough gear to somewhat replicate what was created in the black box environment. It has been interesting contrasting the choices of the two remounts in such different environments. Many of those choices have been different, but I think I did the production justice under my care. (I certainly hope I did, anyway.)

In November I remounted (and greatly modified) a design for "Peter Pan." The do over was a much better experience and much better product. The other recent experience is remounting my own design of "The Nacirema Society Invites You to a Celebration of Their First One-Hundred Years." The show was first produced at ASF, then after it's three week run closed here in Montgomery, was remounted with it's co-producer The Alliance Theatre, in Atlanta. Again, getting a "do-over" was a great chance to tweak things I wasn't originally completely happy with. It was also a great example of how things can be very space specific. I had one sound cue that drove me crazy and went through upwards of 25 revisions. In the remount, I had planned on being ready for another 10-15, and didn't make one. The sound wasn't perfect, but wasn't so bad that I hated it with a flaming passion as I did the first time.

The biggest thing I've learned where the remount is not to go to extremes - dreading the remount doesn't do me any good, and thinking it'll be a walk in the park isn't the right approach either. And the best part is that unlike life, sometimes you do get a "do over."