Black Box(es)

[leepincat]

Just watched an episode of, "Letterman's Late Night" program,
and noticed that most of the musicians in the late night band
had a small (approx. 4"x4") black box attached to their mic stands,
right beneath their vocal mics.
Appears to be made of plastic.
I couldn't make out any other details.

The mic cable plugs into the bottom, and it appears that
the the other end plugs directly into the mic.

Some sort of DI box perhaps ??
I was thinking some type of filter having to do w/the electric guitars
but, at least one of the horn players had one as well.

Just curious.
Sincere thanks - Donna

[geoff]

On 10/01/2015 10:56 p.m., leepincat wrote:
>
> Just watched an episode of, "Letterman's Late Night" program,
> and noticed that most of the musicians in the late night band
> had a small (approx. 4"x4") black box attached to their mic stands,
> right beneath their vocal mics.
> Appears to be made of plastic.
> I couldn't make out any other details.
>
> The mic cable plugs into the bottom, and it appears that
> the the other end plugs directly into the mic.
>
> Some sort of DI box perhaps ??
> I was thinking some type of filter having to do w/the electric guitars
> but, at least one of the horn players had one as well.
>
> Just curious.
> Sincere thanks - Donna
>


Line drivers for low-output dynamic mics perhaps ? You wouldn't think
necessary ....

geoff

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article >,
leepincat > wrote:

> Just watched an episode of, "Letterman's Late Night" program,
> and noticed that most of the musicians in the late night band
> had a small (approx. 4"x4") black box attached to their mic stands,
> right beneath their vocal mics.
> Appears to be made of plastic.
> I couldn't make out any other details.

> The mic cable plugs into the bottom, and it appears that
> the the other end plugs directly into the mic.

> Some sort of DI box perhaps ??
> I was thinking some type of filter having to do w/the electric guitars
> but, at least one of the horn players had one as well.

> Just curious.
> Sincere thanks - Donna

We used to do something similar when using personal mics on violins - to
allow the player to unplug the mic themselves more easily. But you do need
well trained musos for this. ;-)

--
*And don't start a sentence with a conjunction *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Scott Dorsey]

leepincat > wrote:
>Just watched an episode of, "Letterman's Late Night" program,
>and noticed that most of the musicians in the late night band
>had a small (approx. 4"x4") black box attached to their mic stands,
>right beneath their vocal mics.

I don't know what it is, but possibilities include

- a junction box with a cough switch

- a box that mutes the mains but not the mixer's monitors, so
the band members can talk back to the booth.

- a cue box with lights on it (although usually you just give one of
these to the bandleader, not to the whole band).

I think Sound and Vision did a thing on the Letterman show at one point and
that article might have details.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Mike Rivers[_2_]]

On 1/10/2015 10:56 AM, leepincat wrote:
>
> Just watched an episode of, "Letterman's Late Night" program,
> and noticed that most of the musicians in the late night band
> had a small (approx. 4"x4") black box attached to their mic stands,
> right beneath their vocal mics.

One more guess . . . a personal monitor controller. Did you notice if
the band members were using in-ear monitors? A lot of shows are sending
individual channels or submixes to a small mixer at each musician's
station. This allows him to make his own adjustments to the monitor mix.

It's used more with in-ear systems than with monitor speakers because
it's much more difficult (and painful) to get feedback from an earphone
than from a loudspeaker if the gain on the closest mic is turned up too
far. With a personal-mix monitor system and earphones, a singer or
player can get as much "me" in the monitor as he wants without bothering
anyone else on stage who doesn't want to hear him that loud.

And another guess, if its still being made - a sensor that automatically
mutes a mic when the performer steps away from it and un-mutes it when
he steps up to the mic. I don't know how successful this system was. I
haven't seen it advertised for a long time.


--
For a good time, visit http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com

[Scott Dorsey]

In article >, Mike Rivers > wrote:
>
>One more guess . . . a personal monitor controller. Did you notice if
>the band members were using in-ear monitors? A lot of shows are sending
>individual channels or submixes to a small mixer at each musician's
>station. This allows him to make his own adjustments to the monitor mix.

That's the best and most likely guess so far, I think.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article >,
Scott Dorsey > wrote:
> In article >, Mike Rivers > wrote:
> >
> >One more guess . . . a personal monitor controller. Did you notice if
> >the band members were using in-ear monitors? A lot of shows are sending
> >individual channels or submixes to a small mixer at each musician's
> >station. This allows him to make his own adjustments to the monitor mix.

> That's the best and most likely guess so far, I think.

Just wondering how they managed that with just a mic cable in and out?

--
*If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[polymod]

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message ...

In article >, Mike Rivers >
wrote:
>
>One more guess . . . a personal monitor controller. Did you notice if
>the band members were using in-ear monitors? A lot of shows are sending
>individual channels or submixes to a small mixer at each musician's
>station. This allows him to make his own adjustments to the monitor mix.

That's the best and most likely guess so far, I think.
--scott
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

is this it?
http://www.soundonsound.com/pm/apr09/articles/optogate.htm


Poly

[Mike Rivers[_2_]]

On 1/12/2015 5:54 PM, polymod wrote:

> is this it?
> http://www.soundonsound.com/pm/apr09/articles/optogate.htm

That's a sensor that turns the mic off when the performer is out of
range. Like I said, I don't know if they're really used much.


--
For a good time, visit http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com

[Scott Dorsey]

In article >, Mike Rivers > wrote:
>On 1/12/2015 5:54 PM, polymod wrote:
>
>> is this it?
>> http://www.soundonsound.com/pm/apr09/articles/optogate.htm
>
>That's a sensor that turns the mic off when the performer is out of
>range. Like I said, I don't know if they're really used much.

I used to see them now and then but I don't think they are made any longer.
They would be a very bad plan on a TV show but can be useful if you don't
have a PA operator.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Mike Rivers[_2_]]

On 1/12/2015 5:08 PM, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

>>> One more guess . . . a personal monitor controller.

> Just wondering how they managed that with just a mic cable in and out?

You don't know what's behind the curtain. They can do amazing things
digitally these days, and there are many protocols that provide audio in
both directions on a single CAT5 cable. with low latency. I don't follow
these things very closely so I can't point you to a specific personal
monitor system that works this way, though I don't doubt that they exist.

An alternate answer is that you don't know how many conductors there are
in that cable.
While most commercial gadgets like this have a mic cable and a mix cable
going in and a mic pass-through (back to the console) going out, I
suppose it's possible that you may have seen a custom system that puts
the mix in and mic pass-through on a single connector. Or maybe there's
a cable that you don't see.


--
For a good time, visit http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com