Theatre, schools and community productions — Sunshine Coast
Radio microphone packages, sound systems and operators for school musicals, community theatre, speech nights and assemblies. Frequencies coordinated, console programmed before you arrive, and someone on the desk who has mixed a show before.
A musical lives or dies on its radio mics. Lines missed at the back, a lead that crackles in the big number, a pack that dies in act two — every school has a story.
We bring the mics, plan the plot with your director so eight or sixteen channels cover the whole cast, coordinate the frequencies for your hall, and fit the headsets so they stay put through a dance number. The console arrives programmed with every scene, and the first show is mixed by us, with your students beside us if they want to learn.
Front-of-house and foldback come from the same van when the hall's own system isn't up to it. Often it is, and we'll say so.
The same process a professional production uses, sized for a school hall.
Cast list in, mic plot out. Frequencies coordinated for the venue, console scenes built, headsets labelled by character.
Speakers, foldback and radios in and tested. Headsets fitted on the cast. A walk-through with the director and stage manager.
An operator on the desk, a radio tech backstage swapping packs and batteries, and a mic check before every performance.
Packed down the same night if you need the hall on Monday morning. Invoice with the education rate shown.
The engineer on your school show spends the rest of the year mixing professional musical theatre.
Sunshine Coast Sound is run by Jack Scandrett, fifteen years a sound engineer and a specialist in wireless microphone systems. His other work is commercial musical theatre, where a mic dropping out is a very public problem and the frequency plan is checked before anyone sings a note.
That discipline comes to your hall with the gear. It's why the packs don't drop out, why the console is ready before the cast arrives, and why your students learn it the way the professionals do it.
Not every school job is a musical. Speech nights need a system the back row can hear, wireless microphones that get passed around without a squeal, a lectern mic that stays put, and music cues that land on time.
Drama productions need a handful of radios and someone who understands that a play is mixed differently from a musical. Dance concerts need foldback for the stage and playback that never skips.
We do all of them, at the venue or in your own hall, with or without an operator. Community theatre companies get the same treatment as schools, and the same pricing.
Fixed starting prices, GST included. Education and community pricing is shown on every quote, so the business manager sees the value.
From $1,190inc GST, per show week — 8 channels
From $690inc GST, delivered, operated, packed down
From $3,900inc GST, per show week
Extras: orchestra pit mics, more radio channels, a second operator for a big cast, student operator training before the run, a projector for surtitles or scenery, and stage lighting. Everything is quoted in writing first.
School halls and performing arts centres from Noosa to Caloundra, community halls at Cooran, Pomona and Eumundi, Coolum Civic Centre, the J at Noosa, and church halls with an acoustic that needs taming. If your hall is new to us we'll visit before we quote.
Most schools want their students on the desk and backstage. We programme the show so a student can run it, sit beside them for the first performance, and step back when they're ready. Ask about a training afternoon before the run — it's on the training page.
Usually fewer than you think. Eight well-planned channels with a plot that swaps packs between scenes cover most school and community musicals; sixteen covers almost anything. We build the plot with your director from the cast list.
Yes, and we encourage it. We programme the console, run the first show, and sit beside your students for the rest of the run, or train them properly beforehand.
Where it's good enough, yes, and we'll tell you honestly. Often the hall's speakers are fine and what's missing is radio mics, a console that can handle a show, and someone who has mixed one.
Radios start at $1,190 for eight channels for the week. A full production with front-of-house, foldback, console and operator starts around $3,900. Education pricing is shown on the quote.
Not if the frequencies are coordinated for the venue and the packs are on fresh batteries — which is the whole job. The same discipline applies to a school hall as to a professional theatre.
The title, the dates, the venue and roughly how many in the cast. A written quote comes back within a day, with the education rate shown.