# Stage monitors under grill in stage floor (or raised platforms)



## Anonymous067 (Mar 19, 2011)

I know on Broadway/big shows they hide the monitors in the floor, and then replace the top of the floor with some type of grill or grate...

What kind of material could I use that actors could still stand on, but allows the sound through? I'm thinking some kind of metal grate or something...


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## drummerboi316 (Mar 19, 2011)

we have used expanded steel like this before.

Expanded Steel Metal


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## mstaylor (Mar 20, 2011)

Any type of catwalk material. Expanded metal, egg crate and others. A lot of it depends on size, the smaller the opening, the more options. If you need a big opening, you will have less options. A trip to your local steel yard or welding fab shop will yield some option.


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## Footer (Mar 20, 2011)

Never seen a monitor buried in a stage for a show outside of some country acts. Never seen it done for broadway style show. Most of the time grating is used its used for uplighting, even then plexi is often used instead. Otherwise, its steel greating... not extruded steel. I have built decks for uplighting many times, ever time its with steel grating. Its heavy as hell but requires much less framing. Extruded steel needs a ton of framing to be stong. Even then, its still spongy. 

http://www.bustin-usa.com/products/grating/index.php is what you should be looking for. 

I also see a few problems burring a monitor in a deck... but thats another can of worms.


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## rochem (Mar 20, 2011)

I've seen buried speakers for when the designer wanted a sound to come from there, but never as monitors - I'm not a sound designer, but having the sound coming up from the floor would be quite strange, and it's not gonna have a very wide coverage area over the stage. How you choose to conceal them will often require consultation with your scenic designer. When Howell Binkley wanted to add uplights on the front of the stage for In The Heights, he asked the scenic designer what they could do, and she designed a series of grates that resembled the subway grates found all over the sidewalks of New York. Other shows will just cut a small groove or use plexi if they're trying to avoid making as much of a statement. First you should find out what it needs to look like, then you can go from there to design a structurally sound way of doing it.


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## Chris15 (Mar 20, 2011)

Been there done that.
The 2 occasions that spring to mind were firstly a thrust stage extension that rolled in and out over the course of the show. Everything was self contained, as long as all the kiddies were off the stage it was winched from under the stage proper and from the audience it just moved like magic. Wedges were mounted in the rolling section with steel grates across the top, from memory the grates finished just below level with the deck, but ideally you would want them level. Only major thing on that one was remembering to turn off said wedges when the thrust was in for the sake of everyone operating underneath the stage. (Btw. the stage was at about 3600 high for the most part)

Second instance was cut into the stage for Carols. It meant you could put sound where there were no other options. Here's a random pic to give you an idea of the stage: AntBlog701: every Christmas is the same... Carols in the Domain

The front area has wedges sitting on the scaff underneath. And pallet wrap in a slightly strange arrangement to stop them getting wet but try and keep some semblance of a frequency response...


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