Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to live sound being mainly a studio guy so please excuse me if this is a silly question.

I'm mixing FOH for a show at the moment. It's a dance show but the dancers are also singing in certain scenes. They've absolutely refused to wear head sets or lavalier mics so the only way we can mic them is by using floor mics and shotguns.

Here's the room - Paul McCartney Auditorium (PMA)

At the moment we have two PCC-160s behind the centre fills, two PZMs mounted on the columns at either side of the stage and two shotguns pointing in from the stage sides. We can't put anything upstage because LX are moving curtains and screens around.

OK. The problem is that no matter what we do the vocals just aren't loud enough before feedback, even after extensive EQ. There are no vocals through the monitors, we just can't push the mics any further.

The front fills are T10s so there isn't a ridiculous amount of bass coming from the back of them. The PCCs are positioned behind them and on some small wooden blocks.

What I'm looking for is any advice on any other mic techniques we could try. We asked about flying in a spaced pair above the dancer's heads but it's inevitable that someone will jump into them or kick them by accident...

Would really appreciate some help. We have another tech rehearsal tomorrow before the show and it'd be great if we could push the vocals up a little more.

Cheers