Lights and Sound: Telephone ringer for "Belles"

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Telephone ringer for "Belles"

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Lights and Sound
Forum Discription: Technical discussion
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4488
Printed Date: 2/05/25 at 5:43am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Telephone ringer for "Belles"

Posted By: TeriFoltz
Subject: Telephone ringer for "Belles"
Date Posted: 2/27/10 at 2:07pm

I have read the discussions on this topic but they were all posted in 2006 and I wonder if anyone has an update. I am directing "Belles" by Mark Dunn and want to have 6 different rings for the 6 telephones. I also would love to have an alternative to putting these rings on a sound CD and using them as sound cues. I really would like to rig up buzzers or something similar. Any ideas? Thanks so much!

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If you're going to laugh at it someday, why not now?

Replies:

Posted By: TimmyP1955
Date Posted: 2/27/10 at 2:58pm

http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/sound/18034-ringing-phone.html

Posted By: Carol
Date Posted: 3/04/10 at 5:09pm

When we did Belles 5 years ago they rigged the phones so that they actually rang on stage - each phone then had it's own distinct ring. Sounds great huh?

EXCEPT - this then relied on the actors to actually hang up their phone after each conversation.

I played Peggy, with a Princess phone, and the darn phone wouldn't hang up right. Finally I took matters into my own hands, disassembled and then reassembled the phone (once a techie, always a techie)

But I think that it's too scary to rely on actors hanging up phones....

Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 3/05/10 at 7:55am

We have used a standard ring voltage generator that I bought from a telephone supply house a few years back. I rigged a butt box (project box) with seven buttons (this was not for Belles but for a different phone intensive show. Each phone button were tied together on the "hot" side and each phones green was tied back to a "common" on stage. But, whether using the ring gen and butt box or our reglar low volatge (door bell generator) unit, the problem we have had is that with a two wire circuit, the phone continues to ring even when answered (overcome by sound operator timing it with the actors movement). So we never had a problem with the actor having it off hook.. (except if it was noticible to the audience that it "shouldn't" ring when it did...

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Marty W

"Till next we trod the boards.."