Bring on ‘da noise and make sure it’s loud

The old soft shoe ain’t what it used to be.

Just ask John Trace, head audio engineer for the explosive tap dance extravaganza “Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk,” at the Ahmanson Theatre through Saturday. Trace ensures Tony Award-winning master tapper-choreographer Savion Glover is properly hooked up with ankle mikes and transmitters that enhance the already-percussive rhythms in the show.

With seven dancers wired to four onstage speakers (there’s also a bank of speaker towers for the audience) and 20 mikes built into the stage, this makes ‘da noise -- occasionally up to 120 decibels -- music to the tappers’ ears.

“The issue is about dancers hearing themselves,” Trace says. “With older shotgun mikes, it was a physics challenge. You couldn’t raise the volume without getting feedback. Our dancers would like it as loud as they can get; they feed off the energy of the volume.”

Contact microphones aren’t new: Gregory Hines used them in the 1989 film “Tap,” and “Riverdance” amplified the Irish step dancers in the early ‘90s. But technology has been refined: “Noise” tappers use 8-ounce wallet-size transmitters, powered by two AA batteries connected to tiny mikes via thin wires. Dancers can control sound levels by how hard they tap.

“As the dancers move, they can find spots that are different tones. Savion finds places where he can hit two or three different notes at a time, and he’ll work that with each foot, creating a drum rhythm or a musical scale.”

Glover has a transmitter for each ankle (the power packs cost about $5,000 each), while the other dancers wear single transmitters on their backs, with a wire running down each leg to the mikes. The mikes are affixed with Velcro to the instep of each shoe.

“The mike wire is like a feather rubbing against your leg,” Trace says, “but everybody’s gotten used to it and now it doesn’t interfere with the thought process when they’re dancing.”

During a performance, Trace is in the audience working the mixing console, controlling the sounds the audience hears. An onstage monitor controls the sounds that dancers hear.

Trace hopes to take the technology, well, one step further. “My goal is to have somebody design a shoe with a mike inside and connector on the outside. I’m hoping to surprise Savion. You slide the shoe on, you plug the connector in -- it’s a done deal.”