the energy that is arriving from the other source is all arriving as one wave front .”
For low end , there are Meyer Sound 600-HP subs in the proscenium columns hidden by cloth on either side of the stage and larger Meyer 700-HPs hidden under the stage landings . The 600-HPs in the left / right columns are accompanied on each side by two Meyer UPA 1-Ps and a UPA 2-P , which are part of the old system and still in use .
For FOH Engineer Mike Walsh , stationed behind a Digico SD10T console that was installed last year , he says the new T10 cluster is providing him more peace of mind . “ The biggest thing is it ’ s refreshing and extra fulfilling for me because now I know what I am listening to , everybody is listening to . Previously , with the distributed system all over the place , you never really knew . We do lots of checking and lots of previews and the designers and assistants will put in lots of time on the under-balcs and tweak stuff , but you ’ re never really sure ,” he says .
One of the things that sets the Stratford Festival apart from its contemporaries is its continued commitment to full-scale orchestras , rightfully believing the music is as important as the stage
design , choreography , script , or performance . For A Chorus Line , there is a full 17-piece band delivering the original orchestrations , which keeps deck audio technician Art Fortin on his toes .
“ We ’ re really fortunate at the festival that they still continue to support the idea of full orchestras in an age where that is a place where musicals are being downsized and compromised on for budget ,” says McBoyle .
d & b T10 arrays in the Festival Theatre
But , again , because this is a thrust stage , the band is not in a traditional orchestra pit at the foot of the stage ; instead , they ’ re hidden above and behind the stage in a room the crew refers to as “ the loft .” But because the loft is not fully isolated from the main room , only separated by a thin wall that does not reach the ceiling , leaving empty air that connects the orchestra area to the main room , there is still acoustic spillover . It ’ s not a large space either , with an incredible number of people and instruments very close together – and that ’ s just with A Chorus Line ’ s 17-piece band . McBoyle laughs at the thought of having a 31-piece band in there as they did for The King and I a few years ago .
“ It ’ s kind of crazy ,” the sound designer says . “ It is something we ’ re proud of and thankful for , that the festival continues to budget for a larger orchestra so we can do the original orchestrations . It shows certainly on productions like A Chorus Line to be able to have that big , brassy sound of three trumpets , and you need it . You can ’ t just get away with one trumpet and one trombone and one saxophone like a lot of places would try to get away with . Over at the Avon Theatre on A Little Night Music , we have a real harp ! Where else do they still hire a harpist for musicals ?”
Because the band looks isolated in the loft but is actually still quite acoustically coupled to the main room , it provided a real challenge for McBoyle . He says for pop-oriented shows such as Mama Mia ! or A Chorus Line , a truly isolated room would be an advantage because it would allow the band to play the pop music like it ’ s pop music , meaning loudly . “ The Festival Theatre is a tough nut to crack because that orchestra is actually quite acoustically coupled and because it ’ s above and behind , the sonic acoustic image is not superimposed on the action that is happening on stage . It ’ s already high above and behind them as far as latency and propagation delay . It actually is behind the time , so you have to delay the system to the orchestra loft , but then that ’ s tricky because you can ’ t delay the vocals in the same way ,” McBoyle explains . “ We actually get into a very complicated delay matrix in order to image things to the stage . In fact , it ’ s less necessary on a louder show like Chorus Line , but on a show like The Sound of Music last year , I have actually gotten into a technique on that stage where we divide the stage up into zones and then we do matrix delays and we program it so that when the cast member is extreme stage right , the delay times all shift to support that microphone in that zone . So we ’ re constantly changing the zone that the person is in based on what the blocking is .”
The 17 band members are miked with a complement of Neumann , DPA , and AKG microphones that the theatre has amassed over the years with the input of McBoyle and other sound designers . The trumpets and trombones are coming through DPA d : vote 4099s , with Neumann TLM103s for the saxophones , oboes , and clarinets . The upright bass has another d : vote 4099 clipped to the bridge . The electric guitar cabinet is coupled with a classic Shure SM57 and there is an AKG C214 for the acoustic guitar and banjo .
“ I ’ ve become a huge fan of the DPA 4099 series ,” adds McBoyle . “ I just find them to be super flexible and great in an orchestra pit because they have the fidelity you need for acoustic music , like you ’ d be recording an orchestra , but they ’ re small and they ’ re out of the way with the flexible goose neck and they are really easy to help maintain focus and to get into tricky spots when you don ’ t have a lot of room … I ’ ve used them on almost everything – cello , bass , accordion , and I ’ ve used them on brass a lot .”
Somewhat surprisingly , given the tight space and volume considerations , there is a full acoustic drum kit . “ You ’ ve got to have that acoustic sound ,” Campbell insists . “ These are really super dynamic orchestra players and the electronic system that can reproduce those dynamics still doesn ’ t exist . We do have the whole ceiling covered in in here , so this is kind of the best we can do for him ,” he adds , gesturing around the drum booth . To mic the kit , which does have dampened skins , there are two overhead AKG C414 B-ULSs , a Rode MT5 on the hi-hat , Audix D2s and a D4 on the toms , as well as a Sennheiser MD 421 . The kick drum is picked up by an AKG D112 MKII and Neumann U87 .
28 • PROFESSIONAL SOUND