( L-R ) Mike Walsh , David Campbell , Scott Matthews & Peter McBoyle
In the percussion area , which is separated by Plexiglas from the string , brass , and woodwind players , there are more Neumann KM 184s , Rode NT5s , Audio-Technica AT4030s , and Audix D6s , and the percussionist also wears a DPA microphone on his forehead for spot percussion .
For his part at FOH , Walsh says he isn ’ t very concerned about the lack of isolation between instruments . “ That is common misconception , I think . It ’ s ideal to try that but a drum kit is a whole drum kit , so you sort of do the best you can but nothing is ever totally isolated because it ’ s all happening in real time anyway . With the drum kit , for example , every mic is time aligned to the overheads . There is a lot of time aligning in the show , too . Instead of time aligning the rig , we end up time aligning the actors to the rig so there are a bunch of different delay zones . So if they ’ re down centre , they end up with about a five millisecond delay because of how it blends acoustically , and then if they move over there or into each vomitorium or upstage centre , there are different delay zones . They are different busses so that just happens in the programing . I don ’ t manually go , ‘ Oh , they ’ re there now .’ But that also helps a lot of the phase coherence and intelligibility .”
Of course , what matters most in any production is the clarity and intelligibility of what is coming out of the actors ’ mouths , which brings us back to Lectrosonics SSM transmitters . There are 50 wireless channels in use for A Chorus Line , with 19 of the cast members being double-packed because they rarely leave the stage , particularly in the first half . Of those 50 wireless channels overseen by RF technician Andy Allen , 24 are SSMs with the remainder being a combination of Sennheiser SK 5212s and 5012s . The show begins with 26 auditioning dancers on stage for the opening scene before Zach , the director , makes the first cut , leaving 17 for the remainder of the show .
“ So all the characters who don ’ t get cut in that opening scene are wearing two transmitters and two microphones , which is the largest doubling I ’ ve ever done . That ’ s where the SSMs were hugely critical because of their small form factor ,” says McBoyle . “ Cassie , the female lead , she has two SSMs in her wig , and there ’ s no other pack I know of where you could get two transmitters in the wig .”
Matthews , the theatre ’ s head of sound , chimes in : “ We bought them specifically for this show because the costumes are so scanty , and with everybody onstage double-packed in these tight ‘ 70s [ outfits ], it was a significant concern from costume designer Michael Gianfrancesco to incorporate it . Also , we do a lot of built-in wig shots and they ’ re fantastic for those because they ’ re so small .”
The SSMs became a favourite of McBoyle ’ s after he had the chance the beta test them during a production of The Wild Party at Toronto ’ s Berkeley Street Theatre in early 2015 ( which Professional Sound covered in the June 2015 issue ). “ The first Lectro [ product ] I used was in 2010 for a show on Broadway and I ’ ve just always thought they were amazing . They sound like wire , they don ’ t sound like a radio , so that is a huge advantage there and those SSMs sound great ,” says McBoyle . Speaking about the SSM beta test he did last year , McBoyle recalls that he was immediately sold the transmitter ’ s sound , durability , and lack of emitted heat , which is a concern when doublepacking a dancer under their wig .
The one concern he had at the time was the four-hour battery life of the beta version of the SSM , given that any theatre requires at least five hours of battery life to be safe . He relayed that concern to Colin Bernard , the director of operations for Lectrosonics Canada . “ So almost immediately after that beta test for Wild Party , they clearly heard us because it was about a month later I got an email from Colin saying , ‘ We ’ re now up to six hours .’ It ’ s now totally workable within a theatre context .”
With A Chorus Line in mind , the theatre purchased 12 full SSM systems and the other dozen SSM transmitters were paired with Sennheiser receivers . “ That ’ s a great trick , to be able to emulate other transmitters to still be able to work with somebody else ’ s receivers ,” McBoyle says . “ That saved us some money and in an ideal world we ’ ll eventually upgrade and get more receivers for them , but in order to make the project work financially , it was a great solution .”
While the dancers ’ SSMs exemplify the cutting edge of wireless microphone technology , the most prominent voice in A Chorus Line is coming through a lo-fi relic of yesteryear . Through much of the show , the character of Zach is unseen by much of the audience as he sits at the back of auditorium , directing and conversing with the dancers through an old paging microphone . That mic is mounted to his periodspecific desk , complete with audition notes and an ashtray full of cigarette butts . Zach ’ s voice is almost a character in itself , booming through the theatre and making the dancers on stage look and feel small and vulnerable . The old paging mic was actually just lying around in a box in the props department before it was refurbished by Walsh for this purpose .
“ Having spent a lot of time in theatres when directors are speaking on what we call the ‘ voice of God ,’ where they ’ re actually speaking to everybody in the auditorium ,” begins McBoyle , “ we were trying to recreate that same sensibility and then effecting in a way that made it sound a little bit more like it would ’ ve sounded in the 1970s – so make it slightly tinny and coming from all these different places and that ’ s actually an implicit part of Chorus Line is that the voice of Zach is supposed to come on an auditorium paging system or a voice of God system . I just think that ’ s one aspect of [ the Festival Theatre ] that lends itself really well to being able to do that effect because we do have so many speakers addressing so many points in the theatre . We were able to make the sound come from all of those places and it does give it an interesting sonic quality because the people who are vulnerable up on stage , they also feel smaller and feel more intimate and at times Zach can feel more powerful and more omnipresent .”
“[ Donna ] Feore ’ s choreography and direction here are superb , as are Laura Burton ’ s musical direction and Peter McBoyle ’ s sound design : the balance between the superb 17-piece orchestra and the singers is always right on target ,” the Toronto Star ’ s Karen Fickerin wrote her glowing review of show . It ’ s reflective of the positive responses the show has been getting , which is sweet validation for all involved . It ’ s risky to take a classic Broadway production and reconceive it for the first time to fit a completely new setting , though as McBoyle says in closing , “ It ’ s a real thrill to be able to put a show like that in front of an audience and give them an experience that they can ’ t get anywhere else .”
Michael Raine is the Assistant Editor of Professional Sound
The orchestra loft