Orbital Sound Ltd

Tonight's the Night

Tonight's the Night

The other ?new kit? out the audio box is the latest radio mic system from Trantec Systems, the 6000. I was given an enthusiastic exposition by Orbital?s Chris Headlam. ?It?s a complete break with conventionality,? he began, ?for example there are no controls to speak of on the rack front panels, everything is accessed via the integral Windows XP interface imbedded within the racks themselves, the software is on-board, within the racks themselves. The interface allows you set up different frequency files for different situations, be that for a touring show, or for difficult theatres in the West End, countries or cities in Europe, and keep them as presets. There?s a built in frequency analyser that scans for radio traffic; you can quickly and easily reformat for different areas, as the system operates from UHF channels 62 to 70 throughout.? Such are the features that appeal to the company owner when he considers investing in such equipment; but Rob Piddington from Trantec was also on hand, and he enlightened me to some of the more hands-on day to day functions that will appeal to the audio tech at the sharp end of the show?s radio mic system (in this instance Nik Dudley).
?All the information you create on the screen can be downloaded to the packs, essentially they?re dumb and the controller tells them what to be; none of that messing about with thumb wheels and quickly setting an approximate level when you have to make an emergency swap. Changes are really easy, the operator can load all the sets of pack information to a PDA that they carry with them all the time. In the case of a need for a swap ? lets say sudden trampled unit ? you can use an IR connection from your PDA to clone any pack to the one you?re replacing, and all the parameters will of course be exactly the same.? That has to be a stress buster, Zoe described it thus, ?It took me an hour to feel I really knew how to work the interface; the idea of the PDA re-programming is cinch, it?s one of those things you wonder how you ever managed without it.?
Piddington went on to describe more features in the pipeline; ?There will be MADI audio output so you can link up to 5 racks together; each 2u rack houses 8 receiver cards giving you 40 channels of audio in the single digital MADI coax. And we?re just about to introduce a camera to RF system, whereby you can set a small camera to watch the stage, linked to an RF monitor. You can set it so that if signal from any pack weakens significantly, or drops out, the camera will take a still image of the stage at the moment that happens, so you can then look, see where the actors are positioned when the drop-out occurred, and test to see if there?s a reception shadow in a specific position.? Neither of these features was in action here, but the concepts sound good.
Orbital also supply the comms system, in this instance the RTS Zeus II, essentially a broadcast specification four-wire comms set-up that is also easily programmable into a seemingly limitless number of sub-sets. It?s basically a matrix controller, enabling simple soft-links to any station, it?s even got that funky facility whereby you can link outside phone calls to specific receiving point. Both this, the Trantec interface, and the PA controllers (plus there are at least eight XTA SIDDs inserted on the 32 member cast), were all laced up using CAT5 ethernet; cheap and simple, it meant that for rehearsals the deployment of control and comm?s interface to any person anywhere in the theatre were remarkably simple to implement.
To round off the slick aspect, how about gaining 12 extra seats a night because the front of house control is so small and discrete? ?We?ve had a monopole platform built for the PM1D,? explained production sound engineer Tim Lynn. ?Beside the desk there?s just the RTS comms point and a CD player, which are in a small rack that FOH engineer Richard George? (who?ll be operating the show) ?can sit on should the fancy take him. The desk PSU?s are concealed within the low deck beneath the desk, all cabling runs out of sight and harms way up the centre pole, and with a small covering strip across the desk back panel there?s no need to fence in the mix area at all.? That?s allowing for the fact that the engineer can lock of the desk for walk in, so prying little hands can do no damage. ?and it just looks a whole lot better,? and you can?t argue with that.
Frost revealed that other digital desks had been mooted for show control, ?but this is the most reliable one there is. We?ve had some unsettling experiences with other digital desks in theatre. Essentially it boils down to security, when you push a button you expect something to happen, even if you do that action 2,000 times. If it fails once then that?s not acceptable for a theatre show.?

It?s an interesting rendering audio wise, Stewarts? material is typically ballads, not so much of the chorus/verse/chorus stuff. To keep the emphasis true Frost and Whizz keep the focus of the vocal PA on the lead voices, and put the ensemble chorus voices into the music mix, as part of the band, which I found highly satisfactory. Although this is arguably louder than a ?normal? musical (whatever that is?), the dialogue is important, which is all about balance, and that seems to be where our two engineers apply most of their control finesse, teasing out the speech, even in the midst of musical number. If I was to make one observation on the PA, above and beyond the performance gains already alluded to, it would be that well known audio adjective ?Shirley Bassey?; meaning this is a big sound from a small box, and frankly you wonder where it?s coming from.

Visiting a new musical when it's still deep in the middle of production rehearsals is much like choosing a puppy from the midst of the litter; all the clues are there, the parents form and fitness, the outward signs of a wet nose and keen eyes, but you're never really sure how it'll turn out.

On first examination Tonight's the Night, the musical outing based upon the song canon of Rod Stewart is a handsome pup. Hard on the heels of similar creations wrapped around the songs of Abba, Queen and Madness, all of which have experienced varying degrees of success, who can blame Phil MacIntyre for continuing the genre?
But even on first looks there are several elements that may set this musical apart, and that's a qualified "ma". The Queen musical is heavy on the rock content which undoubtedly makes it exciting, but has been less than favourably critiqued for it's thin libretto. Madness has had the benefit of a strong narrative element within their songs, but is ultimately doomed by it's Anglo Saxon singularity; it may transfer to Australia but I don't think we'll be seeing two or three productions touring the States next year. Abba meanwhile continues to astound us all, the quality of it's copper plate pop tunes underpinning what is a rather loosely sewn tale of a young girl seeking to "find her parents - frankly who cares? Lets just dance and sing being more the sentiment. Where does this leave Rod?
Well Ben Elton, never one to trifle with an original plot, has turned to a recurrent theme of the theatre; according to his interview on BBC radio just as rehearsals shifted into the Victoria Place, this is a Faustian concept, the tale of a Rod Stewart wannabe who sells his soul to the Devil for the chance to be his hero. The outcome Elton did not reveal, but I suspect a humourous resolution; either way this is a strong story that will suffer nought in the retelling. Besides, rock and roll is the Devil?s music so what could be more appropriate?
Now, surplant yourself into the role of innocent punter; what are the three strongest associations you can make about Rod Stewart? 1. Scottishness ? we can thank Mel Gibson for making them an internationally recognised race. 2. Football - unquestionably the World?s most popular sport; And 3. long-legged blondes ? of which little need be said.
I?m giving away nothing to say the references are all present, long legged scantily clad blondes especially. Sometimes they?re slapstick, sometimes slightly vulgar in a seaside postcard kind of way, but generally light and witty. In essence this is the union of a scruffy but loveable Scots mongrel with a pedigree Afghan Hound; can it work? Well everybody wants it to.


Sound
A big part of this review is devoted to sound, and unashamedly, after all, no one goes to see Rod Stewart for the lights? But there?s more to it than that, several bits of new tech? are in use, and a new approach to design is being trailed.
Orbital are the suppliers of all things audio for this show, and they seem to have supplied slightly more than is normally required. The posters already up around town credit two sound designers, Sebastian Frost and Alan ?Whizz? Mathieson, both established designers in their right, isn?t two heads a recipe for tension? ?When this show first came up we spoke to Whizz and asked how he felt about doing together,? explained Frost. ?Lets talk about it, he replied. I already knew where his expertise lay, and he mine, and in truth we both have a similar approach.? So why do it?
?The potential was for an intense sharing of knowledge,? why is that advantageous? ?Because preparation is everything, even now and since the very start of this project, we have been constantly ahead of the game. Having all the design in place, and the rationale as to how it will be applied ? though even now demands are still quite fluid ? means we have 100% of the rehearsal time to address the artistic considerations.?
The premise sounded good, but what of the politics? ?It?s been a good experience? said Frost, ?There are lots of good reasons for doing it,? said Whizz, ?this whole project is a hot potato; spreading the load is a big help.?
The potato in question is an old root in an entirely new jacket, ?We both wanted to make a line array work in a theatre?, explained Frost, ?and finally one appeared that we believe does the job.? The ?new appearance? is the so-called Q-Series from d&b audiotechnik; Despite Orbital being long-time champions of d&b systems, isn?t that a bit of a risk specifying a just launched system for a new show?
?There are several factors that convinced us, the main one is that the principal box, the Q1, is quite different from anything that?s gone before, it?s smaller than most, and has a vertical dispersion of 15° (by 75° wide). That?s a radical departure, it means that even just two boxes, as we?re using here to cover the upper circle, couple well and cover that whole seating area. The upper circle is very steep, to do it justice with any other system would require many more boxes to get the vertical spread. Frankly there isn?t the room to hang that many boxes.? This was starting to sound interesting.
?Lower down, for the main system covering stalls and circle, the restrictions, as in most theatres, are even worse, the narrowness of the Pros? makes it physically impossible to hang something like V-dosc or even M2D. Box size apart, they?d be too heavy if you tried to hang enough to get the coverage. Q has a brilliant rigging system, just one point a side, hung from a gallows arm we had built to support it from a prosc? truss. Six boxes a side, two for the circle and four for the stalls, and at 22kg per box, weight is not an issue.? When he told me the weight of the box I began to sit up and take notice; at which point it was presented like this?.

?Think of line arrays like the four-wheel drive market. The Q-Series is the BMW X5; some might say they?re a bit late to the party, after Discoveries, Troopers and Shoguns who needs a Beemer? Besides, motoring magazines have dismissed the X5 for it?s poor off-road performance. But sales dictates we think otherwise; because in fact BMW may have addressed a need the others have totally over-looked. Consider this????Four wheel drives rarely, if ever, get used off road; they are instead a fashion statement (I?m a successful person, and must be seen as a fit, thrusting, outdoor type). They also represent status and provide an enhanced level of safety in terms of their robust construction and the fact that they afford a superior driving position in heavy traffic or inclement weather. The BMW addresses all those needs directly, still retains 4-wheel drive, but in arguably a more deliberately user-friendly package.
The same can be argued for Line-arrays, there?s no denying the fashionable demand (I?m a successful sound engineer and must be seen to use the latest audio technology). But continue that further and we have to ask ? why are some Line-array systems already in their third incarnation when the ?revolution? only began in 1996, even the automobile industry doesn?t rotate designs that fast?
In some ways Line-arrays are a victim of their own mystique, they do present power in an exciting way, and while many of them have been used inappropriately ? rarely driven off-road as it were ? such usage has at least forced the rapid evolutionary nature of their manufacture. Like BMW, the latest incarnations address consumer needs more directly.
So we believe d&b has in typically Teutonic style, done a BMW on us all. The Q-Series provides a system that fulfils the very specific needs of the discerning engineer, rather than the perceived ones. You might not want to take it off-roading - in fact it probably hates mud - but show the Q-Series the miles of highway you?re actually going to travel - in this instance theatre - and it will give you a ride of unparalleled safety with great performance, with the added bonus of doing so in absolute luxury.? Which sounded so good I nearly bought the car.

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The other ?new kit? out the audio box is the latest radio mic system from Trantec Systems, the 6000. I was given an enthusiastic exposition by Orbital?s Chris Headlam. ?It?s a complete break with conventionality,? he began, ?for example there are no controls to speak of on the rack front panels, everything is accessed via the integral Windows XP interface imbedded within the racks themselves, the software is on-board, within the racks themselves. The interface allows you set up different frequency files for different situations, be that for a touring show, or for difficult theatres in the West End, countries or cities in Europe, and keep them as presets. There?s a built in frequency analyser that scans for radio traffic; you can quickly and easily reformat for different areas, as the system operates from UHF channels 62 to 70 throughout.? Such are the features that appeal to the company owner when he considers investing in such equipment; but Rob Piddington from Trantec was also on hand, and he enlightened me to some of the more hands-on day to day functions that will appeal to the audio tech at the sharp end of the show?s radio mic system (in this instance Nik Dudley).
?All the information you create on the screen can be downloaded to the packs, essentially they?re dumb and the controller tells them what to be; none of that messing about with thumb wheels and quickly setting an approximate level when you have to make an emergency swap. Changes are really easy, the operator can load all the sets of pack information to a PDA that they carry with them all the time. In the case of a need for a swap ? lets say sudden trampled unit ? you can use an IR connection from your PDA to clone any pack to the one you?re replacing, and all the parameters will of course be exactly the same.? That has to be a stress buster, Zoe described it thus, ?It took me an hour to feel I really knew how to work the interface; the idea of the PDA re-programming is cinch, it?s one of those things you wonder how you ever managed without it.?
Piddington went on to describe more features in the pipeline; ?There will be MADI audio output so you can link up to 5 racks together; each 2u rack houses 8 receiver cards giving you 40 channels of audio in the single digital MADI coax. And we?re just about to introduce a camera to RF system, whereby you can set a small camera to watch the stage, linked to an RF monitor. You can set it so that if signal from any pack weakens significantly, or drops out, the camera will take a still image of the stage at the moment that happens, so you can then look, see where the actors are positioned when the drop-out occurred, and test to see if there?s a reception shadow in a specific position.? Neither of these features was in action here, but the concepts sound good.
Orbital also supply the comms system, in this instance the RTS Zeus II, essentially a broadcast specification four-wire comms set-up that is also easily programmable into a seemingly limitless number of sub-sets. It?s basically a matrix controller, enabling simple soft-links to any station, it?s even got that funky facility whereby you can link outside phone calls to specific receiving point. Both this, the Trantec interface, and the PA controllers (plus there are at least eight XTA SIDDs inserted on the 32 member cast), were all laced up using CAT5 ethernet; cheap and simple, it meant that for rehearsals the deployment of control and comm?s interface to any person anywhere in the theatre were remarkably simple to implement.
To round off the slick aspect, how about gaining 12 extra seats a night because the front of house control is so small and discrete? ?We?ve had a monopole platform built for the PM1D,? explained production sound engineer Tim Lynn. ?Beside the desk there?s just the RTS comms point and a CD player, which are in a small rack that FOH engineer Richard George? (who?ll be operating the show) ?can sit on should the fancy take him. The desk PSU?s are concealed within the low deck beneath the desk, all cabling runs out of sight and harms way up the centre pole, and with a small covering strip across the desk back panel there?s no need to fence in the mix area at all.? That?s allowing for the fact that the engineer can lock of the desk for walk in, so prying little hands can do no damage. ?and it just looks a whole lot better,? and you can?t argue with that.
Frost revealed that other digital desks had been mooted for show control, ?but this is the most reliable one there is. We?ve had some unsettling experiences with other digital desks in theatre. Essentially it boils down to security, when you push a button you expect something to happen, even if you do that action 2,000 times. If it fails once then that?s not acceptable for a theatre show.?

It?s an interesting rendering audio wise, Stewarts? material is typically ballads, not so much of the chorus/verse/chorus stuff. To keep the emphasis true Frost and Whizz keep the focus of the vocal PA on the lead voices, and put the ensemble chorus voices into the music mix, as part of the band, which I found highly satisfactory. Although this is arguably louder than a ?normal? musical (whatever that is?), the dialogue is important, which is all about balance, and that seems to be where our two engineers apply most of their control finesse, teasing out the speech, even in the midst of musical number. If I was to make one observation on the PA, above and beyond the performance gains already alluded to, it would be that well known audio adjective ?Shirley Bassey?; meaning this is a big sound from a small box, and frankly you wonder where it?s coming from.