The recent 2011/2012 pantomime season saw the CSC Show Control system in use for event control and sound effects play-out duties on over 20 productions across the UK.

Growing steadily in popularity and capability across recent years, CSC Show Control now forms an integral part of Orbital's pantomime service, which encompasses the supply of all sound and communications systems, together with sound design services, production engineering and operators. Sound effect creation, editing and programming is a key element of this service, especially with Orbital's hectic winter schedule including numerous productions for First Family Entertainment and Qdos Entertainment – two of the world's largest panto producers – as well as several others.

Pantomime production values, driven partly by audience expectation, have been steadily increasing, to the point where the majority of shows are produced to the same standards as major west-end musicals, and many are just as sophisticated. CSC Show Control's inherent flexibility makes the software equally capable of handling everything from the smaller, amateur productions, to the most sonically elaborate large-scale musicals. Multi-layered event triggering is combined with the ability to play out multiple cues simultaneously, while managing the complex click-track requirements.

Qdos Entertainment's production of Cinderella, which closed at the end of January, was staged this year at The Birmingham Theatre, Hippodrome to packed houses, provided an excellent example of CSC's power. Piers Archer, the Sound Operator throughout the show's six-week run, explained:

"Despite the breadth of its capabilities, CSC is fundamentally not a complex system to manage. It's incredibly flexible, but very straightforward, and simply makes a sound operator's life far easier! On Cinderella, for example, we were using CSC to control the Yamaha PM1D mixing console, a TC Electronic Reverb 6000, a Blade media server for a VT sequence, the recording of the show onto a Tascam HD-R1, plus the play-out of over 350 sound effect cues, as well as the multi-track click tracks! The aim was to synchronise the automation of as many events as possible, so that mixing the show could be the prime focus, rather than having to worry about manually triggering complicated cue sequences.

"The process began with Orbital's Dan Bailey, the show's Sound Designer, recording a number of voiceovers and sound effects to augment those supplied on CD by the production company. Comedian Brian Conley, who starred in the show alongside actress Lynda Bellingham, depended on many sound effects that were specific to his gags. Dan and I programmed the cues between us, with the fine-tuning mostly taking place from the start of the tech rehearsals – once you're into the techs, you obviously get a better idea of the timings required and can finalise the programming.

"We ran the CSC system's internal timer for controlling the more complex effects, so all the events would happen at the right time – for example, the MD would start a click track at the beginning of a particular musical sequence, and all subsequent events during that sequence would trigger accordingly. One of the most complex sequences in the show was at the end of Act 1, involving a flying horse that takes Cinderella to the ball! The sound effects of the horse neighing, which gradually build up as they keep pace with the music, were triggered by cues synchronised to the musical phrases. Similarly complex were the effects used during the "wall" sketch, which involved Prince Charming, Cinders and Buttons in a rendition of Bryan Adams' (Everything I do) I do it for you. Guitar solos were remixed, and reverb switched on and off, according to who was on, or had been thrown off, the wall. From an operator's point of view, the scene was cued as normal, but the effects were automated enabling one to concentrate on the mix. These sequences highlight the CSC system's ease of operation, and great flexibility – it really does make my life much easier."