Aladdin breaks records at Birmingham Hippodrome with d&b audiotechnik V7P

and Nemesis Audio playback system.

As the cast of Aladdin took to the stage for the final time on 31st January, the production has notched up audiences totaling nearly 120,000 during its 6-week and 74-performance run, the best at the Hippodrome for 14 years.

Aladdin starred Marti Pellow, Julian Clary, Lee Mead and Matt Slack, with sound design by Gareth Owen, who elected to include d&b audiotechnik's new V7P point source system for the stage foldback � the first time it has been deployed on the UK stage for this application. The sound, communication systems and support was provided by London-based Orbital Sound, responsible for the pantomime season at the Birmingham Hippodrome the past 15 years.

Associate sound designer Russ Godwin explains the choice: "We wanted to use a system that we knew would work, especially given the stars we were working with and their very particular preferences for foldback. Steve Jones at d&b assured us that the V7P was "the box" for the job, so despite not having heard it � we spec'ed it for the stage monitoring.

"The V7P is extremely flat and we could work them really hard, which was exactly what we needed for an artist such as Marti Pellow. Very little EQ or work was needed at all � they just sounded great, and everyone was very happy with the results."

The main PA involved a combination of d&b audiotechnik T-Series and V-Series cabinets, with Q-Subs, and E-Series boxes on fills and delays. Eight V7Ps were deployed for the stage monitoring, with E8s on the front line and EV S40s in the side wings. Amplifiers included the d&b audiotechnik D12, D6 and D20 4-channel amplifiers.

For radio microphones, Gareth selected Shure URR4D receivers and UR1M transmitters. The equipment list also included the Nemesis CCS-2 computer control switch, which is designed to allow two computer systems to share a keyboard, mouse, monitor and distribution of GPI data and MIDI messages and switch between main and redundant audio in a variety of programmable formats. Gareth and Russ worked closely with the Nemesis team during the product's evolution, reflecting the requirement for bullet-proof audio redundancy in modern productions.

"The V7P is extremely flat and we could work them really hard, which was exactly what we needed for an artist such as Marti Pellow. Very little EQ or work was needed at all, they just sounded great, and everyone was very happy with the results."

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