50 l April 2014
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installationfeature The roar of the
THE THEATRE has always been a broad term covering acting, directing, writing and different styles of comedy, musicals and drama. It has become broader over the last 10 or so years with the advent of adaptations of films as either musicals or straight plays and shows based on the back catalogues of “classic” bands, as well as revivals of Shakespeare and 20th century plays, and new works influenced by cinema and television. The appetite for theatre
appears newly whetted too, reflected in the number of new venues being built – in the Middle and Far East especially – and older ones undergoing refurbishment. Jason Osterman, a senior consultant with Theatre Project Consultants says the type and amount of sound equipment put into a new venue can depend on several factors: “The usage of the building counts so if that is fairly well defined at the beginning you either specify something that fits it or leave it to companies to bring in what is needed. But you have to consider how much rental stock is
Fangs for the applause: Let the Right One In is transferring to the West End
greasepaint... from the quiet stage
available locally. And the level of technical knowledge among those using the systems is critical. If they know Midas or Digidesign (Avid) desks that’s OK but now networking such as Dante is an issue and people need a lot of knowledge for that.” On the loudspeaker side the
line array has become almost as ubiquitous in theatre as it is in live sound touring. Osterman observes that this is because they are a “know quantity”, with West End theatres are now
particularly home to this rig configuration, to the extent where “you can barely see the proscenium arch”, as they vie with moving lights for real estate. During this year’s ISE show,
d&b expanded its White range of installation loudspeakers with the xC-Series column, designed to give high vertical directivity. This has potential in the theatre sector, which is looking for ways to further control the emanation of sound. Martin Audio is among other manufacturers also looking
Sound has long been a major part of the theatre experience but, as Kevin Hilton reports, it is now much more than the accompaniment for musicals or noises off in drama
is already available, while the self- powered DD12, featuring integral networking and DSP, was introduced at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt. “We’re hoping DD is going to be the next big thing in theatre,” says Dibble. He adds that delays and achieving greater image clarity are of increasing importance, particularly with the growing use of surround sound and tracking systems such as TiMax and TTA (see boxes). Luke Hyde, a project manager
with hire firm Dimension Audio, comments that new cardioid sub-bass arrays, such as the passive units produced by d&b, are also contributing to the emergence of the quiet stage. “That allows us to counteract low-end signals going on to the stage,” he says. “That helps when you’ve got a performance that is very live, with a number of radio mics open at the same time.” Hyde says that in his
at this. Applications engineer Robin Dibble comments that the aim of such technologies is to create “the quiet stage”, which has advantages for theatrical production, especially with the growing number of small headset microphones being used.
DIFFERENT DISPERSIONS Martin is promoting its new Differential Dispersion (DD) horn technology as a possible solution to this problem. The DD6 passive two-way cabinet
experience spectrum reallocation has “not particularly” affected wireless operations in the theatre sector. Chris Jordan, head of sound and theatre at rental company Blitz Communications, is less optimistic: “Even mid- scale touring shows like Fiddler on the Roof [starring former Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser in a show with sound design by Richard Brooker] have approximately 30 radio mics. There is a squeeze on requirements in general with demand for more wireless systems but there is less and less spectrum available. It’s going to get difficult.” Jordan reflects that digital technology is now firmly established in theatre sound,
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