DAVID BLAINE: REAL OR MAGIC
The revolutionary magician sets out on his first UK tour bringing his unique brand of unforgettable
interactive experience and death-defying stunts. TPi discovers some of the audio wizardry taking
place behind the scenes...EVENT FOCUS
Embarking on his first ever UK tour, David Blaine’s Real or Magic arrived
in Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Bournemouth and London in
June 2019. Renowned for his close-up street magic and elaborate, often
dangerous stunts, the American is one of the most recognisable and
pioneering magicians on the touring circuit. At the O2 Apollo Manchester,
TPi caught up with the double act tasked with handling the audio for the
one-man show.
Quite the logistical feat, Ben Hammond was drafted in to ensure there
was studio-quality sound in a live environment. He told TPi: “The team
was having issues with things being heard and required an engineer who
had a good knowledge of mic placement and who could think outside the
box.” The FOH Engineer explained how the main bulk of the show required
audience participation, thus mic placement was essential to the deliver y.
“The last thing we want is to stop the flow of the show,” he commented.
“We need to be able to capture the slightest reaction from the audience.”Having amassed quite a collection of Audio-Technica mics over the course
of a decade, the engineer worked closely with the company to come up with
a viable solution. “I typically use Audio-Technica mics with rock bands, but
they worked well on this production, too, because they pick up ever ything
I want them to without compromising on sound quality.”
For the audio team, the brief was equal parts daunting and
straightforward – the mics had to be as discreet as possible. “The thing with
magic shows is that people in the audience are immediately sceptical as
they think it’s fake,” to which end the crew was careful to represent blatant
microphones, such as a headset or a handheld mic in addition to the hidden
mics. Hammond added: “We had to achieve the balance between gaining
the audio information we needed while simultaneously hiding the mics.”
On the props, Hammond specified an AT ES935/C Gooseneck
Microphone with an ML6 capsule. During a particularly gasp-inducing scene
that saw Blaine invite two audience members on stage to help him sew his