WWW.LSIONLINE.COM • APRIL 2020 69THEATRE
FOH in the roof, the broom cupboard,
anywhere that will not interfere with
selling seats.
The console of choice is the Avid S6L-
32D. Owen explains the set-up: “We
have two consoles - one at FOH, one
at monitors - a usual scenario in rock
and roll land, but a little less common
in theatre. The FOH console drives the
sound that the audience hears and the
monitor desk feeds the IEMs for the
cast, but a lot of the heavy lifting of the
mix is done in the FOH console and
then fed to the monitor desk via MADI.
Rather than trying to have two engineers
simultaneously mixing the vocals, we do
the bulk of that out front. There is some
pre-recorded stuff too, which we blend
into the live mix as transparently as
possible.”
He continues: “Within our set-up is
the new TiMax Soundhub 64x64 Dante
Version. TiMax is a pretty integral part of
the design and is really the only tool on
the market that can do what we need.
It allows us to acoustically locate the
performers anywhere in the space for all
the audience, regardless of orientation.
This is additionally complicated by
the fact that the audience and the
performers share the same space. The
positions of the actors in the space is
pre-programmed, but unfortunately
the nature of the show is in the habit
of evolving as the night goes on - and
audience participation plays a big part in
that. We ended up programming in such
a way that there are sometimes several
options as to a path or speed that a cast
member might take. FOH can be quite
lively!”Due to the nature of this particular
beast, the cast and band all receive
their monitor feed through IEMs, a new
experience for some of the cast who
come from a more traditional theatre
background. Similarly, microphones are
all of the capsule variety, namely DPA
4088s as well as some Countryman B6
Lavalier Microphones, strapped to the
main 4088s as a low-profile back-up mic.
“Believe it or not, I haven’t really used the
DPA 4088s before this show,” says Owen.
“And honestly, I can’t really imagine how
I could do it without the cardioid nature
of these capsules.”At first glance, as you sit down to the first
of four courses of classic Greek taverna
food, one might wonder why there are
quite so many loudspeakers to service
no more than a 500-strong audience;
a single vocal or a few spoken exchanges
between cast members, along with
a small live accompanying band. By the
end, as you are in the midst of a full-
blown ABBA revival set with no-holds-
barred bells on, you understand exactly
what Owen’s design is there for - and
the skill and foresight that has created a
sound design that crosses all boundaries.
Björn and the rest of the production team
are clearly more than happy with what
the sound designer has achieved here.
As he says: “I am to be involved in all the“With the cast
performing in every
corner of the room,
I can be fairly sure
that they will be
standing in front of a
speaker somewhere
which, to be
honest, is by far the
toughest part of the
show.. .”
- Gareth Owen
Photo: Luke Dyson