Students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) won critical acclaim for its staging of the West End/Broadway musical Chess in Glasgow and Edinburgh using an Adamson S10 line array system – supplied by pro audio specialist, The Warehouse Sound Services – as its FOH loudspeaker system.

Alongside RCS, Sound Designer Calum Paterson and Lecturer in Sound Gavin Jenkinson developed a complex sound design for the show, which rewarded them by selling out at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre

The Edinburgh run was the first time the show had transferred from the Conservatoire’s New Athenaeum Theatre to the professional stage, allowing music and production students to further their explerience. It was staged by the creative team behind the Conservatoire’s productions of Cabaret and West Side Story and brought together technicians, artists, musicians and performers from the RCS.

‘Chess is by far the most technically ambitious production we’ve ever tackled and, once again, the process has been special because of the student, staff and guest creative team collaboration,’ says Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Artistic Director of Musical Theatre, Professor Andrew Panton.

Having worked with the RCS for more than a decade, installing sound systems for many of its live theatre and music shows, The Warehouse believed that Adamson would be the best solution for the run at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre. The layout of the 2,000-capacity auditorium was the main audio challenge as the sloped stalls seating and two levels of sloped balcony seating, which wrap around all three walls. This requires a lot of vertical coverage, as Paterson wanted to reach every level with the main hangs.

To give even coverage throughout the auditorium, 24 Adamson S10 elements were flown left and right of the stage, with eight S119 subwoofers to reinforce the low end. The system was powered by Lab.gruppen PLM20K44 amplifiers. A DiGiCo SD10 mixing console was used at front of house, with 24 Shure UHF-R radio mics for the cast, and a mix of AKG, Shure, Sennheiser and DPA microphones for the 27 members of the orchestra.

‘With a 2,000-seat auditorium, I needed a system that would not only provide excellent coverage but one that would provide the level of performance required for modern musical theatre,’ says Paterson. ‘After hearing the S10 Line Array and S119 Subwoofer, I was convinced that this was the system for this show. It gave us the clarity and detail that we needed while also being able to blow our audience away. The power from the S119 is nothing short of incredible, and when you combine eight of them in a sub array along the front of a stage, they really pack a punch. Exactly what we needed.

‘The most impressive feature of the S10 is the clarity you receive, even at high levels – coupling that with the 110° horizontal coverage meant every seat was covered, providing an outstanding stereo image for the show.’

‘The S10 line performed extremely well so much so that – for the first time – under balcony delay loudspeakers where not required to cover the rear stalls as the throw and coverage was so good,’ adds Warehouse Director, Derek Blair. ‘A few of our industry colleagues who went to see the show have contacted us since to say how well they thought the Adamson S10 performed in this situation’

The Conservatoire, which was founded in 1847 as the Glasgow Educational Association, ranks as one of the world’s top three performing arts education institutions and the number one higher education institution in Scotland for graduate employability.

‘We were entering into slightly uncharted waters by considering the Adamson S10 array for Chess The Musical in the Edinburgh Festival Theatre,’ says Jenkinson, who oversaw the sound on the show. ‘I had heard the system in use at an outdoor classical music concert in 2016, and had no doubt in its output and clarity. However, I knew using line-array in a theatre could present its challenges. With 24 Cast on Radio mics, 27 in the Orchestra, all close-miked, VT and Qlab, it was a busy show, requiring attention to detail.

‘The support given by The Warehouse was excellent from initial discussion to final installation. And during the sound-checks, it became very apparent that this system would deliver Chess to the audience, with ease.’