Joey McKneely’s new UK touring production of West Side Story hits the stage with sound design for the show by Rick Clarke and its sound system provided by Orbital Sound.
‘My original designs were based around highly distributed point-source systems that were precisely set up with time delays to achieve precedence for the actors on stage,’ Clarke explains.
‘On tour we had the luxury of a Sunday get in and Tuesday opening. That doesn’t happen now so using line arrays, obviating delays and fewer rigging points speeds everything up. Using light, easy rigging speakers helps a lot and if these speakers deliver high quality sound, then we can deliver even on Monday get-ins, opening on Monday.’
Clarke has been using the d&b audiotechnik T-Series loudspeaker system since it appeared in 2009, based on the combination of configuration flexibility and sound quality as a compact line array. A central element to his approach to the new production was preserving the power of the show’s score, combined with a compact and versatile touring system suitable for the wide range of venues.
In addition to d&b T-10 loudspeakers and a Yamaha PM-1D console, the show uses 36 Shure UR1M transmitters and UR4D for radio duties, controlled via Shure remote software to provide operators with full radio monitoring at all times. Orbital supplied the equipment in its standard ‘ready-to-roll’ format, installed in the customised RacPac racking designed to accommodate fast load-in/load-out and efficient equipment maintenance.
Another custom element is Orbital’s GUFF cabling system, which provides mains, analogue signal, video and Cat5 down a single multicore cable. This has proved indispensable during fit-ups and get-outs, enabling instant connection of a range of devices to stageboxes and custom panels, across video cameras, CCTV monitors and individual monitor speakers.
The Orbital project team is headed up by Dan Bailey, supported by Simon Dawson as prep engineer working with Rick and his team – Matt Grounds and Stuart Moffatt.
More: www.orbitalsound.com
