Production / Case Studies / Youth Theatre - "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"
When the local Elim Church in Yeovil launched a new youth drama group – “Performance” – expectations were high for their first public performance. Building on a long standing relationship with the team at Elim, Revolution Audio was selected to provide full audio production for three days on site.
Our reputation for theatrical work is based on our belief that no matter the show budget, performer experience or venue size, there is never an excuse for sub-standard audio quality, and in particular, vocal intelligibility. While the Elim venue may be small, its curved walls and hard surfaces make acoustics notoriously challenging. With this in mind, we turned to the smooth sound and predictable coverage of QSC K10s for a compact, unobtrusive FOH solution. With no live band and only low level sound effects and playback needing any low end extension, we connected the in house subwoofers (already installed in custom stage cutouts) to a subgroup output on the FOH console, giving maximum control where it was needed. Indeed, before the system had even had any tuning applied at all, staff at the venue were complimenting the sound quality of the system.
And on the subject of mixing, our Soundcraft Si Compact has become a firm favourite for theatrical work thanks to its fast layout, dedicated cue buttons, and comprehensive show management systems. Once again, this was deployed and connected to the stage by a MADI CAT5 Digital Snake.
Lead characters were equipped with discrete headset microphones, running into eight Sennheiser EW300 G3 wireless systems. While the receivers were located at the FOH mix position (utilising antenna distribution and a pair of paddle antennas), we utilised a wireless network and two copies of Sennheiser Wireless Systems Manager to enable a second technician to monitor the systems from the dressing rooms using a laptop. This local network was also used to enable a FOH to Stage local instant-messaging system, working alongside radio comms. All of this enabled a standard of production value previously thought unobtainable by the Elim team. For characters not using headset microphones, three industry-standard Crown PCC-160 floor microphones were deployed, with BSS Graphic EQ applied to each mic individually to maximise gain-before-feedback.
The production was considered a tremendous success, attracting sell out crowds for both performances, and already discussions have turned to the next shows, and we look forward to being involved again!
Our reputation for theatrical work is based on our belief that no matter the show budget, performer experience or venue size, there is never an excuse for sub-standard audio quality, and in particular, vocal intelligibility. While the Elim venue may be small, its curved walls and hard surfaces make acoustics notoriously challenging. With this in mind, we turned to the smooth sound and predictable coverage of QSC K10s for a compact, unobtrusive FOH solution. With no live band and only low level sound effects and playback needing any low end extension, we connected the in house subwoofers (already installed in custom stage cutouts) to a subgroup output on the FOH console, giving maximum control where it was needed. Indeed, before the system had even had any tuning applied at all, staff at the venue were complimenting the sound quality of the system.
And on the subject of mixing, our Soundcraft Si Compact has become a firm favourite for theatrical work thanks to its fast layout, dedicated cue buttons, and comprehensive show management systems. Once again, this was deployed and connected to the stage by a MADI CAT5 Digital Snake.
Lead characters were equipped with discrete headset microphones, running into eight Sennheiser EW300 G3 wireless systems. While the receivers were located at the FOH mix position (utilising antenna distribution and a pair of paddle antennas), we utilised a wireless network and two copies of Sennheiser Wireless Systems Manager to enable a second technician to monitor the systems from the dressing rooms using a laptop. This local network was also used to enable a FOH to Stage local instant-messaging system, working alongside radio comms. All of this enabled a standard of production value previously thought unobtainable by the Elim team. For characters not using headset microphones, three industry-standard Crown PCC-160 floor microphones were deployed, with BSS Graphic EQ applied to each mic individually to maximise gain-before-feedback.
The production was considered a tremendous success, attracting sell out crowds for both performances, and already discussions have turned to the next shows, and we look forward to being involved again!
