Overview

 

There’s a certain irony in the fact that, for all the logistics of massive, high profile live music tours, it’s often live shows designed for a very young audience that prove just as grueling and technically challenging for production crews.

Created in 1999 by Tell-Tale Productions (now WISH), The Tweenies is a highly successful BBC television series aimed at 3-6 year olds. Over 300 episodes have been made, with arena-sized tours giving the television audience a chance to see the popular Tweenies characters in the flesh, rather than through the television screen.

2007’s Enchanted Toyshop tour has seen the Tweenies do a UK theater tour for the first time. The more intimate venues mean that children can get even closer to their heroes, but with no compromises on the quality, fun, and excitement of the show itself.

Product List

Mixers:

LS9-32

Details

A Small Console Easily Handles an Enormous Task

The tour began on March 16 and ran through to October 27, taking in no less than 200 shows in 43 venues with audience capacities ranging from 900 to 1600 per show. The demands on the audio production were extremely high, which is why production company Show Support purchased a 32 channel Yamaha LS9 console especially for the tour.

“The LS9 is by far the most feature rich and capable console in its price point on the market today. We own an M7CL and a couple of 01V’s with great reliability, so we have plenty of faith in Yamaha,” says Richard Rowley, managing director of Show Support.

Having spent the previous 15 years using analog consoles, the show’s front of house engineer Tim Headley had just one afternoon in Show Support’s warehouse to familiarize himself with the LS9 before going into four days of show rehearsals.

“At the end of the first week I was loving it,” says Tim. “Particularly since, for the first time, I can use my laptop via a wireless router into the desk to remotely set up the sound from anywhere in the auditorium using Yamaha’s Studio Manager software.”

A Seamless Mix

The tour’s main PA comprises six stacks of d&b C4 with four E3s and two Tannoy V12s as fills. This is patched into the house system, with the LS9 ensuring that the mix between the two is utterly seamless.

“I really like the LS9’s virtual rack of graphics, which allows me to EQ the house system without actually affecting anything the venue has previously set up,” says Tim.

The show is, as you would expect, exclusively reliant on pre-recorded audio playback using two manually synchronized Akai DD8 hard disk recorders. “I start them up simultaneously but don’t slave one to the other, just in case the master drops out and loses the backup unit,” Tim continues. “On the LS9 I then have two eight channel mixes that track each other using the desk’s channel link mode. As I change the mix during the show, it duplicates it on the second set of faders, so if the main DD8 fails I can quickly and seamlessly use the backup mix.”

Despite the short introduction time, the user-friendliness of the LS9 enabled Tim to master the deeper functions of the console very quickly, which has meant his complex job as combined FOH and monitor engineer has been slightly eased in certain areas.

“One of my favorite features is the desk’s ability to automatically fade in to the show levels whilst I’m cueing the multi-tracks,” he says. “Before the show I have to do a pre-fade check on the in-ears with our technical manager Ian Plimbley, who is backstage. Once we’re ready to start, on a cue from the stage manager I then press one of the LS9’s user defined buttons to fade out the house music, leaving both my hands free to cue up the multi-tracks. By the time I press ‘play’ the faders are already in position.”

Indeed, the monitoring side of Tim’s job is not just about those on stage. It’s absolutely vital to ensure that the audience enjoys the show as much as possible, thanks to the animatronic heads worn by the actors on stage.

On-board Effects Enhance Dialog … and Make More Space!

In order to make the characters as realistic as possible for the children, the costume of each actor includes a head with a mouth that opens in time to the words of the pre-recorded songs and dialogue. This is achieved by each head containing an ASU (Automatic Sync Unit) which synchronizes the mouth movement to an audio feed, in a similar way to sound to light units.

“Each actor is sent a left and right monitor feed via a Sennheiser G2 wireless in-ear monitor (IEM) system,” says Tim. “The left feeds the actor’s IEMs and the right uses a much higher level, feeding the ASU as a pre-fade mix. This way the actors can perform to their own personal soundtrack, with the mouth following the dialogue.”

Tim continues: “I use a compressor and a de-esser on each of the characters’ channels because of the intensity of some of the dialogue. I can control it and make it far easier to listen to at high levels. But having two dynamics processors for each channel and the built in SPX effects means that I don’t need to carry any outboard. I can fit into much smaller areas at each venue, allowing more seats to be sold.”

This is echoed by Richard Rowley, who adds: “In theater space is always at a premium. The LS9’s footprint and speed of use have meant that we have 32 channels and all the processing/output control in the smallest possible space.”

The LS9 Opens Up a New World

Tim Headley continues: “I’m glad now that the desk was already specified, because I would have just gone for an analog board. But the LS9 opened up a new world for me, and I’m very happy about it – even if I am late to the party! The console performs perfectly at every show. The EQ is wonderfully sensitive, and being digital doesn’t affect the overall sound quality.”

Tim also takes a moment to recognize the help provided by Yamaha, which meant he was up to speed with the system extremely quickly. “I have to say that Yamaha’s tech support has been brilliant, particularly Ian Scott,” he says. “He also spent much time discussing the technical side of getting Studio Manager to work on my Apple Macintosh.”

Finally, Richard Rowley neatly sums up the overall impact that the Yamaha LS9 has had. “The LS9 is all success at the moment! I can see at least another three being added to Show Support’s hire stock in the not too distant future.”

Sound Company

Show Support

Web site

http://www.showsupport.co.uk/

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