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M3D Stars in Les Mis Concert Tour
Theatrical sound design and rental specialist Autograph Sound Recording is providing the sound reinforcement system and sound design for the groundbreaking multi-city tour of Les Misérables across Scandinavia – the first time that the concert version of the world-famous musical has toured multiple cities. Beginning in late October and running through November, Les Mis covers Sweden, Denmark and Norway with a total of nineteen performances. Autograph has been involved with Les Misérables since its chairman Andrew Bruce designed the original London production in 1985. Due to the scale of the tour, the company is supplying an extensive Meyer Sound system based around a large complement of M3D Line Array loudspeakers. The design was realized by Autograph's Nick Lidster, who is also mixing the shows. Lidster was a member of the original sound department on the London production and has gone on to design and mix all concert versions of the show performed in the UK, including the Tenth Anniversary celebration at the Albert Hall in 1995. "Les Misérables is a show we all know so well from the various theatre versions which have taken place around the world," says Lidster. "The concert version obviously requires a much bigger sound system so as to cater for the large arenas we are playing, but it must still maintain the show's inherent theatrical feel." Giant cinema screens and live video from the stage production are used to help capture the atmosphere of the stage production. Lidster continues, "Our intimate knowledge of the show helps us enormously to achieve the results that producer Cameron Mackintosh requires, and it's incredible how well this show comes across in a concert format." The main PA consists of twenty-four Meyer Sound M3Ds, with thirty MSL-4 Horn-Loaded Long-Throw loudspeakers available for side fill and delay systems depending on the requirements of individual venues. In addition, twenty UPA-1C and UM-1 stage monitors are also being used. "Les Misérables has always featured Meyer loudspeakers and I felt that continuity with Andrew Bruce's original sound design was very important when planning the sound quality for this tour," said Lidster. "In designing this system I spent quite a few months with AutoCAD drawings of each venue to help me decide on rigging positions and the number of M3Ds and MSL-4s I would need. I am using Meyer Sound's MAPP Online (Multipurpose Acoustical Prediction Program) to predict and fine-tune the M3D's vertical coverage in each venue and I have used SIM System II FFT Analyzer primarily as a reference and diagnostic tool. So far the planning and choice of equipment has paid off. The concert shows have sounded big, clear and impressive." The tour opened to a full house on October 26 at the 28,000-seat Copenhagen Parken football stadium, the largest venue on the tour. Twelve M3Ds per side were rigged at a height of 16.5 meters. Side fill was provided by eight MSL-4s arranged in two drops of four with a UM-1 downfill beneath each column flown halfway up the sides of the main PA, providing 80 degrees vertical coverage. The front fill comprised twelve MSL-2s with a center downfill of two MSL-4s. The tour is also using ten MSL-4s rigged as delays that are being implemented in acoustically difficult areas of the stadiums and arenas. The Scandinavian tour, produced by Cameron Mackintosh in association with Noble Art, stars Danish musical icon Stig Rossen in the leading role and commemorates author Victor Hugo's 200th birthday. Additional venues on the tour include the Stockholm Globen, Oslo Spektrum, the Helsinki Hartwell Areena and the Gothenburg Scandinavium, with audiences totaling over 150,000 for the complete tour. December, 2002 |
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