Meyer Sound News : M1D Makes Broadway Bow with Prune Danish

M1D Makes Broadway Bow with Prune Danish

"I had heard the M2D some time ago... and I was blown away. So when the Jackie Mason show came out, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to hear the new baby brother. I checked with Pro Mix and found out they were getting their first M1Ds right after Meyer's special presentation at the John Jay College Theater. I heard them there, and the next day they loaded in for our show."

- Christopher Cronin,
Sound designer

Venerable comedian Jackie Mason returns to Broadway this fall for his sixth one-man show, Prune Danish. The show is also a return engagement for Christopher Cronin, sound designer for this current production as well as Mason's previous Broadway outing, Much Ado About Everything. But Prune Danish marks the first time that Mason's rapid-fire quips have been heard on Broadway through a Meyer Sound M1D Ultra-Compact Curvilinear Array system.

Even though it's a one-microphone show, Cronin points out that Mason's offhand banter and quick-release punch lines make reinforcement of his voice a deceptively challenging task. "Clear enunciation is hardly Jackie's trademark," he notes. "Also, quick follow-up jabs are part of his style, which means he's talking over laughter. That's why consistent coverage and very high system intelligibility are crucial to making this show work in a theater setting." The responsibility of riding the levels to help ensure Mason is heard fall on veteran theatre mixer, Eileen Macdonald.

For the center cluster in the 1,068-seat Royale Theater, Cronin specified an array of ten M1Ds, flown with a maximum eight-degree splay angle to afford even, single-point coverage of most seating areas. "The M1D array covers from the last seat in the balcony down right up to the fifth or six row of the orchestra, which is tremendously impressive," says Cronin. "Also, the wide horizontal coverage is great, since you don't need multiple boxes arrayed horizontally to get your coverage."

Because the rigging position was further into the house than the optimum, leaving some front corner seats outside the M1D's 90-degree pattern, Cronin added single UPA-1P Compact Wide Coverage loudspeakers at each side of the proscenium. For front-fill, six MM-4 Ultra-Compact Wide-Range loudspeakers are mounted on the stage lip.

The Mason show marks Cronin's first use of the M1D, and he selected it even though he had heard an M1D system for the first time only hours before the show loaded in.

"I had heard the M2D some time ago, when Peter Fitzgerald was prepping the system in the shop for Movin' Out, and I was blown away. So when the Jackie Mason show came out, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to hear the new baby brother. I checked with Pro Mix and found out they were getting their first M1Ds right after Meyer's special presentation at the John Jay College Theater. I heard them there, and the next day they loaded in for our show."

John Petrafesa, manager of special projects for Pro Mix/Electrotec, coordinated the system installation and performed final alignment using the SIM System II FFT Analyzer. He also consulted with Cronin on the M1D cluster configuration, using the Meyer Sound MAPP Online (Multipurpose Acoustical Prediction Program) as a design tool. "We looked at the room and used MAPP to determine the proper hang," he says. "When we did the SIM-ing, the coverage pattern and sonic response were dead-on accurate."

Based on what he heard at the John Jay College Theater demo session and Prune Danish set-up, Petrafesa expects his company's complement of M1Ds will find widespread acceptance. "Compared to many of the other options available now, the M1D has tremendous potential because of its small size and ample power. In many cases, it means sight line problems will go away. M1Ds are great for arrays, but actually what struck me most at the John Jay demo session was the way they worked as front fill. Only two boxes were set in front of the stage, and as you walked all the way side to side, nothing changed. I found that very impressive."

Christopher Cronin also expects to regularly pull M1Ds from this loudspeaker toolbox. Though the Mason show focused on vocal intelligibility, he was equally impressed with the diminutive array's musical abilities.

"We play some music before the show and during intermission," he notes. "Also, Jackie does some short singing bits—he's a former rabbi and a gifted cantor. So we SIM-ed the system full range, and both John and I were amazed how well it responded without the subwoofer. We didn't think a box that size would have so much bass extension. I can easily see these speakers going out with small regional acts, doing pop music-oriented shows in smaller auditoriums."

But back on Broadway, where size and weight quickly translate into time and money, Cronin sees the M1D as star performer with built-in cost efficiency. "I get a better point source image, no overlapping patterns on horizontal coverage, and it's a lighter hang than what I would otherwise have to put in there," he says. "So it's a wonderful center cluster, and an attractive one at that."

November, 2002