“It was the best of times, it was the worst of timesâ€? …and both sounded superb. A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens’ epic story of Revolution-era Paris and London, has been brought to life in musical form for the Broadway stage by Jill Santoriello; a Midas XL8 mixing console from New York-based theatre sound design specialists Sound Associates is making its Broadway debut with the show, helping ensure a modern musical classic is made to match the literary original.

Having completed its debut run in Florida at the end of 2007, and having had a stellar preview run on Broadway beginning August 19th, 2008, A Tale of Two Cities …the musical moved to its new home at the Al Hirschfield Theatre, where it opened on September 18th with Warren Carlyle directing. Sound Associates’ Carl Casella and Domonic Sack are sound designers for the show; Wallace Flores (Sound Associates) is associate sound designer. Ty Lackey is mixing the production.

Sound Associates’ work with Midas’ flagship system has raised the bar for digital sound design; they were the first to design a show and deploy an XL8 for a touring theatrical production—Sister Act—and have used the board to mix summer season park shows by the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera. Sound Associates’ Wallace Flores has been part of the XL8’s development since the beginning, working with the Midas Digital Design team to help realise the system’s awesome capabilities in real-world applications of the highest order. Flores described this latest entry in XL8’s stage resume:

“The XL8 offers a range of unique features to design show sound in ways that streamline operations and hardware logistics while offering the very highest audio quality and signal processing flexibility. For example, the POP(ulation) and VCA (Variable Control Association) groups are amazingly useful because they bring the complete channel to me like no other digital desk out there. This show has a 17-piece orchestra and 35 wireless mics, and, starting with the compression on the input channels, we have four different algorithms that we can fly through and audition for particular voices or instruments in any given on-stage situation. Once assigned, the groups and individual inputs therein are accessible at the touch of a color-coded POP group button, rather than buried under layers or pages. These might be settings in channels, in groups, and/or sitting on the matrix. The VCAs allow us to precisely control and contain the levels coming from each voice or instrument in each group, all at the touch of a button. In addition to this flexibility, a system tech or designer can use the area ‘B’ section to access any and all of the channels—even those being used by the mix engineer—to rebalance or alter dynamics or gates (for example) on an instrument without getting in the way of the mixer. It’s all seamless and quick.�

“The onboard effects rack allows us to seamlessly modify our reverb, delay, etc., from scene to scene,� Flores adds; “we have around 85 scenes set for the entire show—the reduction in scenes is another advantage due to the POP and VCA groups, which in this application allow us to create a ‘scene within a scene’. We have complete flexibility to vary and cross-patch every kind of input—on the channels, direct, aux masters, etc.—with speed and precision, ensuring everything is going where it’s supposed to go. We have the show programmed song by song, often with multiple cues per scene, be it for a wireless mics, band change, or a sound effect. Everything is gain adjusted, assigned, and VCA’d—a single operator can easily handle all our inputs and returns. Having a check light on the DL431 (mic splitter) and the DL451 (I/O box) is also a huge help; though it’s a small detail, we know we’re going out of an output—we know exactly where each signal is at any given time. These kinds of real-world design features, combined with the system’s awesome processing power, means we can gear the XL8 precisely towards our needs for any given application.�

“Most importantly, the audience loves how the show sounds,� says Flores; “the inherent Midas sound quality makes sure of that. There’s very little EQ needed—the warm mic preamps and the compression we’re using all sound so sweet.�

Photo: L-R: Wallace Flores, Domonic Sack, Carl Casella, Ty Lackey

www.soundassociates.com

www.midasconsoles.com

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