In 1992, Shelly graduated with a Bachelor of Science majoring in Electronic Engineering, during which she commenced her now 32-year career in theatrical sound, initially as a Radio Mic Technician. Shortly after, Shelly commenced mixing international productions such as Cats, Westside Story and Les Miserables (to name a few) regularly touring throughout Australia, NZ and Asia. Shelly also spent time in London working for the highly reputable “Autograph Sound Recording” mixing on the Westend.
Since then, Shelly has been Sound Supervisor, Associate Designer or Sound Designer on numerous local and International Productions. Most recently, Shelly was the Sound Designer for the Opera Australia’s production of The Phantom of the Opera on Sydney Harbour, Associate Sound Designer on the Australian Tour of Mary Poppins, as well as Phantom of the Opera (Sydney Opera House/Arts Centre Melbourne) and now she is Australian Associate Sound Designer for Tina – The Tina Turner Musical.
“I have been an Associate Sound Designer on numerous large-scale productions and was initially approached by Tina – The Tina Turner Musical’s Technical Manager Cameron Flint,” explained Shelly. “I then had a meet and greet with the Sound Designer Nevin Steinberg and the rest is history.”
Nevin arrived in time for the System Tune and Cast Onstage and Shelly notes that he was wonderful to work with.
“He is very generous imparting his knowledge regarding the original concepts behind the sound design of Tina, which have been thought out in great detail,” she added. “He approaches sound very much from an emotive perspective which was crucial for Tina – The Tina Turner Musical and most likely why he was asked to design this show. He most definitely captured the dynamic of her life, the rawness of her vulnerability, the elation of her successes while paying critical attention to the various sonic environments and changing sound over the decades.”
The overall concept of the sound design is pretty much the same for all productions of Tina – The Tina Turner Musical however the system design was modified to suit Sydney’s Theatre Royal to optimise coverage.
JPJ Audio Pty Ltd supplied the audio with the very talented and skilful Andrew Poppleton at the helm as the Production Sound Engineer.
The PA system mainly consists of d&b speakers with Shelly remarking that she thinks the d&b speakers are a good choice for Tina – The Tina Turner Musical.
“They deliver a clean, present sound and handled the large dynamic required throughout the show, well. Also, having the same brand of speaker throughout the system helps with their sonic integration. I also like the workflow between Array Calc and R1.”
The main system comprises 12 x d&b Y8, 4 x d&b Y12, 4 x d&b Y7P, 2 x d&b V7P, 10 x d&b V8, 2 x d&b V10P, 2 x d&b V12, 2 x d&b J-Subs, 4 x d&b V-Subs and 4 x K-Array KAN200+. In addition to this is 29 x d&b E8 and 2 x d&b V7P for fills and delays, 38 x d&b E6 for surrounds and 22 x d&b E5 for stage foldback.
“We then have some special speakers in set pieces and props to localise the sound. These consist of Meyer MM4-4XP, UP-4XP, UP Juniors and Minirigs,” said Shelly.
A Digico SD7T is used for the main console and an SD10 for the band foldback. The Digico SD7, especially running the Theatre Software, has been an industry standard for quite some time now and offers a huge range of features and flexibility required for theatre sound. In addition to this, there are Wave plug-ins (mainly for the multiple reverbs) and Qlab for the Sound FX. For the system processing a d&b DS100 is used with Shelly saying that it has assisted in taking the show from ‘play’ mode into ‘concert’ mode.
Nevin’s attention to detail sees the use of period microphones throughout the show, ranging from Shure Vintage 55SH to the current RF Shure UD4Q/58 wireless handhelds. Also, the onstage instruments all had to be wirelessly mic’d and IEMs were used for the respective players.
“On top of the 32 x cast radio mics, these period mics and instrument mics/IEM’s made the backstage plot very busy for our radio mic team; Monique Orton, Carley Gagliardi and Natalya Reynolds,” commented Shelly. “Especially changing the mic stand heights for different singers and mic capsules between one scene and another.
“In addition to this, we had wireless ’Nutbush Radio’ consisting of an IEM/Minirig – this was implemented to image the sound to the prop.”
The performer mics consist of 32 x Sennheiser Digital 6000 series with Tina and Ike being double mic’d. As all performers are in multiple wigs, all capsules (dpa 6061s) are pinned to their wig prep. Monique has taken great care in painting these capsules to match the hair and skin colour of each individual with each performer having a unique mic cable run (determined by the style of their costume) to ensure the mics and cables are as discreet as possible.
All the stand mics are cabled from their period capsule to a Sennheiser plug-on transmitter that is nestled in the round base of the stand. The onstage drums also used these plug-on transmitters. The onstage instruments used the Digital 6000 series with SK6212 transmitters.
There are always venue challenges with Shelly remarking that the Theatre Royal’s ‘loading dock’ being in a restricted-height car park was a big one. This meant all equipment needs to be cross-loaded into small vehicles to access the venue. The theatre also had limited wing space so navigating the equipment from all departments made the process quite slow, especially on a show as large as Tina – The Tina Turner Musical. Fortunately, Cameron Flint had this well organised and the load-in was as smooth as it could be.
One large challenge for sound was fitting the band on the band truck as it had to be cut down to fit in between two concrete pillars. This meant the band layout was slightly different to previous Tina – The Tina Turner Musicals and access for the musician to move on and off the truck for their stage appearances was challenging.
In terms of the FOH system, there were a couple of challenging areas due to the venue architecture but with the assistance of the Theatre Royal staff, we managed to make some new speaker positions to overcome these hurdles.
As to the biggest challenge at this gig, Shelly says that finding the right team was a challenge since the content of Tina – The Tina Turner Musical requires a certain sensitivity and diversity of talents.
“Anthony Craythorn who is our Head of Department and main operator was the perfect choice to lead our team,” she said. “He has great musical sensibilities and understands the subtleties required for the sensitive ‘play’ scenes. He also mixes the storytelling musical moments with integrity but then lets it rocks out in the classic Tina Turner concert moments.
“For our backstage team of Monique Orton, Carley Gagliardi and Natalya Reynolds, attention to detail was a must with a required sensitivity and compassion to our cast, especially Tina who has a gruelling and challenging role.”
According to Shelly, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical is deceptively complex, an aspect that did not reveal itself until they started rehearsing.
“We were lucky and grateful to have Simon Fox with us who originally operated Tina – The Tina Turner Musical in London and was an incredible source of information,” said Shelly. “The whole team were terrific not only in the sound department but across all departments. It was a real pleasure to be working alongside such a great bunch of people who were so passionate about this show. It helped overcome any challenges when everyone is so supportive of each other.”
Photos: Daniel Boud
