System Sound’s Rocky Horror Show

The 50th Anniversary production of the iconic Rock ‘n’ Roll musical The Rocky Horror Show kicked off global celebrations at the Theatre Royal Sydney and will be touring nationally for the next 18 months.

System Sound is the audio supplier for this show with a d&b audio system supplied to them by Elite Event Technology.

“The Australian producers were keen that we should be conscious of the variety of venues that we would encounter on the Australian tour – whether one, two or three levels and varying in size from 840 to 2300!” commented John Scandrett, Managing Director of System Sound.

Naturally, economics was to be borne in mind, and with short seasons of three to ten weeks in the tour of six cities, they avoided having to truck in extra equipment where possible.

The producers were licensed to stage this production using the sound design of Gareth Owen, who designed the sound for the staging in London, and the UK touring version.

With that in mind, System Sound was referred to Gareth to come to a solution that worked best for us and the producers and that led to basing the Australian tour on the UK tour model.

Gareth’s choice of loudspeakers was from the d&b audiotechnik range – the V series line array and point source cabinets, as used in his UK touring version. 

“We arrived at an agreement on numbers for our tour based on a virtual “lowest common denominator” across the variety of venue sizes and architecture, with enough flexibility to vary the needs for fills and sub coverage,” added John.

Main PA side arrays – left and right on each side:
· 5 x V8 80° Speakers
· 1 x V12 120° Speaker
· 2 x V-Sub Sub Speaker
· 2 x V7P speakers each side

Centre
· 1 x V10P 110° x 45° Speaker (lower)
· 1 x V7P 75° x 45° Speaker (upper)

Out-fills
· 2 x Y7P Speaker (circle)
· 2 x V7P speaker (stalls)

Front Fills / Delays
· 8 x E8 90°x 50° Speaker
· 8 x E0

Sub-bass
· 4 x V-Sub Sub Speaker
· 2 X B2 speakers

Stage Foldback
· 4 x Y7P 75° x 40° Speaker
· 2 x E8 90°x 50° Speaker

In some larger venues, the in-house system will be used. For example, in Perth they’ll use their L-Acoustics K2 rig, to augment their own.

The overarching principle is that the dominant character of the show is determined throughout as consistently as possible by the chosen d&b V-system.

The show is mixed on a Digico SD7T, with Aviom A360 systems monitors provided for the band. System control is provided intrinsically as part of the d&b system of D80 amplifiers, with array compensation, EQ and delay parameters controlled by the proprietary “R1” software.

In addition, extensive use is made of the dual Waves Servers, which were painstakingly programmed at System Sound in Melbourne by Gareth’s Associate – Ramon Van Stee, who continued to hone until the opening in Sydney before returning to Amsterdam.

The entire sound crew, headed by Nathan Santamaria, are graduates of The Victorian College of the Arts, mentored by System Sound. This is the first time an all-VCA sound team has toured a main-stage musical in Australia, and they are doing a wonderful job!

Twenty- six of System Sound’s Sennheiser EM3732 / SK5212 wireless mics were agreed upon, and all of the performers wear DPA 4066 headset microphones (omnidirectional capsules) with backup 4061 capsules in tandem, and two transmitters for redundancy.

“Working with Gareth Owen once again we are happy to say that we are pleased and proud of the quality of the sound we have achieved by the association,” commented John. “The excellent results are a testament to the good work of our Australian Associate Evan Drill working alongside UK Associate Ramon Van Stee, and our touring team- Head of Department, Nathan Santamaria, Dep PJ Reed, and Stage Tech, Taarani Charrett-Dunlop.

Credits:
Sound Designer: Gareth Owen
Associate Sound Designer: Ramon Van Stee
For System Sound:
Australian Associate Sound Designer: Evan Drill
Head of Sound: Nathan Santamaria
Deputy Head of Sound: PJ Reed
Stage & Radio Technician: Taarani Charrett-Dunlop
Sound Supplied by System Sound Pty Ltd

www.systemsound.com.au