On April 27th, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business presented its GSB Show 2012, an entirely student-written/student-run production that provides a humorous reflection on the past academic year. Held in Palo Alto’s 950-seat Spangenberg Theatre and located in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, it’s no surprise that technology played an integral role in the production.
Palo Alto-based Pro Audio Rental Systems — which focuses on sound reinforcement design, build and equipment rentals for the special events, theatrical, and touring markets — was contracted to provide services for the project. Kevin Korecky, the firm’s owner, penned a system that encompassed a wide range of audio technology and augmented the Spangenberg Theatre’s already-impressive facilities.
“The Spangenberg Theatre is a beautiful facility,” states Korecky. “The space was a great choice for Stanford’s annual GSB Show. Acoustically, the room is very friendly. We really had to focus on a sound system that delivered a high level of speech intelligibility while also delivering a very musical quality.”
A Bevy of Microphones
In order to ensure high speech clarity, Korecky’s first order of business was to focus on microphones, with a large number of Countryman mics. These included 12 E6 Omni Earsets for the leading talent as well as H6 Omni Headset Mics on two performers who had very physically active roles. “The E6 and the H6 are premium mics — both in terms of sound quality and the way they fit on the talent,” says Korecky. “Used in tandem with Shure UHF-R Series wireless, they made a terrific combination.”
Several of the earset/headset mics were shared among the various actors/vocalists and, in some cases, these microphones were passed back and forth between male and female performers. This situation created two primary challenges, including optimizing sound levels and tone for maximum audio consistency as well as ensuring proper fit.
“For those mics that were to be passed between the men and women,” Korecky explained, “we assigned them to two different subgroups at the console — with one for female voices and the other for male voices. We inserted Klark Teknik third-octave EQs into each subgroup and adjusted the settings to accommodate the male and female voices accordingly. With this arrangement, we simply panned between the two subgroups and immediately had appropriate EQ settings ready to help us achieve the best possible sound uniformity.”
In the Pit
“Originally, students planned on miking the violin and cello in the orchestra with dynamic mics positioned on floor stands,” Korecky reports. “However, they quickly discovered that due to the movement involved in playing, the fixed mic resulted in poor proximity to the instrument and inconsistent sound. At this point, we decided to take a different approach.”
One of the two violinists was miked with a Countryman B2D directional lavalier mic using a close miking technique and the high-SPL W6 version of the B2D, positioned inside a square piece of foam inserted between the strings under the bridge. With this mounting technique, the mic rested securely on the instrument with minimal contact and remained out of the way of the bow during the performance. The mic was hardwired via an XLR-3 preamp module and its signal was sent directly to the mixing console.
The cello was also miked. In this case, a Countryman IsoMax 2-H instrument mic was positioned using a similar technique. On both violin and cello, the front ports of the mics were aimed toward the instrument necks. With the mics’ close proximity to the source and their tight directional pattern, Korecky was able to achieve a clear, musical sound from the instruments with plenty of gain-before-feedback.
“When I first brought the strings up at the mixer,” Korecky said, “what we originally heard compared to the quality we achieved with the Countryman mics was the difference between night and day. The sound was very musical; far more natural and consistent sounding, as the mics moved right along with the instrumentalists. Best of all, there was absolutely no handling noise at all.”
A second violinist already had a pickup mounted onto the instrument, so in this case, Korecky ran the pickup’s output into a Countryman Type 10 direct box. Keyboards and electronic drums also routed via Countryman direct boxes. A saxophone had an IsoMax 2-H secured to its bell using the mic’s optional sax clip.
Completing the microphone assortment, Korecky deployed six Shure SM58 handheld transmitters mated with Shure UHF-R-Series wireless systems. These handhelds were used for vocal performances, with student Nat Chambers managing the RF systems.
From FOH to the Loudspeakers
The FOH mix position at the Spangenberg Theatre is located at the rear center of the room and has an unobstructed view of the stage because of the sloped floor. Here, a 32-channel Allen & Heath GL3300 analog console resides. Stanford University student Mike Winlo served as FOH engineer for the show and was responsible for mixing 18 vocal channels (including RF) and 12 instrument channels, plus two channels for playing prerecorded music cues.
The loudspeaker system consisted of a combination of permanently affixed cabinets with additional enclosures provided by Korecky. The Spangenberg house system has four JBL SR Series loudspeakers suspended above the front/center of the stage area. This main cluster is driven by QSC Audio RMX850 power amps with an Ashly GQX-3102 dual third-octave EQ handling room tweaking. Korecky augmented the JBL system with Meyer MSL3-A fullrange loudspeakers and 650-P subwoofers. These enclosures were arranged with two MSL3-A boxes and a single 650-P subwoofer per side.
Summing it All Up
“The combination of the Spangenberg house system and the additional Meyer Sound loudspeakers resulted in a big sounding system that had both a clear, musical quality as well as consistent dispersion characteristics from front to back and left to right. There were no bad seats for this event,” Korecky says.
“This year’s production was a phenomenal success,” he concludes. “In previous years, I would get a call the night before the show opened and was brought in to help them get organized. This year, I was brought in much earlier on, so I was able to not only provide a more functional system, I was also able to spend considerably more time getting the equipment ready and training the students how to properly use it. With a great assortment of quality mics, wireless systems and a dedication to get everything as best as it could be, the students delivered a terrific evening that left a very favorable impression on the audience.”
