Cirque Du Soleil may like tents, but they dispense with the notion of three rings. In fact, their first arena tour (called Delirium) features a stage that cuts every venue in half so that the show is viewed from two different sides of an auditorium. It's a giant catwalk that allows performers and musicians to prowl across the expanse of an arena, and it's also a huge challenge for the sound designer, line engineer and every technical person involved. Co-created and co-directed by multimedia artists Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, this show is an artistic triumph and a technical nightmare. Take a look at the stats: 145 people on tour, including 45 performers, 75 technicians and 25 management and artist support personnel. Twenty 18-wheelers and 14 tour buses are needed to haul everyone and everything from city to city. Specially-designed rigging supports 130,000 pounds of equipment above the stage. Twenty-seven motors are needed to help characters fly, including four for the balloon-borne protagonist.
Propelled by a pop and rock soundtrack spiced with music from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Delirium's surreal production is jam-packed with visual and auditory information. The show features a character that floats beneath a balloon for most of the show, six different singers walking or floating across the stage via wires or in cages, a man who walks on stilts and moves at strange angles, musicians roaming the stage floor and all manner of performers that walk, sprint, jump, even fly through each of the distinct scenes. Let's not forget four mounted video projection screens (one at each corner of the stage on each side), two mobile video screens that move along the stage and two moving curtains that allow for projections as well.
It takes a talented cast to pull off this fantastic feat of performance, and an equally talented crew to make it run without a hitch. At the tour's second night in Albany, N.Y., which was early in their itinerary, FOH tracked down some of the show's key players to offer insight into a truly impressive production.
Yves Savoie, sound designer for Delirium
Delirium is Savoie's first Cirque show. Prior to this, he worked on a number of variety shows in Quebec and in France, in arena settings. He is quite satisfied with the results here, and he feels that this not a rock 'n' roll show, but an all-encompassing work that features diverse musical styles, a variety of performers and offers the feeling of "a big Vegas show on the road."
FOH: This is in the round? No, wait, a rectangle…
Yves Savoie: It's a new concept. It's face-to- face setup. I think it's the first time that anybody has done this. The stage is 130 feet long by 20 feet wide, so it's kind of strange.
What kind of challenges has this presented for you as a sound designer?
We have to deal with two P.A.s back-toback, and the noise that is created on one side bounces back to the other, so we have to cover each area pretty well to kill that sound problem. As soon as you are an area where it's not covered well, we have to design something that fills the space everywhere.
So you have three P.A. stacks on each side?
Exactly. We have a left-center-right mix, and actually we have 12 speakers in a row, but normally we can go to 16. That's 12 on the left, that's nine in the center and that's 12 on the right. In a big place it's 16, 16 and 16. It depends upon where it is. Those are the brand new Meyer MICA.
You have speakers on the floor, which I presume are monitors for the stage?
We also have speakers under the stage. We have six M1Ds in front, on each side as well as six monitors going onstage with the low-mid of that. There are three UPAs on each corner of the stage, making four total. I have a possibility of 96 MICAs–six stacks, three on each side. I have 20 subs, Meyer 700-HP. There are two stacks with five subs on each side, between the P.A. stacks. That mainly covers the upper seats. In some arenas, where the staging walls are more closed, there are also three MSL-4s to cover around those wings. Under the stage, I have eight M3D subs, four on each side. I have 12 UPAs, three on each corner.
Plus you have the 12 M1Ds.
And four DF-4s. They go under the MSL-4. It's just like a monitor.
You have musicians on both sides of the stage?
They are all over the place. The drums are mobile. All the musicians are wireless.
How many musicians are there?
Drums, bass, guitar, keyboard and two setups of percussion, plus violin, trumpet and six singers.
What wireless mics and transmitters are you using?
For wireless microphones–a total of 26–we're using the new Shure UHF-R, which I'm really, really pleased with and really surprised by. They work very well. And for the PMs, we're using Sennheiser, the next step after the G-2. I don't remember the number. For the mixing console, we're using two PM1Ds, one for the monitors and one for the Front of House.
Do you think it will be a challenge for the show to move from venue to venue?
Moving from place to place is the challenge of this show, because this show is now in automation, and we do the same thing every night. The mix is done. This part of the job is quite done. The only thing in each arena is trying to get the same sound, the same dispersions. The other challenge is that normally in a show where you're playing on the other side of the arena, with two stacks, you will cover the whole arena. Because this stage is so wide, you have to turn the P.A.s a little bit to the side and put this third stack there in the middle, and for the subs, it's the same problem. If we only have subs under the stage, so those people in front will die because the wave of the sub does not have the time to open need to reach the people over there, so we had to put some subs up there on the rig.
Tell us about your FOH console.
The PM1D here and at monitor share the same inputs. We have about 90 inputs. They have their own personal gain on each console.
You have four Distressors.
Yes. For the six main singers, we have a Midas XL-42 pre-amp with a Distressor inserted. There are four Distressors and two DSS 402s, so that makes six compressors inserted…Every box is controlled by Meyer software, plus we have the same EQ for each. Soundweb controls all the different boxes, and through it we do the equalization.
So what is the biggest challenge beyond dealing with the sound reflections?
Since the public for this kind of show is quite family-oriented, the sound should be clear, good and not too loud. We try to avoid excessive volume. We really want a good sound–big and fat–but something that the whole family can listen to.
Renato Petruziello, live engineer for Delirium
Renato Petruziello knows a thing or two about arena shows, having been Alanis Morissette's FOH engineer between 1995 and 2002, during which time he also went on the road with Weezer for two years. Still, Delirium is a whole other animal for this road dog.
FOH: How many inputs total are you running on your board?
Renato Petruziello: About 90.
How does doing Cirque differ from rock shows?
It's different because they had fewer cues. This one's more of a show, where there's a lot of things going on, so you've got to be really alert. If stuff's going on onstage, you've to catch it and go along with it. Then there are cues for sound effects, which you don't really have in a rock show. In a rock show, they play music and you go with the feeling. This thing's a little bit more technical.
How much of this is automated?
None. It's all live. The only thing I do have, because it's a visual concept, is a different set up at the beginning of every song. After that it's all live. I do all the action live.
Yves said sound reflections from opposite sides of the arena are an issue. Do you worry about feedback?
So far, it's been pretty good for that. The P.A. is directing the sound where you want it to be. When you put the other side speakers on, it creates a sort of a slapback, and sometimes, depending upon the place, a big old reverb. Where I am is not the ideal place to mix, so I have to make an educated guess.
What outboard gear are you using?
I have Distressors and XL-42 pre-amps just for vocals. But really, I'm pretty limited because the PM1D system gives me everything I need as far as treating the sounds and manipulating the dynamics of the instruments and the vocals. We do have sequencers playing along with the band. It's a separate track so I do have to mix that and make it sound as if it's happening live and coming from the stage. Video comes to me pure. The video's silent except for one song, when someone is knocking on a door.
Is anyone doublemiked, just to be safe?
So far, we haven't had a mic go down yet. We don't have anyone double-miked, but we do have spares just in case.
Marty Hom, tour manager, and Malcolm Weldon, production manager for Delirium
Marty Hom has been tour manager for Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler and the Backstreet Boys. Malcolm Weldon has been production manager for Tina Turner, Cher, Janet Jackson and the Eagles. Based in Montreal, Cirque Du Soleil usually does not hire outside of its French-Canadian talent pool, but with this duo's credentials, it's easy to see why they did.
Logistically speaking, what are the biggest challenges of putting on a tour like this?
Marty Horn: This is the first Cirque tour that has been done in arenas, so the biggest problem is the rigging because it encompasses the whole floor. You have other shows that weigh more and others that have these things out in Front of House, but no one's putting 55,000 pounds out over Front of House. ways, it's a dictatorship between me, Marty and my stage manager Curt Wagner, but it's a benevolent one. We listen to everybody and take comments, and we take it in. That's pretty much it.
I hear that eventually your touring group will be loading in shows at 4 a.m. on the day of the first show in a new city?
MW: Yes. Their normal tent show will take them 10 days to load in and maybe five to six days to load out, whereas we're changing that whole scheme. We'll eventually get it to where we'll loading in in 10 hours and loading out in three hours. That's the big difference with Cirque. We're bringing in what I call the rock 'n' roll way of doing things. That's the big learning curve for them, whereas in their normal tent world they're controlling everything.
MH: At the same time, the challenge is to keep the artistic integrity of the show. We have to keep loading in and loading out that fast and preserve the artistic integrity of what they created.
MW: The bigger challenge is, because you have so many flying elements, you have to be careful how to do it, as well as being aware of what you're doing, because you're taking someone's life in your hands.
All photos © 2006 Alicyn Leigh Photography
