How much abuse can a traveling analog FOH console take before it expires? Mary McFadden knows the answer. The sound engineer for the national touring company of the hit musical Chicago dealt with that issue recently after spending two years on the road with a faltering analog board sandwiched within digital gear.
The Tony Award-winning Chicago is already a challenging show with its concertstyle production where the bandstand with full band onstage, also the centerpiece of the scenic design, is a substitute for the traditional pit orchestra. A little over a year ago, McFadden and Chicago's sound system designer, Scott Lehrer, decided to remove a badly limping analog FOH console for Yamaha's digital PM5D desk. The touring show's production package was a more modest adaptation of a system designed for the 1,587-seat Schubert Theater in Manhattan. At the start of the national tour in May 2003, a Yamaha DM2000 sidecar was substituted into the system to replace an analog board, and it was joined to a smaller mainframe analog desk, to shrink the mix-position footprint in the smaller venue. But within two years, the analog desk began to develop problems that eventually required its retirement. McFadden spoke to FOH about the arduous process of dealing with a delinquent desk on the road, and what needed to be done to keep the show rolling with a minimum amount of friction. Tackling Broadway shows is already a daunting task, but imagine what happens when you take the show on the road and then have to deal with problems that can plague you from city to city…
FOH: The touring package for Chicago that was established nearly three years ago is similar to the Broadway show, but Scott added in a Yamaha DME32 digital mix engine. Why?
Mary McFadden: Scott added the DME32 to take advantage of its delay matrix component. Our original intent was to delay every group individually in each speaker to create a coherent sound image. We discussed it, and in pretty short order, we realized that there was no way I could use a delay matrix in each city given the time constraints of a 16-hour load-in. But what we were able to do with the DME was develop a method of imaging based on the vocal groups. We delay each instrument group, and try to get the arrival times to coincide with what is coming off the stage.
So you had a system anchored by two digital products and toured North America for nearly two years without any problem, except that the analog FOH console proved to be the weak link in the signal chain. After repeated repairs, you replaced it in late 2004, correct?
It's really difficult to replace a main console in the middle of a fast-moving tour, but it's better than dealing with ongoing problems that affect the show. Scott and I had both seen the PM5D at AES New York, in Oct. of 2003. We thought it would work for us. I had a three-week break in the tour in Dec. 2004 that allowed me to return home to Las Vegas. So I took the cable out of the doghouse of the analog desk and brought it home with me. Yamaha shipped a PM5D to Production Resource Group in Vegas, where I set up the board in an office and began programming the show, replicating it in about a week.
After you programmed the PM5D and Scott approved it, you put it out on the road. How has the change been?
I'm dealing with a smaller number of control faders than I had with my old analog desk, but I forgot to look at my hands during the first show because I was so excited by the way it sounded–colorful, smooth, no great change in frequency response irrespective of gain, which has never been my experience until now. A lack of phasing in the chorus was especially noticeable.
Why do you think the chorus sounded better?
I don't want to speculate too much about why things sound different, because sound is pretty subjective. But it would have been tremendous fun to have been able to A/B the desks, with the show, before an audience of theatre professionals!
What does your signal chain consist of now?
I have eight instrument groups coming analog out of the DM2000 orchestra sidecar into the main console, the PM5D. The eight groups come in as channels. I use the 5D effects returns as four of these inputs. Actor radios, reverbs and SFX are added in the main console. Sixteen analog group outs of the 5D go into in the DME32 and are matrixed into speaker outs from there. The outs from the DME32 are analog because the swap-out for the original analog desk was basically accomplished in a two-hour sound check. The DME32 would only clock with the 5D if it ran at 48K. We chose to keep it all analog and run the 5D at 96K. The console's onboard DSP has allowed me to empty my outboard compression rack.
What kind of wireless microphones do you use?
We use Sennheiser SK5012 transmitters and 1046 receivers. Mostly, we use Sennheiser Platinum MKEs and a few MKE Golds. I have two Countryman B-6s and one E-6 in the show.
What does your loudspeaker system consist of?
For our onstage towers, two d&b C7s per side, powered by two d&b P1200A amps, two Meyer self-powered UPA 1Ps per side for in and outfill and two Meyer USW selfpowered subs, one per side. We have seven d&b E3s, powered by d&b EPACS for frontfill; and four long-throw dV-DOSCs, powered by Crown Macrotech 5002VZ amps, with XTA DP226s crossover/EQ. And two UPA 1Ps for downfill.
How is the system holding up on tour?
I'm moving the show in North America once a week. The PM5D has been on at least 30 one-weekers and gone to Taiwan and Japan and back to the States twice. It's seen some pretty rough handling, and not one thing has ever malfunctioned on it. I have a level of confidence in this gear that I would have for a show that doesn't move. Every time I turn it on, I fully expect it to work 100%, and that has not been my experience with touring analog gear.
What do you miss about your old desk?
I had 12 VCAs, as opposed to eight, so I've added 30 cues to the show to compensate. Operating the PFL/AFL is cumbersome and slows you down. As long as you stay in PFL, you're fine, but when you have to listen to a mix, there are steps involved to get you to the output page and back. It takes too much time. There are some simple fixes that Yamaha could do in software that I'd like to see happen.
What kind of reaction have you gotten from the musical directors, stage managers and local promoters?
We were just in Madison, Wis., at the new Overture Center for the Arts. The house sound man there told me the theatre got tons of compliments on the sound of the show, and zero complaints. It's like that pretty much everywhere we go. I get, "This is the best-sounding show I have ever heard," a lot. I had gotten lots of positive response and good reviews about the sound of the show before the desk change, but I wasn't really happy about it because the stress of worrying about the previous desk failing was tremendous. I'm much happier now, and my perception is that the show sounds much, much better. There is no way for me to prove that, but that is also the perception of stage management and musical direction, and that is all I can say.
