LOVE, the latest production from Cirque du Soleil is a collaborative effort between the Cirque and Apple Corps. The show features original Beatles tracks from master tapes at Abbey Road studios prepared specifi – cally by Musical Directors Sir George Martin and his son Giles Martin. "We wanted to make sure there are enough good, solid hit songs in the show, but we don't want it to be a catalog of 'best of's'," said Sir George Martin. "We also wanted to put in some interesting and not well-known Beatles music and use fragments of songs. The show will be a unique and magical experience." Dominic Champagne, who wrote the original concept and directs the show, provides his vision, "I wanted to create a Beatles experience rather than a Beatles story, taking the audience on an emotional journey rather than a chronological one." The production also marks the first time that Apple Corps has agreed to participate in a major theatrical partnership.
Jonathan Deans, veteran sound designer with numerous Broadway credits as well as sound design for seven other Cirque productions including; Saltimbanco, "O", Mystère, La Nouba, ZUMANITY, KA, and Corteo, confi gured the complex system to cover the 360º seating area in the theatre at the Mirage in Las Vegas that was rebuilt specifi cally for this production. He comments, "The hardest thing about this was the 360, 360 for audio to try to do a stereo image when you have no proscenium arch to come in from above. So we built speakers into the edge of the stage. A lot of the energy comes from the edge of the stage and the seats."
Deans explains his approach, "I kept looking at it like a pizza and I cut it up into sections." There are 16 arrays, 2 for each section because the music was originally recorded in stereo, and because the tracks are classic and so well known, Deans felt it was important to design playback environment that would be familiar to the audience and yet provide the ability to present the sound creatively. "With the Beatles' music, the audience arrives forearmed with a deep knowledge of the music, and the sound has to meet and exceed their expectations. The technology isn't there to impress, but to make sure the experience is moving."
Aside from creating a system for the audience, the other challenge that Deans faced was to create a sound design to please the originators of the music, which was no small task. Deans recalls, "Paul McCartney was here a couple of weeks ago. And that was very nerve wracking. How can I represent something like this to the people who made it? And working with Sir George when he comes and listens, he's very opinionated and very smart. And of course his son…the legacy continues."
In all, for the technology end of the system, there are more than 6,000 speakers employed, the majority of which are custombuilt by Innovox and installed into each of the theatre's seats. Each of the seat speakers are three units in one frame that provide three channels: left, right and center. The seat systems are split into 22 delayed zones and QSC amplifi ers provide 70 Volt power for the systems. Self-powered Meyer Sound M1Ds make up the 16 arrays and Meyer CQ-1s are used for the balcony delays. M1Ds and M2Ds are deployed as surround speakers while a combination of subwoofers from Danley and Meyer, which are mounted in the ceiling, handle the low frequencies. A mixture of existing JBL speakers are used as the overhead ambient system. Additional M1Ds are incorporated into the edge of the stage to help focus the image down to stage level.
A Meyer Sound LCS (Level Control Systems) Series CueConsole was Deans' choice for the main console. The console is a modular design that enables the user to confi gure the system in practically any manner the production dictates. For LOVE Deans is using a total of 88 inputs and 280 outputs. Says Deans, "I had to work this out for a question I was asked a couple of weeks ago, so I sat down and worked it out, it's like 25.5 instead of 5.1."
The acoustics of the theatre were designed by Mark Holden of Jaffe Holden Acoustics (see sidebar) to be slightly deader than what is usually found in a venue of this type to help facilitate the ability to control the sound. An LCS VRAS (Variable Room Acoustic System) is used to enhance the ambience. Deans said, "This is done very carefully and very subtly, because we want to keep it a live performance, but we want to try and remember the material we have, and where it comes from, which is from the studio." VRAS is an acoustic enhancement system that can tailor the acoustic characteristics of a venue to complement specific program material via the enhancement of early reflections and reverberation. The VRAS system used for LOVE is one of the largest to date, employing 80 microphone inputs and 220 outputs.
The playback system makes up what is the second largest Pro Tools studio in Las Vegas. The system comprises four Apple Dual G5 Computers, one Apple G4 Powerbook laptop, two Fujitsu PC laptops (One with a 12-inch display, one with a 15-inch display), four 23- inch Apple Cinema displays and two 20-inch Apple Cinema displays. Realtime Music Sinfonia MIDI Sequence Controller and Tascam GigaStudio Sampler multi-track software are used as well.
While the majority of the sound for LOVE originates from the prerecorded tracks, there are some spoken parts, and Lady Madonna's boots get miked as well. For those applications 18 Lectrosonics VRT wireless systems are employed. There are also eight Sennheiser PMs. A Yamaha PM5D serves as the utility console for providing monitoring. Additional processing comes from six Waves Maxxbass units.
Given the classic nature of the music, a great deal of attention is paid to how each of the songs sound in the theatre, over the system. The tracks were initially mixed in a remote studio by Sir George Martin and Giles Martin, and then the mixes were brought in to the theatre via a fiber optic network where Deans and his team (Leon Rothenberg, Deans' assistant, Jason Pritchard, head of sound, and Aaron Beck, A-1) checked the mixes at night to make sure they translated. Any adjustments that might be required to compensate for the room, audience presence, or to incorporate any effects to reinforce the theatrical experience, such as movement, are then applied. As Deans notes, "We really play with the sound. All the things you can't do with sound in the studio condition." All concerned, including Sir George and Giles Martin, then listen and provide feedback regarding the mixes, and how they work in the theatre environment.
Typically, Cirque du Soleil productions are performed with live music, and tend to be organic in nature and evolve over time. LOVE presents a different challenge in that the basic music sources, and what the show revolves around, are tracks. Sir George addressed that fact during a press conference held in May and mentioned that there are a number of tracks still available if they wanted to bring something back in or change anything. However, Deans expects that due to the nature of the material and the process involved to incorporate it into the production, that after the premiere, the music will stay consistent throughout the run. At that point, it will be the responsibility of Pritchard and Beck to ensure that consistency from performance to performance.
Pritchard estimates that about a mile of Cat5 cable is deployed throughout the theatre for audio networking, distribution and control, and provides his thoughts on the level and amount of technology used for this production. "From the very beginning when Jonathan first talked to me about taking this job, I've always described this position as an Audio/IT position. I'm here to make sure the computers work everyday and the P.A. works everyday. A few of the things are live, but it is really taking care of this important music."
