At the historic Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Calif., Duncan Sheik's musical, Whisper House recently completed its successful premiere run. Sheik's follow-up to Spring Awakening ran from January 13 to February 21 and received critical acclaim for its haunting score, unconventional structure and Dan Moses Schreier's sound design.
The plot of Whisper House revolves around Christopher, an 11-year-old boy who is sent to live with his eccentric aunt in a lighthouse. Omnipresent throughout the play are two ghosts that only Christopher can hear, who sing to him and are accompanied by an on-stage ensemble of acoustic instruments including a wind section.
Associate sound designer David Bullard likened the mixing of Whisper House to producing a live concert each night. "The production allowed us to really concentrate on the music, so it was a lot of fun," he said. "Duncan's music has a lot of layers to it and there's a lot to bite into."
However, the nature of the production also posed challenges in transitioning between spoken word and singing. "This is not like a standard musical, where the actors' speaking leads into song," Bullard noted. "Because of the separation of singing from acting it's a fairly large transition from dialogue to music and back."
Working with sound designer Dan Moses Schreier, Bullard configured a system that would allow them to seamlessly perform complex segues night after night.
The heart of the system was a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console; big brother to the Soundcraft Vi4 Bullard and Schreier used on Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot at Studio 54 in New York City. "The Vi6 console is transparent and easy to use. The sound quality is great," Bullard said. "It has Lexicon FX8 reverbs built into it that sound fantastic. Duncan could make requests about the sound I could take care of in a few seconds. You can't place a value on the confidence you get from knowing you can deliver what is needed."
Also linked with Studer Vista mixing consoles, the Soundcraft Vi6 currently in use on Shreier's Broadway projects West Side Story and A Little Night Music, incorporates much of the same technology in a smaller package. The simplicity of the Vistonics interface allowed Globe Theatre House Engineer Erik Carsten to train on the Vi6 in one day, with no prior experience.
With an emphasis on the quality of the music, Schreier's sound design called for a dedicated system to reproduce the band. The system design included left and right clusters of JBL VRX932LAP Powered 12-inch 2-way line array loudspeakers suspended from the proscenium for the orchestra-level audience, along with left and right clusters of VRX928LA 8-inch 2-way line array loudspeakers powered by Crown iTech amps, targeted at the balcony level.
"With the complexity of Duncan's compositions and some sophisticated sound effects, it was important to have a great surround setup," Bullard said. A system of eight JBL AC18/26 compact loudspeakers and four VRX918SP Subwoofers reinforced the show's highly dynamic sound effects, creating the sonic ambience of Whisper House. "There's a war sequence where you could hear a fighter plane flying from the rear to the front of the theater and it's really quite intense. The JBL AC18/26 are the kind of speakers you can put fairly close to an audience without destroying them with audio."
Whisper House's diverse vocal and instrumental reinforcement requirements called for hand-held, wireless and some hidden microphones. Bullard's selection of mics included AKG C5 condenser and D7 wired dynamic handheld microphones, an AKG DMS700 wireless microphone system, including the use of the D5 handheld transmitter and DPT700 pocket transmitter which Bullard concealed inside a vintage harmonium played by one of the actors. The DMS700 wireless system provides dynamic audio in the digital domain with no companding circuit. The AKG dynamic D5 and D7 capsules have a condenser-like sound without the feedback problems of a condenser in this environment.
A Lexicon PCM96 Surround reverb/effects processor was used on vocals and sound effects to enhance the production's sound design. Having depended on Lexicon processors in his prior shows, Bullard commented, "It was my first time using the PCM96 Surround and it sounded amazing right out of the box."
