The Phantom’s Song Returns To The West End With DPA Microphones And ETC Eos

19 May 2010 14.10 BST

Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-awaited sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, has opened at London’s Adelphi Theatre, with cast and orchestra fully miked up with DPA microphones and lit via an ETC Eos control desk and a plethora of ETC Source Four Revolutions and Source Fours.

Love Never Dies continues the story of the Phantom, moving from Paris to Phantasma, a fabulous, early 20th century showground in Coney Island, New York, home to freaks and entertainers.

All 36 cast members are miked with DPA 4061s, specified by sound designer Mick Potter and supplied by Autograph Sound Hire, with the principals wearing two each with dual transmitters and receivers. The 21-piece orchestra is miked with a selection of DPA mics including 4022 and 4011 cardioids and 4007 condensers across brass, woodwind and percussion. For the string section, Potter has chosen a combination of 4011s as ambient mics and 4061s for close miking.

“The balance between these two mics changes per cue depending on the required feel,” said Mick Potter. “In the big cinematic moments the mix is biased towards the 4061s and in the more subtle orchestral moments the 4011s feature more.”

Potter’s collaboration with DPA is long-established; the designer has used the mics on close to a 100 productions since Saturday Night Fever in 1998; either the DPA 4065 omni headband or the DPA 4061 miniature omnis on all cast members depending on the type of show.

“I’ve used them for a long time because they sound much better than anyone else’s mini condenser mics,” said Potter. “They have a huge amount of gain before feedback for an omni mic, while maintaining a transparent sound which is critical in the theatre with multiple omni mics open on stage. Everything needs to be set up around high gain before feedback, at the same time maintaining a very natural vocal sound.

“DPA miniatures have been hugely important in theatres because doing Andrew Lloyd Webber shows you’re running mics at much more preternatural and dynamic levels than you might on a more naturalistic show, and until DPA that wasn’t really possible; other mics would sound much more ambient and colour the sound. The DPA 4061s are phenomenal in this respect,” continued Potter.

“In the theatre you’re always fighting for space and consistency, so a miniature 4061 stuck on a guitar won’t get knocked or banged, and maintains a consistent position in relation to the instrument. I got into using DPA 4061s in the orchestra pit because all their miniature condensers sound as good as large diaphragm condensers, you can get them exactly where you need them, and the musicians aren’t aware of them so they don’t knock or move them. You can get the positioning critical, and nobody else makes small condensers that sound that good.”

Backstage, it’s the job of Clare Hibbert and Bram, sound numbers two and three respectively, to mic the cast and make sure they stay in place. Due to the 4061’s small size it’s been possible to conceal them in wigs, hats and even an eye patch. Of working with Potter’s chosen tools, Hibbert said: “They are consistent, easy to work with, and pretty much stay put, which makes our job easier.”

Control for the lighting rig of ETC Source Four Revolutions and Source Fours as a whole was from an ETC Eos control system, including an Eos 8K desk and RPU backup together with a remote video interface (RVI) complete with X-Keys keyboard, in order to provide video to the lighting designer, Paule Constable. Well known for her work in the fields of opera, drama and musicals, Paule has specified 48 ETC Revolutions among the moving lights in the rig, which also includes 40 ETC Source Fours of varying beam angles.
 
Commenting on the Eos, she said: “I’m the world’s biggest fan; it does
everything I want it to do. As well as running the lighting, I also had
it running a Hippotizer media server and F:light stage automation
software, which allows us to track a chair on stage as a revolve moves
it.
 
“We push the board quite hard, but it’s great in the hands of a
brilliant programmer, in this case, Nick Simmons.
 
“We specified the Source Four Revolutions because we wanted a moving
profile fixture with a colour scroller so I could have the exact colour
that I wanted, rather than the approximation you sometimes end up with when colour mixing. I like to have absolute control over my colour
palette, and there are not many movers which mix well. We were also very tight for space, and Revolutions are relatively small for a moving
light. For this show we’re using 95% automated fixtures; when it moves
to New York in November, that will probably go up to 98%.”
 
Working with Paule and Nick on the show are associate LD Beky Stoddart, production electrician Gerry Amies and his team including Chris Dunford and Ian Moulds, with David Draude and Michael Scott working on the show’s many scenic practicals. The show’s production manager is Steve Rebbeck, with lighting and control supplied by White Light.

Since its 1986 debut at London's Her Majesty's Theatre, where it continues to play, with a new sound design by Potter which also includes a cast and orchestra utilising entirely DPA microphones, The Phantom of the Opera has been seen in more than 25 countries and by more than 100 million people.

Main photo: RUG/Catherine Ashmore

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