Sound Designer Gareth Owen deployed the d&b Soundscape system to achieve what he describes as one of his ‘biggest and most ambitious sound design yet’ for the London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express.
With an installation of four DS100 processors driving the Soundscape system through more than 350 d&b loudspeakers, this project stands as one of Owen’s most intricate sound designs to date. The system was supplied by Cardiff-based rental provider Stage Sound Services, which made an additional investment with d&b in order to fulfil the specification.
Owen first used Soundscape back in 2019 for the high-profile rejuvenation of Starlight Express in Bochum, Germany. Since then, he has become a key exponent of this exciting immersive sound technology, which delivers auditory experiences to audiences, as well as unprecedented creative possibilities to designers.
Having employed d&b Soundscape on more than a dozen musical theatre sound designs, Owen has been integral to Soundscape’s development. En-Snap, the cue automation software which provides significant show control workflow features for Soundscape, is the result of a collaboration between Gareth Owen Sound and d&b.
In this arena-style configuration, with performer action and audience listening zones in all directions, the challenges for coverage and coherence were considerable. However, the power and resolution of the Soundscape system was up to the task. In fact, the practicalities of time and budget seem to be the only limiting factors to Soundscape’s creative possibilities. Owen said, “I’m not sure I could tell you what the creative limits are for this show. Even on a show with a budget and a design remit like Starlight Express, at a certain point common sense has to come into play – I’m really happy with the results.” He added, “In what is a complicated room, with a complicated seating arrangement and performance area, we’ve achieved everything we could possibly achieve.”
The loudspeaker setup included Y-Series line arrays across the front plus some V-Series point source cabinets and a number of smaller additional speakers. The production also sees Owen’s first ever use of d&b’s XSL-SUB, the small / medium format flyable cardioid subwoofer from d&b’s SL-Series.
Owen gave special mention to his team from Gareth Owen Sound: his design team of Matt Peploe, Andy Green, Rob Jones, Ramon van Stee and Joe Green; the production engineering team of Dom Bell and Dan Mac, plus Hannah and Ollie Reymes-Clemmerson (jointly sound no. 1), Ollie Dudman (sound no. 2), Antoinne Lynne-Belmas (sound no. 3), Steph Siraut (sound no. 4) and Bethany Yao (sound no. 5)
Owen praised the “exceptional” support from d&b, with Application Support specialist Steve Jones singled out in particular. He also highlights the contribution from Phil Hurley and Stage Sound Services. “He just makes it work,” said Owen. “I’m pretty sure we couldn’t achieve half of what we do without his support.”
“I think we achieved exactly what we wanted to do. You know, it’s hugely important with all shows – and even more so with an Andrew Lloyd Webber show – to not screw it up. We don’t want anyone to say ‘it could have sounded better’. Luckily, no-one did, and I’m very pleased with that,” Owen concluded.
