The three musicians up on the gallery, out of sight of the dancers, were required to respond to the dancer's movements, conveyed by CCTV, and play subsequently. This in turn was a live response to the Olafur Eliasson installation 'Weather' (see Lighting&Sound International magazine, November 2003). It's a thin line between cutting-edge art and plain conceit - some may find such a performance fanciful - but most visitors were intrigued.
The Turbine Hall is an unfriendly environment for the sound fraternity. Even before you put sound energy into the room there is a permanent 50Hz hum caused by the National Grid sub-station still resident in the building: added to this are the spacious dimensions of the hall itself. To deal with the space, sound designer (and accomplished musician in his own right) Andy Russ chose to use d&b audiotechnik F1222s, in collaboration with Giles Rowland from Orbital Sound. "It's a big, echoey space," said Rowland, "pattern control is everything. But Russ wanted quality as well - he originally specified some Meyer speakers, but was impressed with the performance of the 1222s and changed his mind."
Despite just three musicians, Russ, who also mixed the performances live, used a Midas H3000 mixing console, taking 40 inputs from the three maestros.
(Lee Baldock)
