ThunerSeespiele (Lake Thun Plays), performs in a beautiful exterior setting, its stage built actually on Lake Thun near the town of the same name. The backdrop of the lake and mountains make its productions visually breathtaking.
Equally as important to the company is the audio component which, being outdoor, requires sound reinforcement. Specialising in high quality audio consultation, design, engineering and installation, Basel-based contractor Audiopool was chosen to supply the sound infrastructure to the production.
Audiopool has a long association with the DiGiCo platform, as it was one of the first companies in Switzerland to use a Soundtracs DS3 console in baselcitystudios, back in 2001. Additionally, Les Misérables saw another debut for the company - the first time it had specified a DiGiCo console for a live production.
Front-of-house engineers on the production were brothers Markus and Peter Luginbuehl, who had a PA comprising L-C-R clusters of d&b cabinets, with d&b subs on the left/right clusters, Kling & Freitag subs on the centre cluster and a pair of K&F delays.
"Technically, Les Miserables is very complicated," says Audiopool's Thomas Strebel. "We needed a console with the ability to handle a range of different functions and we found that with the D1.
"Because of the number of actor and orchestra microphones, we were using every possible input - 56 from the stage rack, plus a further eight from the local rack - and every output."
As well as handling FOH duties, the D1 was also providing six-way monitor mixes for the entire orchestra via a network of onstage Kling & Freitag loudspeakers. No outboard processing was used, just the D1's internal compressors and reverbs, which the Audiopool team were extremely happy with.
(Jim Evans)
