Sound designer Rick Clarke, veteran of over 40 West End musicals, added in an important new element - the first deployment of a Flare Audio X2/X0 Compact Vertical Point Source Array system in theatre. The system featured X2 cabinets, flown in groups of two per side, with X0s used as front-fills and delays, together with the award-winning SB21 Flat Panel Directional Touring Sub Bass units. Out front was a Yamaha CL5 front of house digital mixing console feeding the Flare system directly via the Dante network.
Pantomime has been a regular feature in Rick's calendar, dating back to when his children were younger, with the Richmond Theatre an extremely familiar venue. The extraordinarily tight production schedules make checking out a new system something of a challenge in itself, as Rick explains:
"From arriving on the Monday to opening before an invited audience on Thursday, there was very little time to experiment. I wanted to take a very open-minded approach to using the Flare Audio system for the first time, and in the event we actually needed much less time for set-up than usual, which was a bonus. We were able to get it sounding right very quickly, without any special treatment. Overall, I thought it performed excellently, with the sound propagating the room fully. It really is different from any other system I have used, particularly in terms of its clarity.
"One very common Christmas challenge is working with artists that are not wholly conversant with live performance - and as everyone probably knows who has experienced this, it takes a lot of care and attention to give these artists an on-stage sound they feel comfortable with.
"Staggeringly this year, there was not one single comment - they obviously liked what they were hearing right from the first chord!. The way Flare works in the room is extraordinary, with a wide reach and very good projection. The clarity is better than anything else I have ever heard - it is as simple as that. Flare Audio has come up with a revolutionary design that really does work."
Flare Audio systems also featured on two other pantomimes this season - Cinderella at The New Wimbledon Theatre and Aladdin at the Liverpool Empire.
(Jim Evans)
