George Gorga has been the audio director for Nitro Circus since the original MTV show first took to road six years ago. His biggest challenge is looking after himself during the rehearsals and main events.
"It's probably the most dangerous operating position I've ever worked in as normally we are out on the track," he remarked. "The likelihood of having a bike or skateboard land on you or getting blown up by a pyro is quite high. You really have to have your wits around especially during practice as the whole arena floor is the stage. It's like walking on a highway, you have to keep looking all around you."
Other than a pyro accidently shooting sideways and ending up directly under George's FOH console, he has fortunately managed to escape a major calamity.
PA placement is basically where it isn't going to be hit! With Nitro Circus this is always going to be a problem due to the height some of the riders achieve with their jumps.
"We can only hang in certain positions which are not always the ideal situation for audio," added George. "During the last jump, the guys reach over 16m high right in the middle of the arena and because we're running a central cluster, we're nearly always going to be in the way."
The PA comprised of L-Acoustic V-Dosc and dV-Dosc, hung with a 17m trim in most venues and compromised a little in others. Cabinet numbers and models varied depending on the venue with systems engineer Michael 'Robbo' Burdett taking care of the PA requirements for each venue.
"As I was also show director for the tour I left the PA design to Robbo knowing I won't have to worry about it at all," commented George. "It's a straight up system and a loud show. We're obviously dealing with a loud content on the ground anyway with the motorbikes, not that I'm trying to get above them as their sound is an impressive part of the show, and there's a lot of stuff that has to get through. The system has to have a lot of headroom, be loud and punchy but not to the point where it starts to alarm people. It's a bit of a fine line.
"There's a constant soundtrack running underneath the show," said George. "Mike Porra, the CEO of Nitro, picks a lot of the music, as do I, and then I add underscores and such to suit the theme. There are intros, hype pieces - always something running so the music becomes almost subliminal like a movie soundtrack you don't really notice it, it just reinforces the action. It's carefully done right down to emotional pieces, suspense features and the low rumble we run through the PA whenever someone has an accident."
FOH George was using an Avid Profile console with two laptops running Show Cue System for playback. Show Cue System is an Australian piece of software that George has used for years and describes as phenomenal.
"It's like a theatre system; you build all your fades and crossfades," he explained. "And because we're running multiple tracks, not just left and right, there's timecode, pyro, and vocal cues for the MC.
Ten Shure UR radio microphone systems were used for MC's and miscellaneous requirements with George running them similar to a theatre event. Shure PSM1000 in-ear monitors were chosen with everything run from George's Profile console as there is no monitor console.
"It was a complex show with close to 150 music cues for me," George concluded. "There were lots of spot sound effects that reinforced the action; some obvious such as cymbals or snare drums but most simply to enhance the action. It's a pretty fast paced show of two one-hour halves. In fact it moves very quickly and can be quite unpredictable. There's not a moment I can turn away and relax."
JPJ Audio supplied equipment and crew for the tour with George commenting that they have been his preferred Australian supplier for the past 15 years.
"The equipment for me is obviously important but even more important is the service," he added. "The quality and knowledge of the JPJ technical staff is second to none, mainly due I feel to their excellent in-house training programme.
"I've had JPJ on some very difficult and demanding jobs over the years and they've always delivered well above expectations."
Nitro Circus has more than one show on the road with the US tour taken care of by Clair Global with Dave Quigley in charge and a UK regional tour looked after by Michael 'Robbo' Burdett. Both of these tours utilize a Clair Global i3 system.
(Jim Evans)
