Highlights of this year's course included backstage tours at West End shows Chicago and Grease, giving the students the opportunity to see the theory in action and get a first-hand insight into the sound behind a successful show. The students were able to quiz the operators on the day-to-day challenges of running a West-End sound department, and picked up invaluable tips for giving their careers in sound a kick-start.
The course's focus is on presenting students with the full range of technical disciplines, with individual modules on show control, radio microphones, video, communications and networking, complemented by application training from both Yamaha Commercial Audio and d&b audiotechnik.
Orbital's training manager, Theo Holloway, was again impressed at the commitment and enthusiasm shown by this year's students, commenting, "Theatre sound is a challenging discipline, requiring an intricate mix of skills if you are going to make a successful career in the business. Our aim is to help students get to grips with the technical complexities, concentrating on making sense of the theory by putting it into practice. Once again, the standard and enthusiasm of the students was very encouraging, and I'm sure we'll see many of them working with us in the future."
Over the past eight years, Orbital has trained more than 200 students, many of whom have gone on to stellar careers in the business. Orbital's original concept behind establishing regular, accessible training in 2001 was to combat the continuing shortage of well-trained theatre sound talent. Nine years on, Orbital currently runs six courses a year, catering for a wide cross-section of skills and specific technical requirements.
(Jim Evans)
