The PA for the theatrical and musical spectacular was a complex affair and although this was the third year Canegreen have supplied the system, team leader and front-of-house engineer Mike Downs was kept on his toes at all times. The Tweenies Live! production manager, Nigel Mousley explained: "These are big venues to fill with sound without it being too loud for the children. Mike [Downs] in very conscientious to ensure all of our audience get a good sound, wherever their seat. The Tweenies characters have high-pitched voices that go from monologues to them all screaming - so it's not easy to mix and Mike succeeds in getting them heard clearly throughout."
Mousley continued: "Canegreen once again maintained a very high standard with our sound, it's a great sounding system. They also provide a very complicated comms system for communication between the artists, animatronics operators and production team . . . and their technician, Jesse Godolphin, was right on the ball."
The PA system supplied by Canegreen was designed by Pete Hughes to ensure sound reached all part of the arenas. To achieve this, various components of Canegreen's Meyer speaker system were used. The 'main' system consisted of five Meyer MSL4 SP cabinets flying above each front corner of the stage, with a pair of Meyer 650R2 subwoofer cabinets under each cluster, beneath the stage. A pair of Meyer MSL2As was flown centrally on the main truss to cover the centre of the audience, with 12 Meyer UPA speakers flown from a rear truss acting as delays for the audiences seated at the outside. Eight UPM1 cabinets and a pair of UPAs were also positioned behind acoustically transparent draping beneath the stage. The system was controlled by a pair of BSS Soundwebs and an AMEC Recall 501 console.
"We had to change the configuration of the system for Glasgow, but this was a great system with the flexibility to fill any venue," explained Mike Downs. "I was very careful setting the rig up with a sound metre and pulses of pink noise to ensure there were no hotspots. With a lot of the audience aged between two and five, we have to be particularly careful in the 1kHz to 6kHz range, but this system gave us the ability to achieve great sound throughout the venue without it being too loud for anyone."
This was the third consecutive Star Rigging provided rigging services to the Tweenies. With director Phil Broad as head rigger, the company supplied a production-rigging package to the show's promoters (Tell Tale Productions, DC Entertainments and BBC Worldwide). With much of the show's production dependant on being flown, to ensure good sightlines, plus the draping needed to partition the arena venues and provide 'secrecy' for the animatronics characters behind the scenes, Broad had to rig over 60 points at each venue. Star Rigging also supplied the appropriate rigging equipment to the show, including truss and motors.
Production manager Nigel Mousley commented: "This is a complicated show to rig, with lots of drape, video screens, PA and lighting. Phil Broad and Star Rigging performed brilliantly, the key with Star rigging is that I feel very assured that everything has been done to the highest standard."
(Lee Baldock)
