Roving TiMax Tracker tags are distributed in toys to children by spotters in the audience, to control tracking cameras which feed images of the childrens' faces to Pandora's Box where they are rendered for projection onto the heads of the dancing Tweenies. The radio mic'd talent are also tracked so their voices can be followed by the demanding and discerning audience.
XL Group director Rich Rowley takes up the story: "Front-of-house is handled by the Midas XL8, which the client insisted on as its colour scheme blends perfectly with the Fantasy Dell theme created for the riser, while a DiGiCo SD7 on stage handles in-ears and side-fills for the Tweenies and band. Because our monitor engineer has to be in full costume the ergonomics of the SD7 made it the only choice, we found it's really the only console you can mix on wearing mittens".
The multi-channel distributed exploded-cluster d&b J-Series line-array PA employs some radical delay-imaging techniques, as explained by Out Board director Robin Whittaker: "With TiMax we're always trying to bend the laws of physics but in Tweenies we're as good as defying them. Using our stepped delay-zone tracking I've effectively been able to project a performer's voice and sound effects into the space ahead of them - the director is loving it."
Out Board director Dave Haydon, on site for the first show, observes: "We're very proud to be associated with a production of this magnitude and a company of XL's immense stature in the industry, especially with an act like The Tweenies who are absolutely at the top of their game. But I think they're about to come on stage any minute, so anybody fancy a pint?"
A last word from Rowley: "Dealing with the challenges presented by such a diversity of media disciplines and protocols has been surprisingly straightforward due to the skill and dedication of our highly talented team. In fact the trickiest bit was the Smarties with the blue ones taken out."
(Lee Baldock)
