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Masque Sound brings Adam Fisher’s vision to life for Broadway revival of “Sunset Boulevard”

When “Sunset Boulevard” made its return to Broadway, Sound Designer Adam Fisher turned to theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company Masque Sound, to bring director Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical to life at the St. James Theatre.

Fisher’s collaboration with Masque Sound was his first with the rental house and his first as a lead designer on Broadway. “I had never worked with Masque Sound before, but my Associate Sound Designer Josh Hummel and Production Sound Engineer Mike Wojchik have a good relationship with Scott Kalata at Masque Sound, which ultimately convinced me to work with them. I was impressed with how the company handled the complex and unique outside RF requirements that were required for this show.”

The revival of “Sunset Boulevard” originally began at the Savoy Theatre in London, which is a much smaller space with no real proscenium. “For London, we designed a system based around d&b Audiotechnik speakers, which worked well for that venue”, adds Fisher. “Transitioning to New York, we needed to maintain the show’s sonic identity while adapting to the significantly larger St. James Theatre on Broadway.”

To meet the demands of the St. James, Masque Sound supplied Fisher and his team with nearly 220 speakers, all from d&b Audiotechnik. The custom d&b loudspeaker package included XSL8s and XSL12s for the main PA; a V7P cluster; 44S front fills; E6 for fills, delays and surround; E8s for foldback; d&b Y10P for effects; supported by D40 amplifiers. “It was my first time using d&b’s XSL system, but its ability to scale up and deliver consistent sound quality was critical”, says Fisher. “This speaker setup expanded the surround sound elements of the production and enhanced the orchestra’s audio.”

“I am a big DiGiCo fan, so we used a DiGiCo Quantum 7 for front-of-house mixing fed by approximately 120 inputs, with a Fourier Audio Transform.Engine to host VST plug-ins”, continues Fisher. “Additional audio gear includes a QLab5 for FX, as well as several plug-ins including a McDSP FutzBox, TC Electronic VSS4 HD and VSS3, and LiquidSonics Seventh Heaven.”

A unique challenge for Fisher happens at the start of Act Two when star Tom Francis performs the title track of the show outside the theater on 44th Street, amidst the hustle and bustle of Times Square. “This required an incredibly complex wireless solution”, says Fisher. “The performer’s voice had to be transmitted back into the auditorium and synchronized with the live orchestra with zero latency while at the same time, the actor needed to hear the orchestra clearly while navigating a highly hostile RF environment.”

“Masque Sound’s expertise in RF technology and its partnership with Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) proved invaluable”, he adds. “Masque designed a custom solution that involved a small cart with three antennas that goes up 44th Street. We have a set of antennas on top of the marquee, so when the lead actor goes outside, he’s on that set of antennas. As he gets halfway up the street, we switch to the cart, which bounces the signal back to the marquee. This acts like a relay station back to the theater. When he walks back in, we switch back to the marquee antenna.”

The production utilizes Sennheiser 6000 series transmitters and antennas inside the St. James Theatre, including the foyer and stairwells, with Wisycom antennas used for the outside component. Lectrosonics IEM systems were suggested by Masque Sound. All performers are mic’d up with DPA 4066 microphones.

(Photo: Marc Brenner)

www.masquesound.com

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