CORAL CANOPY
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The “Flight Play” is an annual event at the Family Farm, and RF Venue products deployed by multimedia production house Coral Canopy, including the 4 ZONE active antenna combiner, Diversity Fin and RF Spotlight antennas, providing clear sound without dropouts.
January 2022 |
OVERVIEW
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Musicals have a combination of singing and speaking. The singing is interspersed with passages of dialogue and the text is as important as the music. General speaking, musical theatre is written and performed in English.
The words are the driving force. |
In an opera, however, the singing never stops and they are mostly sung without any spoken dialogue. Opera singers need to project, unamplified over an orchestra, to the back of an opera house and they have to learn Italian, German, French and more.
It’s the music that people remember the most. The music comes first. |
The most notable differences in opera and musical theatre are the ratio of singing to speaking, and the style of the singing. But what they both provide is a powerful musical vehicle for heartbreak, despair and utter joy.
It's truly a marvelous experience when they come together. |
An operetta is a form of theatre or musical-dramatic production similar in structure to a light opera but characteristically having a romantically sentimental plot interspersed with songs, orchestral music, and rather elaborate dancing scenes, along with spoken dialogue.
It involves both the complexity and finesse of a musical production and an opera performance, perhaps, giving way to more modern writing and approaches. |
APPROACH
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Open-Air Amphitheater: The summer festival took place outdoors at an open-air amphitheater with a gorgeous sunset backdrop of the Pacific Ocean. The simulation of recreating an imaginary acoustic venue as well as reinforcement was an exceptionally difficult challenge. We needed to provide a substantial amount of dynamic range from the smallest whisper to the fullest libretto in the book. With the variables of wind, humidity, and faraway exterior traffic humming in the background, we had to find a solution that could meet the challenge of this show.
Linea Research was selected due to its multitude of powering options for all our speakers throughout the performances. It met our design and customization requirements in bringing clean power, low harmonic distortion, and small footprint in powering all our boxes. We provided holdbacks for the cast on stage, several sets for backstage, a cueing monitor for the conductor, a pair near front-of-house for occasional entrances, a pair of subwoofers along with a pair of mains all comprising of Tectonic Audio Labs, KV2, and QSC. |
RF Wireless: The use of wireless microphones was of utmost importance due to the nature of the show's operetta style that includes a heavy dose of singing and dialogue-centric roles. We designed a system with quality in mind consisting of Lectrosonics Digital-Hybrid wireless beltpacks and handhelds with matching Point Source Audio headsets and lavalier microphones. All the wireless were distributed by a pair of RFVenue Directional CP Beam Antennas.
Live Orchestra: The use of various microphones and direct boxes the likes of Schoeps, Neumann, DPA, Sennheiser, Audix, Bartlett, Rode, and Radial for the 44-piece orchestra. We wanted to have the authenticity of the instruments and their acoustic signature to come together cohesively with the illusion of being at the center of orchestra seats. Sound Effects: We relied heavily on Figure 53 QLab for all of our special gunshots and various effects. |
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CONCLUSION
To transform a creative vision into a quality experience, Coral Canopy specified Linea Research amplifiers to provide the audience an euphonic illusion of an unique acoustic signature that embodies both the stage cast and orchestra in an open-air amphitheater. The needs of fast deployment, small footprint, and superb sound quality gave way in the final decision in accessing Linea Research for this successful summer festival.