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16 AES 2008 REPORT
FOH takes you through the show halls and
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24 Parnelli Awards 2008
The 8th Annual Parnelli Awards pay tribute to
the best and brightest in live audio.
28 Production Profile
Audio goes green on Radiohead’s latest In
Rainbows tour.
34 Road Tests
We review the long-awaited EV DC-One
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38 Buyers Guide
Digital Snakes take the spotlight in this
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40 Regional Slants
Midwest Sound combines a Midwestern work
ethic with cutting-edge technology for an
unbeatable combination.
44 Welcome To My Nightmare
Well, to start out, the gig was in Philly...
surround sound on Broadway
I
appreciate Dan Daley’s writings, his interest
in surround sound and his references
to numerous other pioneers in this medium
in his “Surround Sound” article in the
September issue. However, I wish to correct
some inaccurate comments and to provide
additional history and observations on this
subject, drawn from my own experiences as
a sound designer. Broadway surround sound
did not start in 2002. No matter how you
define it there were many surround-sound
Broadway and off-Broadway shows well before
the 2002 version of Into The Woods.
Will Rogers Follies opened on May 1, 1991,
10 years earlier, with the recorded voice of
Gregory Peck playing Flo Ziegfeld, yelling
down at the actors from his perch high in the
back of the house. Peter Fitzgerald designed
this show. It not only ran more than a year (891
performances) in surround sound, but it also
had many national tours that used the system,
which was supplied by Sound Associates.
A little show called Squonk was in complete
surround sound, with music and sound
effects moving all around throughout the
whole performance. It opened Feb. 29, 2000
at the Helen Hayes Theater. Sound Associates
also supplied this system. The Circle in
the Square version of Sweeney Todd (opening
Sept. 14, 1989) used entirely electronic
instrumentation. The orchestra sat as far
from the stage as possible in the audience.
The music, sound effects and dialog were
fed to a complete surround-sound system
located above the heads of the audience
and time-aligned to the actors.
(Interestingly, Time magazine said the
show was one of the year’s best, completely
natural, with no body microphones, as if there
was no amplification at all. In fact, it used 32
shotgun microphones and a completely
electronic orchestra and sampled sound effects,
all fed into a surround-sound system.)
In 1999, an off-Broadway show in surround
sound and with surround-sound effects was
Quien Mato a Hector Lavoe? (Who Killed Hector
Lavoe?). The sound effects were the original
sounds from Hector Lavoe’s live concerts,
recorded in multi-channel and played back
effectively to reproduce the sense of being
at those concerts. GSD Productions supplied
this surround-sound system. This show led to
the making of the feature film “El Cantante.”
The West Bank Café, a New York theater/
club landmark for over 30 years, has had an
ultra-high definition surround sound system
since 1998. I am sure there are many others
— I just happen to know, personally, of these
few that I have mentioned. Surround Sound
for theater, theme parks, clubs, concerts and
www.fohonline.com
NOVEMBER 2008,
Vol. 7.2
Columns
42 On the Bleeding Edge
Computer programming and live audio can make
a potent career combo.
46 Theory and Practice
When it comes to generators, size matters.
47 The Biz
The latest line-array lowdown.
48 Sound Sanctuary
Putting the squeeze on worship sound.
49 Anklebiter
When bidding on a gig, know when to hold ‘em,
know when to fold ‘em.
52 FOH-at-Large
The economy may be in a mess, but that doesn’t
mean your business has to be.
Departments
4 Editor’s Note
5 News
10 International News
14 On the Move
18 Showtime
44 In the Trenches
recording is, and has been, an ongoing development
with many people involved. No
one person was responsible for its beginning.
More people will become conscious of
surround sound, as it is fun to do and exciting
to experience.
How shall we define surround sound? Is it a
“surround-sound show” if the sound effects are
in surround but not the music? Is it “surround
sound” if we sit in Carnegie Hall with no amplification
and are engulfed in a Beethoven Symphony?
Are we talking about only amplified
surround sound? Is it the aim of a surroundsound
recording to reproduce a concert in a
recording, and if so, why must we sit in the center
to hear it in playback? Did everyone have to
sit in the center to hear surround sound at the
original concert? I could go on.
— Bernard Fox