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Sound Design
A moment from West Side Story
How large was the orchestra and how did you mic them?
There are 29 musicians for West Side Story, which is very
large by today's standards. The orchestra is primarily miked by
Scheops CMC4 and CMC21 microphones. My approach was
to make the orchestra sound as acoustic as possible. There are
some moments, like the prelude to “One Hand, One Heart,”
where the orchestra is entirely acoustic. Some of the dance
numbers like “The Rumble” and “The Prologue” have a slightly
“larger” sound. It is also interesting to noteethat the entire
orchestra does not fit into the pit. It was Stephen Sondheim who
told me that when they originally did the show on Broadway,
the percussion was put into the mezzanine boxes house right
and left. Keeping to the classical model, it was great being able
to use the acoustic power of the percussion section. The percussion
plays such an enormous role in the score. It was a much
better solution than putting them in a dressing room on the 7th
floor of the theatre.
What were the main audio issues in having the percussionists
perform in the mezzanine boxes?
The important issues were getting the timing issues right
so that the orchestra sounded like a cohesive ensemble and
then to get the internal balances with the orchestra right.
I noticed you miked each percussionist with several mics.
How much of a challenge is that to mix?
Once the levels were set during the sound check during
the preview period, those levels did not change. The dynamics
are provided by the musicians.
Did the gang rumble at the end of Act I present any challenges,
particularly given that the actors were pushing
each other and rolling around?
The most complicated aspect of “The Rumble” was keeping
the detail of the orchestrations and the music the primary
focus, while at the same time getting the right balances
between the actors and their ad libs. It was not so much the
rolling around that presented problems, but it took a while
to figure out how to get the actors’ ad libs consistently in the
mix.
How has your live engineer performed so far during the
show's run?
Lucas Indelicato is our production sound engineer, and he
is doing a terrific job keeping up with the heavy demands of
the production. The instruction to have the actors ad lib during
the show has been one of the biggest challenges to mix every
night, and it really keeps Lucas on his toes. There are also many
swings who go into the show because of the complexity of the
dances. Lucas has a lot of work to keep up with the constant
shifts in the company to keep the mix consistent.
22 November 2009 • www.stage-directions.com