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To celebrate their 9th birthday, Salford’s Hope Mill Theatre put on a production of Nine, a Tony-Award winning musical centred around fictitious film director Guido Contini. The story is set in Venice, Italy and centres around Contini’s struggles with writer’s block, marriage breakdown and a distressing midlife crisis. Featuring an all-star cast, including musical theatre legends Ruthie Henshall and Ramin Karimloo, the production took place at The Lowry’s Lyric Theatre using an audio system from KV2 Audio supplied by Autograph Sound.
Theatre sound designer, Nick Lodge, in charge of audio for the production, was keen to work with KV2. “I have worked with KV2 on multiple productions in the past and have total confidence in their ability to provide a system that meets the unique demands of musical concerts,” he says. “The pristine sound quality and transparency of KV2 loudspeakers is always flawless and I knew I could rely on that to deliver the detailed orchestration of the show whilst ensuring vocal clarity. “Although this show is essentially a concert version, there still remained a lot of theatrical elements and, as such, I knew that I needed a system that was capable of delivering concert levels whilst maintaining the sound quality and imaging required for a narrative piece,” continues Lodge. “Due to the short run of the production and limited installation time, I was also keen to have a loudspeaker system that covered the majority of the auditorium from single left-right positions with minimal fill speakers.”
The loudspeaker system design for the production consisted of left-right hangs of VHD2.0 with VHD1.0 downfills. EX1.8 subwoofers were flown from the advance truss with the VHD systems to provide low-frequency reinforcement to the upper levels of the theatre. Two left-right proscenium-mounted EX15 loudspeakers, along with four EX6 front fills, were used to cover the front of the auditorium stalls for whom the main system was overhead. Additionally, two VHD2.18 subwoofers were used to deliver low frequencies to the lower auditorium levels. Onstage, eight ESM26 wedge monitors were used for foldback. Lodge was more than satisfied with the results: “The system met all the design requirements, and the production team installed it swiftly, which allowed me to concentrate on designing the show with total confidence. I was particularly impressed with how the VHD enabled us to achieve a great dynamic range, fully utilising the large 25-piece onstage orchestra without compromising on tonality or vocal clarity.”
A review of the production by arts critic blogger My Cultural Life also praised the sound system saying: “This superb semi-staged version of Maury Yeston’s 1982 Broadway NINE (winner of five Tony Awards including Best Musical) making its Manchester premiere, knocked most recent London concerts of stage musicals into a cocked hat, and the reason for this was the sound design. The quality was excellent throughout, crystal clear with no missed cues or clipped speech, and the perfect sound balance between the large onstage orchestra and the cast of singers.” The show was mixed by Owen Lewis, with production sound engineering by Josh Richardson from Polaritive, along with Richard Pomeroy, Jon Roache and Henry Campbell. Long-time KV2 user Ross Portway acted as associate sound designer and onsite production engineer.
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