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Les Misérables Continues Alcons Musical Success
Having opened at London's Barbican Theatre in 1985, Les Misérables has enjoyed phenomenal success around the globe and, after more than 22 years in production, its claim to the title of the world's longest running musical will take some beating.
Jeroen ten Brinke's involvement with the show started 17 years ago with a stint as a radio mic operator. Now one of The Netherland's foremost theatre sound designers with a raft of top productions such as Beauty and the Beast, The Wiz and, more recently, Sunset Boulevard to his name, Jeroen has put the astounding sound quality of Alcons Audio - a product he has been working with for the last four years - to good use at the Les Misérables touring production.
The show, which ran for nine months in the Rotterdam Nieuwe Luxor theater, moved to Amsterdam's 1,800-seat Royal Carré Theater, a return to the capital's theatre after 17 years, and from there to the Stadsschouwburg in Antwerpen, so Jeroen's design - with equipment supplied by Peter Scheunhage at Dutch rental company Focus Showequipment - has to take variations in size and configuration of the venues into account.
"We have a total of three hangs of six LR14 ultra-compact line-arrays (RBN401 pro-ribbon HF + 2x 6.5" LF) per side for theatres where we have three levels or two balconies," explains Jeroen, "but usually, with one balcony, we use the top and bottom cluster only, which are two arrays of six LR14s on each side.
"For front fills, we use eight low profile SR9s (RBN401 pro-ribbon HF +2x 5" LF) and the centre clusters comprises two hangs of 12 LR16 left and right (RBN601 pro-ribbon + 2x 8" LF) and subs are BF302s (2x 15"). The complete system is powered and controlled by the Alcons 2x 2kW ALC's."
In the final implementation phase, Jeroen was joined by renowned West-End sound designer Nick Lidster from Autograph London. Nick was in charge of Sound Supervision for Cameron Macintosh Ltd., to ensure a consistent "Les Mis" sound worldwide.
Nick Lidster said: "Jeroen and his team have done a fantastic design job and I was very impressed with the clear, open and musical sound response. The combination of the two types of Alcons line array work remarkably well together, considering how they are arrayed and configured. Which says a lot for the phase accuracy of the Alcons pro-ribbon systems."
Judging by the reaction he has received, Jeroen's decision to place his faith in Alcons has been well and truly justified and concludes: "Everyone is very happy with the result!"
Jeroen explains how he first came to use the Alcons pro-ribbon system: "There was a corporate job that I had to do, but I didn't have time to do it myself," he explains. "A production guy I know very well prepared the whole thing for me. He knows what I want, so I thought I'd let him do the job.
"The CEO of the company we were working for wanted the sound to be rich and full - he likes a lot of sound! The venue was a 2,200-seater and my production guy rented a PA that included only eight cabinets of Alcons LR14 on each side.
"When I walked into the venue in the morning, I said to him, ‘Can't you rent a decent PA?' - when you see it hanging in a big space like that, they look like really tiny speakers - but he said, ‘Try it first'.
"So I did and I was amazed how much it could give in terms of both level and sound. I was also amazed with the high end, which is very clear."
Jeroen tried the system a few more times on different events, just to be sure, and then took the decision to incorporate it into his musical sound designs, the most recent being Les Miserables.
In picture: Jeroen ten Brinke (ADI group) with right Nick Lidster (Autograph London).
2nd February 2009
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