Melissa E.: Up Close, Without the Band
Bantamweight Theatre System erases the balcony blues
If losing sleep over theatre tours is a rite of passage in this business, Steve Folsom (see Photo #1) has paid his dues. That’s why this time around, prior to taking the FOH helm at Melissa Etheridge’s latest solo trek across the soft-seat circuit, he swore he’d never spend another night staring at shadowy loudspeakers wondering if he had done everything possible to give a good mix to every patron.
NO WAY
No, it just wasn’t going to happen. This, Folsom remained reasonably assured
of, because he had finally solved one of the fundamental mysteries of
theatre audio: How to effectively bring high-quality sound reinforcement
to every seat in the house, including the balcony.
“Anyone who has ever done a theatre tour knows balconies are just plain
tough,” Folsom, who has been out front with Etheridge on every one of
her tours since 1989, confides. “If there’s one thing certain about rigging
these venues, it’s that there are never enough hanging points to accommodate
what you need to do. What few points do exist, by the time you get a couple
of boxes and a motor on them, everyone’s getting nervous about the weight,
and you aren’t even getting close to meeting your coverage requirements.”
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Over the years, Folsom has attacked the balcony sound reinforcement
dilemma in theatres from all angles with varying degrees of only
partial success. Back in the early days, he would stack bulky full-range
boxes three high on each side of the stage, aiming the best he could
into the hungry maw of the upper galleries. |
With the renewed interest in line arrays of recent times, Folsom took
his experimentation to the next level, only to discover that he accomplished
little more than creating a second proscenium and ample seat kills.
“Throughout my theatre trials and tribulations, I did indeed find ways
to get sound up into the balcony, but not without creating another set
of problems,” Folsom admits. “In the days when holding a balcony ticket
meant you paid a balcony price, the philosophy was well, that’s the best
we can do. In today’s marketplace, however, that kind of thinking is clearly
unacceptable.”
COMPLAINTS FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
Having received a number of audio complaints from the balcony during Etheridge’s
Breakdown theatre tour two years ago (when $50 balcony ticket prices
were the norm, just as they are for today’s Live...and Alone tour),
Folsom took up the issue with Etheridge tour manager Steven Girmant, who
agreed that the issue was important, and needed to be decisively addressed.
Given the green light to do whatever was necessary to remedy the situation,
Folsom set out to locate the tools required of the job. “I had the advantage
this time around of dealing with Melissa as a solo performer,” he relates
of the process. “Which meant I wouldn’t be fighting additional guitars
and drums. After wrestling about with a number of new options, the plan
I ultimately devised came to me in the middle of the last night I hope
to ever spend sleepless wondering about such things.”
Folsom’s flash of discovery was enabled by the advent of loudspeaker technology
made available for the tour from QSC Audio Products, Inc. Housed within
extremely lightweight carbon fiber enclosures, eight two-way QSC 1250
wedge-shaped cabinets became the nucleus of the tour’s main array.
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Contributed to the task by Folsom’s long-time associates at Escondido,
California-based Sound Image, these loudspeaker elements were configured
within a pair of clusters measuring two wide by two deep. Tipping the scales at 180lbs(81.6kG) per four-box cluster (including
all steel), the entire array (see Photo #2) was designed for rigging
from no more than two points, making it the perfect candidate to
be flown in theatre environments generally disposed to maintaining
tight weight restrictions on loads flown overhead. With this kind of information at his disposal, he can say with
certainty that virtually all U.S. theatres have at least two rigging
points somewhere on the ceiling near the front of the stage. |
“Further inspiration arrived when I recalled the times I’ve strapped lightweight carbon fiber boxes onto the bottom of lighting trusses for centerfill in arenas and sheds. Taking that idea one step further, I reasoned that given the low weight of the QSC 1250s, they could be flown in small 2x2 clusters composing a semi-circular array which could also support lighting needs.”
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HIGH & LIGHT |
Supported on the ground by proprietary Sound Image three-way G-5 enclosures
and 4x18 G-5 subs as needed at each stop on the tour, power comes from
a vintage rack of QSC 3350, 3500, and 3800 amplifiers for the G-5 elements,
while QSC PowerLight 1.8 amplifiers (see Photo #3) fuel the flown components.
As expected, beyond providing the weight-saving advantages which made
the whole concept of the flown array possible, the carbon fiber QSC 1250
loudspeakers proved up to the task of delivering on promises to end the
specter of poor balcony audio performance. “They have a single (12in)
on the bottom, and a cylindrical waveguide horn at the top,” Folsom relates.
“Overall the performance of the array is nice and smooth. It’s not directional
or linear in a sense where you can notice the difference between walking
in and out of the distinct patterns of the horn or the twelve inch driver
as you make your way up the steep incline of the balcony.”
Representing a departure from past tours in recent years, Etheridge traded
in her earworn monitors for an assortment of wedges and sidefills for
the Live...and Alone dates. With a pair of QSC 1250s demonstrating
their monitoring skills at both piano and guitar positions, three custom
MLE wedges designed and built by Steve Folsom and Sound Image’s David
Shadoan bring vocal and guitar mixes downstage.
Four single-18in cabinets complete the monitorworld picture at a ratio
of two each dedicated to side and center-fill positions. The human element
presiding over the entire affair is Bob Delson, who mixes at stage left
from behind a Yamaha 3500M console.
Why the switch back to wedges this time? “It was simply a matter of intimacy
with the crowd,” Folsom says. “This, being a one-woman show, is designed
to be up-close and personal. Melissa wanted to be totally connected to
the crowd. She’s not terribly loud in wedges anyway, so in this environment,
it really hasn’t made a difference.”
MATRIX CONTROL
Folsom presides over a 32-channel Midas Heritage 1000 console and is assisted
by Sound Image crew chief Josh Vanderslice out front. Spartan and spare
in the tradition of the early club dates where both Etheridge and Folsom
cut their professional teeth during the mid-to-late ‘80s, the Live...and
Alone set list offers creative opportunities not afforded in past
tours.
Among expressive outlets which have emerged, Folsom and regular guitar
tech Trace Foster have a loose leash to explore spatial dynamics with
a pair of stereo guitars. Both taken from the Ovation Adamas Melissa Etheridge
Signature Series, the twelve and six-string models are outfitted with
Whirlwind passive DIs and a matrixing system offering a wellspring of
stereo effects.
“With a push of a button on the matrix, there are six different ways to
create a stereo image with these guitars,” Folsom explains. “For example,
on the six-string, one way we can split it is so the three high strings
are on one side, and the three low ones are on the other. That’s a cool
setting for chunky intro stuff. Then we have a pan setting which is panoramic
in the sense that low E is on the left, high E is on the right, and all
the other strings fall into perspective as they would, say, on a piano.
“An ‘Alt’ setting on the matrix provides a left-right-left-right-left-right
stereo image using every other string on the six-string, or every other
pair on the twelve. That one is Melissa’s personal favorite.”
Etheridge’s third guitar is a Paul Reed Smith, which she uses with either
a Top Hat or Matchless head input into wet and dry Randall isolation cabinets.
The Randalls are miced respectively with a Shure KSM44 and Shure Beta
52.
In keeping with the minimalist philosophy of the audio production, all
stage input follows a straightforward blueprint including Shure SM58 and
SM7 vocal mics, a Shure VP88 stereo mic on piano, and a Crown 311 A/E
headworn mic.
SMOOTH & SATISFYING
All gear selection and philosophical discourse aside, the proof, as they
say, is in the pudding. To that end, Folsom’s latest touring entry into
the world of live theatre sound was first placed out for public consumption
at Washington D.C.’s renovated Warner Theatre on August 6th.
“I thought it sounded great during rehearsal,” Folsom recalls of the debut
of his high-flying, lightweight rig. “But you can never really tell for
sure until you get the house full of people. Later, during the show’s
second song, Melissa’s manager, Bill Leopold, came down from the balcony
with a huge smile, and told me it sounded better upstairs than down on
the main floor.
“Afterwards, I immediately called Ross Ritto at Sound Image, and told
him that now I’ll be able to retire knowing that quality audio really
is available in the balcony. That really is a comforting thought, especially
in an age when there are no more cheap tickets.”
Dwight Hammel is a free-lance broadcast audio (A1) engineer working in the Philadelphia-Baltimore area.
September/October 2001 Live Sound International