Anticipating the arrival of off-Broadway hit Oklahoma and the world-premiere of Mandela at London’s The Young Vic, Head of Sound Kyle McPherson was looking to add TiMax TrackerD4 stagetracking to its new d&b audiotechnik Soundscape system in response to requests from both the Oklahoma design team – sound designer Drew Levy and Associate Sam Lerner – and Mandela sound designer, Paul Gatehouse.
These requests sparked a thorough investigation into stagetracking systems by MacPherson and the Young Vic sound team, which subsequently led to the purchase of a TiMax TrackerD4 system with eight sensors and 16 tags for the actors. ‘We looked at all the systems on the market, but TiMax was operationally the better choice, with fewer sensors needed for pinpoint accuracy across the auditorium area and just one tag per actor where some systems required two,’ MacPherson confirms. ‘Because TiMax Tracker was purpose-built for audio, it immediately worked as you’d expect it to.’
The original plan to hire the TiMax TrackerD4 system for the duration of the two new musicals rather than purchase was quickly overturned as the true value and cost-saving potential of owning the system was revealed.
The benefit of TiMax TrackerD4 is that it negates the need for the lengthy process of pre-programming the actor positions into Soundscape which as MacPherson recently discovered on the production of Collaboration: ‘It took three or four days of programing before tech, so that’s 30 person-hours we have saved by getting tracking. Already we’re in a position where we’re saving money.’
Having used the TiMax TrackerD4 on several productions, MacPherson is suitably pleased with the decision to buy: ‘Everyone is really impressed with how natural the show sounds and how easy it was in tech to change elements of the production that affected scenery or blocking, without having to reprogram anything. We would never have been able to achieve that natural sound without TiMax tracking and we’ve saved ourselves so much time.’
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