Renowned sound designer Thomas Strebel has selected Roland M-48 personal mixers for a production of The Fearless Vampire Killers at the Mogador theatre in Paris. An adaptation of Roman Polanski’s 1967 musical comedy movie of the same name, the show has visited various European cities since its debut in 1997, but this is the first time it has been staged in Paris, where Polanski now lives.
Supplied by sound/lighting/video specialist DuShow, a total of 13 Roland M-48 personal mixers are used by the orchestra in the pit to enable each musician to control what they hear during performances. All musicians and the musical director have an M-48, with each mix set to personal requirements.
In charge of the daily production, this was the first time that the theatre’s Audio Manager Bertrand Billon had used the Roland M-48s: ‘I had heard about, but never used or saw them before, but I have to say this product was very exciting,’ he says. ‘The local ambient mic, the inboard reverb, and the possibility to really customise the mixes per musician made them ideal for the show’.
In the theatre, a Stagetec Aurus mixing console at FOH feeds a mix of direct outputs, auxes and groups to a Roland S-Madi REAC Bridge. The signal is then sent to two Roland S-4000D splitter/power distributors and on to the M-48s in the pit. The S-Madi REAC Bridge is a bi-directional signal converter between REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication) and Madi. This enables up to 40x40 channels of digital audio transmission between digital audio mixers/systems via Madi to any REAC-based devices such as the M-48. Both BNC and optical I/O ports are included, along with support for 56/64-channel mode.
REAC Embedded Power provides both power and audio to the M-48 via a single Cat5e cable, greatly simplifying wiring and stage layouts. This low latency, all-digital connection offers a low noise floor, and is optimised for the complex set-up of the orchestra. The REAC protocol allows the Digital Snake’s signal to be split to as many positions as required, such as monitor, broadcast and recording, using the S-4000-D or any standard gigabit Ethernet switch.
The benefit of using the Roland REAC/Madi set-up in this application is the flexibility and control it offers over fixed outputs. With more digital paths to choose from, the sound designer is able to tailor the allocation of channels between the FOH and monitors to their individual requirements. Making it simple to record the performances, the REAC Split Out port provides the audio from REAC or Madi as a separate monitoring or recording audio signal from the main stream. The Split Out supports REAC Embedded Power, which supplies both the audio stream as well as power to the M-48 Live Personal Mixer or S-0808 Digital Snake.
The M-48s can be set up and controlled from a PC/Mac when using with an existing console via the serial port on the S-1608/S-4000S series Digital Snakes or S-Madi. At the Mogador Theatre, the M-48s are controlled by a PC in the orchestra pit.
The M-48 enables control of up to 40 audio channels via 16 stereo groups and 38 of these channels are used for this production. Channel assignment on the M-48 for up to 16 stereo groups is set using a simple matrix. ‘We use almost all the channels [38 in total] to give each musician the best opportunity to split their own instruments as the drummer wants separate drums mics, the percussionist also, separated guitars for guitarist, and so on,’ Billon says. ‘This means more work for us during rehearsals, but then it’s a real pleasure not to hear about musicians’ mix issues. As our show goes for one year, that’s the kind of enhancement we are very happy to achieve. Another big saving in terms of design, is that in this particular type of musical set-up, we usually have to take care of the output channels counts that we have to share between FOH, stage monitors and pit monitor at a very early stage. Since this system allows us to build a custom matrix out of 40 channels, and then again to mix 16 channels out of those matrices, we are free to achieve the best distribution set-up.’
REAC Embedded Power is a Roland technology that enables the transfer of not only digital audio but also the power required by the connected device via one Cat5e cable. The S-4000D Splitter and Power Distributor is equipped with ten REAC ports including eight ports of REAC Embedded Power and will automatically detect and distinguish a product not supporting REAC Embedded Power. The S-4000D is required to use the M-48s.
Roland M-48s are also being used in productions of The Commitments, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Miss Saigon and Made in Dagenham in London’s West End.
