Meyer Brings Contemporary Quality to Hair's 60's Sound

Centre cluster at Sydney's Capital Theatre

Now in revival on the Australian stage, the rock musical Hair is bringing to life the spirit of a social revolution more than three decades past. But while the vibe dates from the 60s, the production's sound technology is definitively contemporary. Designed by Julian Spink of System Sound in Prahran, Victoria, the audio incorporates a richer set of elements than the original production, and benefits from a far fuller, cleaner sound than was possible at the time. To make it work in two different venues, each with its own characteristics and limitations, Spink built his design on a combination of precise, versatile sound reinforcement loudspeakers from Meyer Sound.

Spink recalls being told that the PA system for the original Hair involved amplification of just a half-dozen Shure SM-58 vocal mics. In contrast, he says, the current production is "done to a modern taste. We have sound-effects replay, band reinforcement, and vocal reinforcement. All of the band instruments are miked and all of the cast are fitted with boom-style radio mics. We also gave most of the band individual headphone mixing systems to assist in reducing the onstage band level, which cuts the spill into the omnidirectional headset mics." 

Hair's run covers several weeks each in Sydney and Melbourne. "Sydney's Capitol Theatre is probably the easier of the two to design a system for," Spink says. He describes the 2,000-seat venue as a long, wedge-shaped, two-tiered space with textured plaster walls and a domed ceiling hung with some acoustic baffles. It's the curved plaster of the ceiling that presents the biggest challenge. "The reflections can be nasty," Spink says, "causing loss of intelligibility. To adequately cover the entire balcony without rigging delay speakers in the balcony circle, you need tight pattern control to avoid reflecting off that curved roof. And it's wise to keep the pattern of the speakers such that reflections from the walls are minimized as well."

In Melbourne's 1,625 seat Her Majesty's Theatre, meanwhile, the configuration is different — stalls, mezzanine, and circle — but some of the challenges are similar. "The circle has a number of hard-faced solid plaster surfaces that reflect sound rather too well," Spink explains, "which once again makes pattern control important."  

Overall, Spink continues, the requirement for both venues is to have "adequate sound-pressure level to suit the genre, tight pattern control to keep high sound pressure levels off reflective walls and ceilings, and also to provide sufficient loop gain." 

The core of Spink's solution is Meyer Sound's MSL-4 horn-loaded long-throw loudspeaker. "Two things are good in general about Meyer's self-powered approach," he says. "The cabling of a system can be more creative and suit the specific application, and the boxes stand a much better chance of sounding the same no matter who supplies them. Being self-powered also means that each box can be separately delayed and equalized, which in turn means greater control over how a cluster of these boxes sounds."

Explaining the specific choice of the MSL-4s, Spink says that his priority in the specification process is always pattern control and coverage, as well as the size of the box. "Is it going to fit in the space available? The size of the box becomes a problem if you require a high SPL for the genre of the show, and also if the designer and lighting designer wish to use a wide and high proscenium opening onto the stage."

Spink says the MSL-4s not only fit in the available space, but also give him the tight pattern control and high SPL output he needs. "This is a great choice," he says, "for louder theatrical rock musicals where you need to keep audio reflections off of adjacent surfaces." Spink uses 10 of the cabinets in his centre cluster, five "tight-packed" at 15 degrees over three at 30 degrees, with another two at about 40 degrees for use as downfill and mounted between the middle three. 

"Tight pattern downfill horns seemed like a good idea," Spink says, "because the truss for the show's peace sign had to fly to the extreme of the proscenium opening, which pushed us higher than we would've really preferred. Overall, the cluster has a tight pattern at the top — with the outer of the five arrayed MSL-4s on a separate feed — and wider coverage on the three middle boxes." 

On the proscenium sides, Spink is using three flown PSW-4 high-power flyable subwoofers tight-packed over two MSL-4s at 30 degrees. "The PSWs provide some near-field sub-low energy to the circle," he says, "and the MSL-4s have about a 10 degree up-tilt so that the trim height can be kept low, which is good for helping the band and vocal image." 

Spink also uses a ground stack on each side of the proscenium. Each stack is made up of three MSL-4s over three DS-4P horn-loaded mid-bass loudspeakers and three 650-P high-power subwoofers. Each side also uses a single stand-mounted MSL-4 for side-fill stage monitoring. For front fill, meanwhile, Spink chose eight UPM-2P ultra-compact narrow coverage loudspeakers, which are mounted under the peace sign. 

The combined system, Spink says, has "ample headroom and exciting dynamics. I'm very pleased with how it turned out." Reviewer Bill Perrett of Melbourne daily newspaper The Age describes the sound as combining "guts and clarity." Perhaps most satisfying to Spink, however, was the reaction of Hair's local director, David Atkins, who had also directed the Sydney Olympics 2000 opening and closing ceremonies. "I knew one aspect of this show that would be difficult," Spink says, "would be to satisfy the director, who is well known for both exciting show levels and exacting standards. I'm happy to say that we delivered the goods; he is extremely pleased with the results."

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MSL-4
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