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YORK, NY – DECEMBER 6, 2002 – The Radio City Christmas
Spectacular®, starring the world-famous Radio City Rockettes,
returns to Radio City Music Hall for more than 200 performances
this holiday season. The 2002 Edition of The Christmas Spectacular
features a cast of more than 140 people, including a thirty-five
piece orchestra. This year, Sound Designer Dan Gerhard chose JBL’s
VERTEC™ Line Array speakers powered by Crown amplifiers
for the grueling schedule of up to six shows per day.
Gerhard specified
the VERTEC/Crown system after successfully using a system at another
event. “VERTEC provides excellent full-range sound for music
from the orchestra as well as pristine clarity for spoken word,
which is crucial for this show,” said Gerhard. “The
requirement at Radio City is for a sound system to cover from
top to bottom, which is about a 90º vertical throw when the
speakers are flown above the set as they are for this show, which
VERTEC is very capable of handling.
“Also,
from an audio standpoint, the Christmas Spectacular uses a lot
of headset lavalier microphones which can cause many problems.
The more coherent the sound is in the room and the more impact
it therefore has, you can keep a lower overall level, which is
important. The greater the clarity, the less volume you need for
the audience to hear the details of the show. VERTEC provides
this clarity, so the show can be clearly heard without the high
volume that could cause listener fatigue and feedback.”
The audio challenges of this ninety-minute show are staggering. Two Midas
H3000 consoles are operated by sound engineers Tommy Arrigoni
and Russ Lynn. The orchestra requires 75 inputs, with a dozen
live microphones for performers on stage, and many channels dedicated
to prerecorded program. The entire show is run to time code to
allow audio from the 3-D introductory film, prerecorded materials
and sound effects to be precisely integrated with the live music,
dancing and acting on stage. The VERTEC system is made up of two
arrays flown above the stage. Each array contains fifteen VT4889
and two of the new compact VT4887 line arrays. Forty-two Crown
MacroTech 5002VZ amplifiers provide the power. Processing is handled
by two BSS 366 OmniDrives.
“The
VERTEC system’s performance is excellent. In fact I have
even had comments from the lighting people saying they have heard
things they never heard before. What I notice the most is the
clarity – the midrange is far superior to anything we have
ever used. This is where the orchestra lies, in the mids –
getting definition in the reeds and other instruments is critical,”
stated Lynn. “I have also used a lot less channel equalization
than usual. We are running lavalier mics with no equalization
and getting lots of gain and clarity from the VERTEC speakers.
I have never come close to feedback with these lavaliers. The
orchestra is sounding bigger than it ever has. The sound is a
100% improvement over anything we have done before.”
The VERTEC sound system was installed in October as preparation began for
the shows. Sound rental company Promix provided the system and
assisted in the installation. “Setting up the VERTEC rig
was a breeze. The rigging and its simplicity blow away the other
line arrays,” said Arrigoni. “Tuning the system was
simple and painless. There was very little change from the factory
set ups for the VT4889, mostly to compensate for the needs of
an orchestra compared to the average amplified musical performance
for which the system would generally be used. If I was doing a
rock show, I don’t think I would have made any changes.”
“The
response has been nothing short of wildly enthusiastic. Even people
who usually don’t comment on sound have told us they hear
parts and instruments they never heard before. Everyone is aware
of the improvement and impressed by it,” according to Gerhard.
“I don’t like to describe audio systems or speakers
in non-technical terms, but it’s hard not to with VERTEC.
These are just very natural sounding speakers – they are
very musical – they sound like the band.”
The Radio
City Christmas Spectacular debuted in 1933; one year after the
Music Hall opened its doors for the first time. Originally performed
as a holiday “gift” between movie screenings, The
Radio City Christmas Spectacular began its full 90-minute format
to overwhelming public response in 1979. The show quickly developed
into a holiday tradition for families around the world. This year,
more than one million people are expected to attend the show at
Radio City Music Hall, making it the #1 live show in America.
Headquartered
in Northridge, California, JBL Professional is the world’s
leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of professional loudspeakers
for recording and broadcast, musician, cinema, touring sound,
commercial sound and contracting applications. JBL Professional
is part of the Harman International network of professional and
consumer audio companies. For complete product and company information,
go to the JBL Pro website at www.jblpro.com.
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