Live Design: “I would have loved to do a new approach for Zarkana, but Radio City Music Hall is an historic building, so there are very few places you can put speakers,” explains sound designer Steve Dubuc, who has worked on various productions for Cirque du Soleil from Alegria to Zaia.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Zarkana: Sound Design
Live Design: “I would have loved to do a new approach for Zarkana, but Radio City Music Hall is an historic building, so there are very few places you can put speakers,” explains sound designer Steve Dubuc, who has worked on various productions for Cirque du Soleil from Alegria to Zaia.
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It's nice that this article touches on the sound for Zarkana, but more focus on the things that make Zarkana unique when compared to other Cirque shows and musicals would have been beneficial. The tech time for Zarkana was condensed, with only about four hours really given to the sound department to optimize the MICA system mentioned, rather than the typical 40+ hours. The article talks about the D-Mitri system, which is of particular interest because we recently acquired a smaller version of this system for the Chosky, but doesn't talk about how AVB isn't ratified yet, forcing D-Mitri to use a proprietary format called G-Net, which I'm sure caused the sound design team some new challenges.
Mr. Dubac's personal story is also an intriguing one, having gone from a sound project manager at Cirque and working with designer's to technically implement systems, to now being a designer on a handful of their shows.
It's interesting to hear a designer talk about the drawbacks of a space, especially when other events, notably the Tony Awards, have a history of struggling with sound issues at Radio City Music Hall. Mr. Dubac presents some smart solutions, considering he is meeting the dual challenges of doing a Cirque show, and it being a Cirque show whose house was not built with the show in mind, as most Vegas Cirque shows are. In addition, most Cirque shows don't have a running spoken/sung narrative, so it's cool to hear him talk about having to factor the performers' voices in more as well.
After having the privilege of seeing my first Cirgue show this summer I walked away confused about the concept of sound designer for a show like in which a live band performed. I know it's a rather childlike thought to be expressing here on this public forum, however it's the truth. Why is it considered design when it's actually just technical abilities? Well, now I understand after reading this article to area of sound design that I had not fully understood: sound position and direction. I always considered those concepts to be technically related however this article guided me along with designers thought processes in terms of speaker placement and I thank it for that
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