Great music, astounding dance moves, exceptional set visuals and first class sound… all these qualities can be found at London’s Novello Theatre where Into The Hoods, a comedic ‘urban fairy tale’ twist on Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into The Woods, has been in residence since March after initial runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006 and 2007.
Produced by Phil McIntyre Entertainment and the ZooNation UK Dance Company, ambitiously directed and choreographed by Kate Prince, and designed by Chris Lowe, Into The Hoods is unlike any other show currently in the West End. The larger-than-life characters — Rap-On-Zel, Spinderella, Fairy Gee, Lil’ Red, Prince, Wolf, Jaxx and the incomparable Landlord, among others — are central to a string of questionable dealings on the Ruff Endz Estate. Scene changes within the graffiti-adorned set are effected through the video medium, and in the absence of conventional acting, the storyline is conveyed by Josh Cohen’s pre-recorded narration and the eyeball-popping choreography.
The show is knitted together by a soundtrack that contains clips from no less than 183 tracks by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Massive Attack, Sam Cooke, Jay-Z, Chaka Khan and Dizzee Rascal.
Rory Madden is the sound designer charged with ensuring that these classics, and all other audio elements, are enjoyed to the max by the audience. It was his ‘repair’ work on the Rod Stewart musical Tonight’s The Night that first brought him to the attention of Phil McIntyre. Further work on Little Britain Live and the League Of Gentlemen tour earned even greater trust from the producer. Since then, Madden has designed sound systems for the lion’s share of McIntyre’s shows.
Danilo ‘DJ’ Walde assembled the ‘cut and paste’ soundtrack and the result was mastered using such devices as Bass Wave under Madden’s supervision and with Al Ashford’s assistance. All audio and visual material is stored on multiple Doremi hard drives presided over by George Pakenham for instant play-out. “As the clips were imported from various sources, from vinyl and CDs to MP3s, the challenge was to make everything sound big and fat in all the right places, and less chintzy in others,” said Madden.
Madden’s choice for the main sound system is HK Audio’s Cohedra Compact line array. The sound designer discovered the system whilst working on shows in Germany. “I remembered hearing the system and thinking how incredibly powerful it was for size of the boxes.”
“This show, with its diverse range of music, requires a lot of rich sub low end but there’s a weight-loading issue at the Novello, with only 250kg allowed per point, so I had to be careful about which boxes I used. I immediately thought back to that German experience and realised that HK had just the right power-to-weight ratio solution. I needed low end wherever I could stick it and, for me, this was the only thing that ticked all the criteria.”
Powered by Lab.gruppen FP+ Series FP 10000Q amplifiers, the main system is configured in left-centre-right hangs, with 12 Cohedra Compact CDR 108C speakers in the left and right arrays, and a centre array of six CDR 210F subs. There is a cluster of two HK ConTour CTA 208 mid-highs and three CT 118 subs in each front balcony box, and these are replicated and in left/right ground stack formations at the sides of the stage (with two CT 118s per side).
Madden: “We’ve also got 12 small CT 108 delay speakers all around the room because the balcony seats extend really high and even coverage, without resorting to high volume levels, is especially important for this show.” Also deployed are two self-powered side fill systems for performer monitoring — namely, a CT 115 15” cabinet on top of a CTA 118 sub, per side.
“We’re using HK’s filter-based FIRNET controller on this rig,” advised Madden. “I used SMAART for time alignment, although I mostly relied on my ears and sat in every seat, painstakingly adjusting the system until I was satisfied. These programs are great at getting you in the ballpark, but you can’t beat a good pair of ears!”
More about the show.
View the complete article in Total Production magazine.
More about HK Audio.