London-based Orbital Sound have supplied Pola Productions with a complex sound system designed by Rick Clarke, comprising d&b and EAW loudspeakers, 22 Trantec S5000 radio microphones, an Amek Recall mixing desk and a battery of remotely-controlled XTA DP226 delay/ EQ units, for their latest West End Musical, Spend, Spend, Spend, starring Barbara Dickson.Tim Sharrett, Orbital's technical support manager, devised an innovative solution (by broadening the application of wireless network links) for sound designers to control the accuracy of equalisation, delay and levels of any speaker within the auditorium. Multi-zone systems can also be simply accessed, even with the audience in place. This makes it possible to tune and realign the speakers in real time, giving increased control, precision and ultimately the best sound quality. The system does not transfer program data, but simply communicates screen, keyboard and mouse data to other computers which operate the equaliser and delay software directly. This makes the system so versatile that the show's sound designer, Rick Clarke, can remotely view and interrogate the 32-channel Trantec Radio Microphone Software from anywhere in the building.
