| He continued, “To
ensure that the dynamics, texture and transparency
of the music were preserved and that we were able
to accurately judge the audio balances, we chose
to follow a traditional live mixing position mid
theatre. The physical construction of the System
5 enabled us to simply move sections of the mixer
control surface and run a fibre link back to the
processing racks. This made the mix position much
less intrusive to patrons than moving a whole console,
which was previously our only option.”
David Claringbold, Technical Manager, Sound and
Audio Visual at the Sydney Opera House, is the
man who squarely bears responsibility for AV on
the whole gamut of shows that happen at 'The House'
each day. He is hugely impressed with the Euphonix
systems: “We purchased a System 5 console for
the Opera Theatre in 2001. Its capabilities have
proven to be just as expansive as we envisaged
and it has been solidly reliable in what is probably
the busiest theatre venue in the world. Our largest
venue, the Concert Hall, hosts an incredibly diverse
array of performances, ranging from symphony concerts
to the biggest names in contemporary music and,
of course, extraordinary events like 'The Lord
of the Rings Symphony'. This new System 5 enables
rapid show turnaround, instant recall of settings,
increased ergonomic efficiency and superb sonic
performance.”
He added, “Along with the System 5 Concert Hall
purchase we were also able to address the needs
of the Drama Theatre, for which we chose the smaller
Euphonix Max Air console. Now we’re in the luxurious
position of having premium digital consoles in
each of our three main indoor venues ? the Opera
Theatre, Concert Hall and Drama Theatre. Quite
simply they sound incredible. Their flexibility
and power combined with an extraordinary level
of sonic purity mean that we are now meeting a
level of expertise and production capability that
was previously unattainable. As this production
has shown, it’s a level of technical capability
which is being increasingly requested of a venue
of our calibre.”
Euphonix is no stranger to 'The Lord of The Rings'.
In fact the three Euphonix System 5-F digital
consoles at Park Road Post, a division of The
Film Unit, in New Zealand, were used for 'The
Return of the King' which subsequently won an
Oscar for Sound Mixing.
The Film Unit purchased their first System 5-F
in 2000 for work on the 'The Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring', which was Oscar nominated
for 'Achievement in Sound' in 2002. A second System
5-F was added in 2002 for dubbing 'The Lord of
the Rings: The Two Towers', also nominated for
Achievement in Sound in 2003. A third System 5-F
was installed with the two other consoles in a
completely new facility during 2003 and all three
were used for dubbing this final episode in the
trilogy.
In choosing Euphonix System 5 The Film Unit joined
many of the world’s major film post production
facilities including Pinewood Shepperton (UK),
Deluxe Laboratories (Ontario Canada), Digital
Factory (Normandy, France), Skywalker Sound (Nicasio,
CA), Todd A-O (Santa Monica/LA), Technicolor (LA),
Soundstorm (Burbank, CA) and at the USC Film School
on the Spielberg/Lucas stages (LA).
Having been involved in mixing the movie soundtracks
and now mixing 'The Lord of the Rings Symphony'
live, System 5 has quite a history with the trilogy
and has played an integral part in its success.
When the Middle Earth opera house is built, you
can be fairly sure the hobbits will be shopping
at Euphonix for their audio mixing requirements!
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