Musical theatre has seen a significant rise in popularity across the region, with a resultant demand for high quality audio systems, as evidenced by Cadac's regional success. Mamma Mia! recently opened in its third Korean city, SeongNam, following the high profile Korean-language production of Disney's The Lion King, which opened last October in the Charlotte Theatre at LotteWorld. The musical is a joint production between Shiki Theatrical Company and Disney Theatrical Productions, and represents the inaugural production for the Charlotte Theatre, which is the first dedicated musical theatre to be constructed within South Korea. The two other current musicals within the country include Evita at the LG Arts Centre, and Miss Saigon, which is on a national tour. All these productions underline the Cadac J-Type's position as a console of choice for top-end musical productions.
Cadac's digital audio products have also featured in two major theatre installations recently, involving the 19" Digital Series Stage Rack (DSSR), which combines the M16 Remote Controlled Microphone Amplifier and the X16 MADI Merge Unit for applications requiring a comprehensive multi-channel audio distribution system across both analogue and digital domains. The Pohang Theatre involves a 64-channel DSSR system, installed in the 1000-seat Grand Performance Hall. Comprising four M16s, one X16 and a RM16 remote control unit, the DSSR operates in conjunction with the theatre's main FOH Yamaha PM5-D-RH console, in addition to their analogue Venice 320 mixing console. The theatre's main speaker system comprises L-Acoustic's Kudo, with SB218 subs and a dV-Dosc centre cluster.
Another large scale Cadac DSSR installation is in the Sejong Center's Grand Theatre in Seoul. This 3000-seat auditorium is designed to stage a wide range of production types, with an international reputation for its excellent acoustics and sound facilities. The 96-channel DSSR comprises six M16s, two X-16s, and two RM16s, which were supplied and installed by Dreamsound, as with the Pohang Theatre's system. Every facility is used to the maximum, demonstrating the essence of the DSSR design concept by providing mic pres on the front-end of the entire audio system in both the analogue and digital domains. MADI outputs from each M16 route to the main Stagetec Aurus console, located in the control room. In addition, each mic channel is simultaneously routed in the analogue domain, to the control room, FOH Midas XL4 console and the monitor position.
(Chris Henry)
