The tour commenced in Tokyo's Orchard Hall and was directed by James Mason and produced by William A Cook. As a hugely vibrant production, it delivers a feast of colour, sound and movement. Comprising 54 brass, percussion and 15 visual performers, Blast! is a unique explosion of music and theatre.
Featuring as part of a sophisticated sound system, the Trantec S6000 system was specified by sound designer Mark Wood. Trantec's Richard Ganley collaborated with Woods and Otaritec's Mr Fukatsu from the early planning stages to ensure that all aspects of the system integrated seamlessly.
The restricted 18 MHz (2 x 8 MHz of available RF bandwidth in Japan makes the successful operation of a 32 channel system very challenging, but using techniques such as custom made front-end filters, the Trantec engineers produced a system up to the job.
As an advanced production with 15 musicians playing on stage the radio mic system played an integral role. Mark Wood used Lo-sensitivity DPA 4062 microphones to deal with the high SPL of the instruments. This was a particularly good combination and produced a very natural sound.
The internationally award winning S6000 system was specified for its wide band frequency agility (operating between 779-805 Mhz), which proved enormously useful within Japan's notoriously crowded frequency banding.
Otaritec's Mr Fukatsu explained: " The S6000 was ideal for several reasons. The most important being its enormous flexibility and its wide frequency range. This made the system ideal working in our 'hostile' Japanese frequency environment. We have never experienced another quality RF system with the bandwidth capabilities of the S6000 - simply we don't think anything else could have done the job. Another reason is the minute size of the transmitter - which was perfect for this show, where we needed a discrete and aesthetic solution for the instruments. Additionally, its superb sound quality, coupled with its innovative remote control software made the S6000 system our first choice on Blast!"
Designed exclusively for use in live sound and broadcast applications, Trantec's S6000 system has been successfully deployed on many major musical productions in London's West End, on Broadway and across mainland Europe.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
