which is obviously a significant concern in
theatre, McMillan reports. “Our tech days
are killer,” he enthuses, adding they would
normally pull the batteries for a recharge
at the breaks, though during tech days
for Joseph, he “did not pull batteries and
still had lots of life and battery at the end
of a 12-hour day with it going full bore. It
shaves about 30 minutes off the schedule
on tech days, which is certainly appreciated
by the crew.” The batteries are also
monitored from FOH using Sennheiser’s
Wireless Management System.
As far as the FOH mix, McMillan says
that for him and the other engineers
manning the consoles, a show like Joseph
and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is
like “a freight train going 100 miles an hour.”
“I’ve got a lot of vocal dynamics
happening where I basically have, vocally,
three layers in the mix. Oftentimes, I’ve got
a lead vocal telling the story, so I can’t lose
that, but then I’ll get 20 people behind the
lead vocal doing a choral ‘ah’ for a certain
number of bars. So I’ve got to pull back
for those, and then they come in with
lyrics, like background vocals, so the mix
is changing a lot on top of the fact that
the show is moving at 100 miles per hour,”
explains McMillan. “Then you’ve got to
squeeze the band mix in there as well and
retain the clarity on it. So it’s moving a lot
of microphones in big groups.”
For the orchestra microphones,
McMillan says he is enjoying a number
of new Sennheisers there as well, such as
the e914 instrument mics that he loves as
overheads on percussion, in addition to
Sennheiser e908Bs and e609s. “We’ve got
some Sennheiser MK4s, which I just did a
symphony with a slew of those and loved
them to death and we’ve also used them
for off-stage singing.” There are also AKG
535s that he favours for their versatility
on everything from hi-hats to flute, guitar,
or vocals. And, of course, there is also a
complement of good ol’ Shure 58s and
57s. “Just recently in this package, we got
some Radial [Pro48] DIs as well, which have
made a big difference having the active DIs
instead of our passive DIs on bass. It’s made
a huge difference,” adds McMillan.
42 • PROFESSIONAL SOUND
Rounding out Drayton’s latest upgrade are
the eight new Apple Mac Mini computers
with Behringer FCA610 interfaces and
QLab licences for each theatre. These are
replacing the previous PCs running Stage
Research’s SFX sound playback software.
“To be able to go to eight outputs now
is also nice for those odd shows, where
before we were limited somewhat with
effects speakers because SFX was only
allowing us to do six outputs with our
audio interfaces. So left-centre-right-sub
was taking up four, so that left me with
really only two effects speakers on stage
sometimes. So now having eight available
just makes it that much better for us to get
creative if we want to,” says McMillan.
“Drayton
has receivers
that look like
they just came
out of the
box because
they sat in the
rack, but the
belt pack, in
the theatre
situation, lives
a rough life.”
- David Angus
Overall, Blair reports
ALLEN & HEATH DLIVE S7000 WITH MAC MINI
that the move from
& BEHRINGER FCA610 IN THE ST. JACOBS
analog to digital
COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE
consoles and
incorporating all the
new gear has been a
seamless transition
for both Angus
Audio and Drayton
Entertainment. He
credits part of that
to David Brown of
Erikson Pro, Allen
& Heath’s Canadian
distributor, lending
them a loaner dLive
S5000 for a month before the
purchase was made. This allowed
“I’ve seen 90 per cent of their productions
McMillan and other Drayton crew to get
and they are literally world-class. They really
hands-on with the console and even test how
are and, I mean, these are Broadway-quality
it would be to manage a show with it before
shows,” enthuses Dave Angus. “We want
committing to the purchase.
to work with people who are realistic and
“I can’t do what I do without these guys
understanding of situations and want to
and the level of support I get,” McMillan says
of Angus Audio. “I have often said to the guys
work as a team and not advancing their own
that ‘I wish I knew you guys in my previous life.’ agendas. That is really important with Drayton.
The relationship has been great and I can’t say
We pick and choose who we want to deal
enough good things about them and I get a
with and Drayton Entertainment is a great
ton of support.”
organization like that.”
The feelings are obviously mutual as
Dave Angus, Marshall Angus, and Jason
Blair all gush about the team at Drayton
Entertainment – their professionalism, passion,
Michael Raine is the Senior Editor
of Professional Sound.
and the quality of the shows they stage.