ProSoundWeb | Here Comes the Sun Theater!

Here Comes the Sun Theater!
By Debra Kaufman

Right around the corner from “the happiest place on earth” (that would be Disneyland) is the Sun Theater, a hot-spot for live concerts in Anaheim and surrounding Orange County.

Monitor console at the Sun Theatre (in background: Reel Big Fish)

Recent and upcoming concerts include a wide range of music, from the accoustic Indigo Girls, and country’s Lucinda Williams, to the harder-edged sounds of Everclear and Crystal Method, as well as nostalgia-tinged acts like the Beach Boys, Kansas, the Righteous Brothers and the Charlie Daniels Band.

A multi-tiered club-style venue with a proscenium stage with an apron, the Sun Theater is a sophisticated spot that accommodates 1,400 people, or 1,000 when the concert includes an elegant dinner.

It’s been a major transformation for a theater that most recently was Tinseltown, a theatrical venue that hosted corporate shows and supper clubs, with a speaker system designed for speech rather than music. Tasked with turning this theater into a premiere concert auditorium, in late 1999, production manager Ray Woodbury, a veteran concert tour manager, turned to Industrial Sound & Touring Technologies, an El Segundo, CA company that specializes in concert audio. Though Industrial Sound has a great deal of experience in live concerts, corporate work and other events, this was to be their first high-profile club install.

To keep costs down, the Sun Theater management asked Industrial Sound to re-use as much existing gear as possible.

Chris Wrightsman, processing.

Another concern was sightlines, to make sure that the new PA didn’t block seats, making them unable to be sold. With Industrial Sound’s Greg Dean and Phil Mata as the primary installers, and assistance from Chris Wrightsman, the install team also faced the challenge of a large of number of audio “zones” in addition to the concert hall, including a bar/café area, courtyard, bathrooms and dressing rooms.

“It was an intense network of sound going on that lent to the ambience,” says Wrightsman. “Sun management wanted to keep that flavor going.”

After devising a system and getting it approved, Industrial Sound took a couple of weeks to set up and fine-tune the system. To network the main PA with all the others, they used Peavey’s Media Matrix digital control software program which both routes the signals and equalizes the speaker clusters. Another challenge was integrating the new set-up with the old one, which had been very professionally done.

“Deciphering the old system took some effort, as well as integrating the new PA with what was there,” says Wrightsman. “We had to focus on it and make sure it was correct and also to keep the clean look.” The Sun’s power for sound is 225 amp 3-phase camlock.

The front-of-the-house system includes the Yamaha PM3500 52 channel (48 mono/4 stereo) console, Mackie Digital 8 Bus V2.0 sub mixer and EAW MX800i/Media Matrix crossover. “The Yamaha 3500 is a very versatile console,” says Wrightsman. “We’re able to use their 8 matrixes to route audio to many different areas at the Sun.”

Legendary tour manager, sound mixer, and guitarist, from San Francisco, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bobby Mack!

In addition to Media Matrix for equalization, the system utilizes one BSS FCS-960 1/3 octave Eq inserted over the stereo buss. For effects, they have two Yamaha SPX 990, one Yamaha Pro R3 and one Yamaha D5000 Delay. Four Shure receivers at the front of the house comprise the wireless capability, and record/playback devices include a Tascam CD-A500 CD/Cassette deck, Tascam DA-30 Mk II DAT and Sony JE-520 MiniDisc.
“The EAW JF260 mid-house delay speakers are crisp and clear and add that needed punch as the top-end drops out a bit in the rear of the showroom,” says Wrightsman. “EAW 850s – what can I say – proven performance! They do a great job!”

The monitor system is comprised of a Yamaha M3000 44-channel (40 mono/4 stereo) console; 10 channels of BSS Opal Series 1/3 octave Eq for equalization, 2 Yamaha SPX 990s for effects; 8 Shure UHF wireless receivers on stage; 10 dual 12” and 2” bi-amped wedges, 2 KF650 plus dual 18” sub tri-amped side fills and 2 15”+2” plus dual 15” sub bi-amped drum fill monitors. Amplification consists of 8 bi-amped channels of HED (one is for cue mix) and 2 tri-amped channels of HED.

Microphones include 8 Shure SM-58s, 8 Shure SM-57s, 3 AKG C1000 condensers, one AKG D112, 3 Audix D1s, 2 Audix D2x, 1 Audix D4, 3 Electrovoice BK-1s, 3 ATM63s, 1 ATM25, 6 Shure Beta 58 UHFs and 6 Shure/Beyer UHF Lavs, along with BSS and Whirlwind D.I.’s.

After the gear was installed, Industrial Sound, which ran the system and supplied mixers, re-evaluated the set-up every few months. “We’d change speaker placement and height, to make it sound better,” says Wrightsman, a freelance mixer who worked off and on at the Sun Theater during its early months up and running. When Industrial Sound opted to pull out of running the Sun, to devote time to other projects in development, the Sun Theater management asked Wrightsman if he was interested in being the chief sound engineer.

Tom Ames (FOH for Goldfinger and Reel Big Fish) and friend.

The challenge of running live sound at the Sun Theater includes getting enough good engineers to work concerts. “They’re often on tour or have other gigs,” says Wrightsman. “I keep a roster of about ten guys on the A1 engineer list, look at resumes and try people out to see how they work.

I also have a program of bringing on new engineers, just out of audio school, as interns. At any given time, I have one intern who’s been stepped up to an A2 audio assistant to do cabling.”

Though he’s never had to fire anyone, Wrightsman says he’s honest when an engineer isn’t making the grade. “If their skills aren’t up to par, I might be able to keep them on and not pay them…if they have a good attitude,” he says. “It’s really difficult to find good people, so if I find someone with a good attitude but his skills aren’t up to par, I might hang onto them and train them.”

For Wrightsman, a graduate of the Recording Workshop in Ohio, a personal highlight at the Sun has been mixing for James Brown. Wrightsman originally aimed to be a studio engineer but, hungry for work, he couldn’t turn down a gig doing live sound when a friend offered him the job. His career in live sound took off, and he began touring with bands, which is what brought him to California, first San Francisco, now Los Angeles.

Recently, Wrightsman had the chance to mix on a Showco Showconsole, a console used exclusively by Showco Sound. Featuring complete automation with moving fader technology, it stores hundreds of mixes and completely eliminates the need for multiple consoles in festival situations. “It is the future of live sound mixing,” declares Wrightsman.

In the meantime, he’s happy mixing at the Sun Theater, managing the audio department, and making sure it all works week after week.
“Tools of the Trade” box:

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Yamaha PM 3500
Mackie Digital 8 Bus
EAW MX800i/Media Matrix
BSS FCS 960 EQ
Yamaha SPX 990’s
Yamaha Pro R3 and D5000
EAW KF850’s
EAW KF 650’s
EAW SB58 subs
EAW SM 200’s
EAW JF60’s
EAW UB12’s
QSC Powerlight amps
Yamaha M3000
BSS Opal EQ’s
Yamaha 990’s
Shure UHF