Singaporean theatre company Pangdemonium! recently staged Fun Home, the multiple Tony Award-winning production renowned for being the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist. Alcons Audio RR12 point source array modules and VR12 mid-sized versatile monitors ensured that every line of dialogue and lyrics was clearly heard by the enthusiastic audiences.
Staged at Singapore’s 615-seat Drama Centre Theatre, sound design for the production was by Jeffrey Yue of audio design company Ctrl Fre@k, with technical production by The Production People. The Alcons Audio loudspeakers were supplied by Alcons Pro-Ribbon Network Partner Creator’s Solutions.
Being a musical, where every song lyric is as important to the narrative as every line of dialogue, Yue needed to ensure that both the spoken and sung vocals were extremely clear for every member of the audience. The Drama Centre Theatre is a compact venue, with two balconies, so accurate and controlled dispersion of sound was crucial to achieving this.
In his design, Yue chose four Alcons RR12s as a center vocal cluster. These were complemented by four VR12s per side, covering the two circles with a band and vocal mix.
“Accurate reinforcement of voices and instrumentation was crucial,” he says. “The RR12 vocal center cluster provided the best performance in terms of accurate horizontal coverage, thanks to the asymmetric vertical horn which meant there were less potential ceiling reflections. With the style and design approach of the musical, it was also a great opportunity to showcase the pro-ribbon technology of the VR12 point source loudspeakers.”
The RR12 is a point-source ‘building block’ to create tight packed arrays for controlled sound coverage in the widest variety of audience areas. Featuring Alcons’ proprietary RBN602rs 6-inch pro-ribbon driver and a custom-designed 12-inch woofer with 4-inch voice coil, the RR12 has a high performance-to-weight ratio. The RBN602rs is coupled to an asymmetric Morph-Max waveguide, a non-compressing, resonance-free multi-cell guide with wideband, accurate directivity control up to and beyond 20kHz. Designed to be arrayed for stacked or flown applications, dispersion patterns can be achieved in increments of 30°; 30°, 60°, 90°, 120° in the coupling plane, by asymmetric 60° (+20°/-40°) in the non-coupling plane.
The VR12 is a two-way compact, multipurpose loudspeaker for both portable and permanent applications. Featuring the patented RBN601 pro-ribbon driver, the VR12 is ideal for applications where high output, high quality reinforcement is needed. The RBN601 is mounted on a rotatable 90°x40° waveguide and projects with ‘Real-90’ horizontal dispersion up to 20kHz.
“The RR12s and VR12s both have exceptional clarity and natural vocal reproduction, with the pro-ribbon technology allowing for very precise coverage patterns,” says Eugene Tay of Creator’s Solutions. “It meant that the audience could really feel the intimacy of the production and the stage.”
“The producers commented that Fun Home was one of the best sounding shows that their sound department has delivered,” adds Yue. “The accurate imaging of vocals and transparent reinforcement of the musical instruments, delivered through the Alcons system, helped to tell a great story and provide a wonderful musical experience for all.”
