Duran Audio AXYS Powers Bournemouth, UK Pantomime

UK-based sound designers Jon Higson and Ross Portway recently specified a Duran Audio AXYS Scope system for Cinderella the Bournemouth Pavilion.

"Ross and I had been looking for an opportunity to use the Scope system for a while and Bournemouth proved to be a great time to put the system to the test," says Higson. "We designed the system as a stalls and circle pair [of Axys Scope T2115] with a split L/R center fill for the stalls. The Axys B-121 subs [21" subwoofers with built in amplification and DSP] were stacked two per side in the stalls left and right.

"The system performed flawlessly, sounding great straight out of the box, the T-2115 [three way, full range loudspeaker with built in DSP and amplification] allowed for an impressive amount of headroom, even for pop music style numbers with hairline lavaliere mics where achieving sufficient gain before feedback can sometimes be tricky," he adds.

Higson also made full use of the units eight on-board pre-sets: "I used a combination of the 'sub assisted' and full range pre-sets which allowed for a straightforward system set up with very minimal equalization in what is a difficult sounding room.

"Rigging, set-up, and networking were again simple and easy. We had the PA up, rigged and networked very quickly and in fact found the speakers amazingly light for such a powerful three way box. The subs were musical and again very powerful, important for a sound effects heavy show such as pantomime"

The rest of the system included DPA 4060 lavaliere microphones through Sennheiser SK50 transmitters into Sennheiser 1046 radio receivers to amplify the performers. The desk was a Yamaha PM5D using a Q-Lab system for Click tracks and sound effects, all provided by Blitz Sound.

Cinderella ran December 4-January 11.