Award Winning Sound Designer Gareth Owen Chooses DirectOut for Elegant Theatrical Production Solutions

	Al Knott as Greaseball in Starlight Express. Photo: Pamela Raith

DirectOut is the creator of multi-function audio processor PRODIGY.MX, currently in use across a range of Gareth Owen Sound (GOS) Productions. These include the recently opened production of Starlight Express at London's Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, and The Devil Wears Prada, which is currently showing at the Theatre Royal Plymouth, and due to open at the Dominion Theatre in October 2024.

Gareth Owen is one of the world's most successful theatrical sound designers. Not only is he responsible for multiple award-winning shows, he is also a pioneer in immersive theatrical sound design. Owen was co-founder of Fourier Audio and still holds the title of CCO, after the sale to DiGiCo in 2023. He is also CEO of software house Show Control Ltd, creators of EnSnap and other software/hardware tools for use exclusively on Gareth Owen Sound productions.

Owen understands exactly what is needed for theatrical storytelling and this is evidenced by his many Best Sound Design awards, including a Tony for MJ the Musical and Olivier Awards for Merrily We Roll Along, Memphis the Musical, and Come from Away. Blending rock and roll presence with theatrical nuance is Owen's signature style and he is exceedingly happy with the streamlined workflow that DirectOut provides, giving his team peace of mind, night after night.

"We have been using DirectOut on our shows for a few years now. Most shows have a pair of PRODIGY.MX and we use the EXBOX.MD a fair bit, too. I love elegance and simplicity, as hard as that might be to believe from my shows!" Owen explains with a wink. "Chris Lambrechts from Avid is a huge proponent of DirectOut and he said that the PRODIGY.MX would replace a lot of other stuff with one elegant box. That was music to my ears!"

PRODIGY.MX is a multi-format audio matrix with a capacity of 1664 x 1668 audio channels. Interfacing with the whole range of audio protocols offered by DirectOut and with powerful DSP functions, it addresses numerous applications. The hardware is modular and the available licenses are granular, making a reliable and stable choice to meet various theatrical applications.

"We use the PRODIGY.MX primarily as a format convertor. For most shows, this is usually from MADI to Dante and back again. We also use it as a matrix router," he says. "However, in recent years we have realized we can retire many of our MADI and Dante backup switchers by doing main-backup changeover inside the PRODIGY. We use the Nemesis OSC GPIO box, coupled to a nice panel with some illuminated switches, and do all our backup switching internally. This massively simplifies our signal path and removes additional points of failure."

Theatrical performances happen every night, for as long as the show runs, and Owen has designed musicals that are still playing to audiences after many years, shows like Back to the Future in London, that opened in August 2021 and is booking until October 2025.

When your show must perform to the same high standard, for years, you need a product you can trust to turn on and work first time, every time. Thanks to EARS (Enhanced Automatic Redundancy Switching), Owen can rest assured that in the event that a back-up is required, switching will be quick and glitch free. The EARS system monitors the condition of the trigger signal on the input and in case of a failure switches automatically to the backup input.

"We have PRODIGY and/or EXBOX.MDs on at least a dozen shows around the world today and they have been nothing but trouble free," Owen explains. "We come out of the MADI cards on the back of the Avid DSP and convert to Dante which forms the backbone of the rest of the sound system. Connection to playback systems, SoundScape processors, amplifiers, and the Fourier transform.engines all flow through the PRODIGY."

Interfacing with the PRODIGY.MX could not be simpler, globcon control manages all DirectOut devices via network - either on Mac or PC. Local display and operation on a touch display facilitates the overview and grants basic control, or third-party control protocols are also available as options.

"Our primary way of interfacing with the units is globcon," Owen says. "While still a relatively new technology, I can certainly see the potential."

Huw Semmens, head of sound and technical for Stage Sound Services (SSS), agrees that globcon has an important role to play in addition to interfacing: "A huge surge towards digital radio mics in theater over the past five years has meant EXBOX.MD, alongside globcon, has been utilized in place of bantam patch bays for radio mic monitoring and patching."

SSS is responsible for the install and rental equipment for many of the Gareth Owen Sound shows, including Starlight Express in the Troubadour. Rental companies work closely with designers to ensure that the equipment specified will be suitable for the show and the venue, as Semmens continues.

"We've been using DirectOut kit since 2013," he says. "The modular nature of PRODIGY is perfect for us. It enables us to carry host units and swap I/O cards to cater for most requests. Following the initial investment, whenever we had a specific task that required a hardware solution, we found that DirectOut already had a suitable product in their line-up. We now have just under 100 DirectOut assets in inventory."

"For Starlight Express, we knew that PRODIGY was intended to convert multiple streams of MADI/Dante in and out of the Avid E6L-192, then switch multiple Dante streams and function as a digital patch-bay for the production's radio mics. These tasks were previously achieved with several Yamaha RMIO64-D, Autograph Signature Series XDANTE-1, and a DirectOut EXBOX.MD, so combining this functionality into one, stable unit made complete sense."

When purchasing and using a DirectOut product, rental companies, designers, and engineers can be assured not only of the product's reliability but also of the service DirectOut offers with support and problem solving.

"Some companies treat support like a necessary evil -- they know they have to do it, but it's given begrudgingly and on their timetable," Owen concludes. "DirectOut are all over it. I don't think I've ever failed to get hold of a qualified engineer on the first call, and I've never waited more than an hour for a sensible email reply. The DirectOut team understand that when we are in the thick of an install, the last thing we need to be doing is opening a Service Ticket. That is invaluable."