Bringing Kong to life

Boasting the largest animatronic puppet ever created for the stage, King Kong required sound production of an equally epic scale, as Alice Gustafson discovers...

Lead actors can be demanding at the best of times, but what if a stage show’s main character weights 1.1 tonnes and stands at 6m tall? Allow Pro Audio Asia to explain.

The 1933 film King Kong saw opportunist Carl Denham exclaim to excited theatre-goers: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong; the eighth wonder of the world!’, and since June this year audiences in Melbourne’s Regent Theatre have been given the chance to do just that.

Brainchild of the relatively young Australian company Global Creatures, which found success through its first animatronics-lead production of Walking With Dinosaurs –The Arena Spectacular, 2013’s King Kong stage show is no less ambitious, and presented the company’s biggest challenge yet. Five years in the making, the multi-million dollar production features a cast of more than 40 actors, singers, dancers and circus performers, in addition to the all-important three-pronged puppeteer team: the King’s Men puppeteers, the Stage Automation team and Voodoo animatronics.

Wanting to make headlines for all the right reasons and not just for its big star, show management swiftly turned its attention to ensuring that the audio was of the highest standard. Following a long-standing relationship with Global Creatures, show producer Carmen Pavlovic approached local company System Sound for audio support.

‘The sound design for King Kong is the culmination of several years work by the audio team led by our sound designer Peter Hylenski,’ Simon Matthews, the show’s associate sound designer, tells Pro Audio Asia. ‘From a technical perspective, the massive scale of the physical production required the most attention. It was not simply the case that we would be able to put a speaker or piece of equipment wherever we liked – every department needed to share.’

Enter US company PRG, which supplied the necessary sound equipment, which in turn was put together by Mr Matthews himself. System Sound was then tasked with providing local support and service for all sound equipment used in the production.

‘This production is like no other,’ smiles Richard Martin, head of technical production, Global Creatures. (The company’s animatronics arm, Global Creature Technology is responsible for building the doomed beast at its Melbourne workshop.)

‘It is truly groundbreaking in its use of the large puppet, paired with modern visuals effects and music that is more pop orientated than the traditional musical theatre-style. Call it a mash-up of MTV meets live theatre!

‘My role is to assist in realising the designers’ dreams within the producers’ means,’ he clarifies. ‘The technical challenges with Kong come with engineering. We have over 50,000kg of suspended equipment (including Kong!), which meant working closely with engineers in three countries to coordinate a safe install for the production. Needless to say, it has been quite a challenge due to the three disciplines that control and operate the creature – Kong is very robust but also quite fragile. With nearly 50 axis inside him, he is full of electronics but on the same hand, he requires humans to delicately manipulate certain movements.’

Long before Kong was shackled to the Regent Theatre’s stage, Mr Martin busied himself with overseeing the equipment list whilst it was being tendered out for contracting, and liaised with the design team, the equipment supplier and System Sound to see that all was installed to satisfaction.

After working with the latter company for over 24 years, the audio specialist’s team has earned Mr Martin’s complete trust. ‘It goes without saying that we required experienced local support for this huge undertaking, even more so as all the equipment came out of New York. Having worked with System Sound on many other large musicals, they were the natural choice to partner up on this production.’

Naturally, much of the show’s success rests on the key role the audio plays; ‘After all, it is a musical!’ laughs Mr Martin. ‘All the music and singing must be broadcast in the best possible manner. Without a professionally installed and managed sound system the production would suffer greatly.’

As with most productions, there are always inevitable and tight time constraints to work within. However King Kong faced an additional challenge due to the fact that the equipment that was being rented needed to be shipped in from PRG’s US location. ‘That alone meant that about 45 days were needed to allow for the equipment to travel by ship to Melbourne,’ Mr Matthews shares.

That equipment comprised no less than 154 speakers, including the main system made up of Meyer Sound’s M'elodie, UPJ-1P, MSL-4, UP4-XP, UPM-1P, MM-4, UP-Junior and UPQ-1Ps with Sub 1100s, 700HPs and UMS-1P providing low end support. In addition, d&b Audiotechnik E8, E6 and E0 speakers provide the surround sound, whilst the sound effects system uses a combination of Figure 53’s Qlab live show control software and Meyer’s D'Mitri digital audio platform. Meanwhile, at FOH is a 42 fader Studer Vista 5 console, a known favourite of the show’s designer.

Voice of Kong

It is only fitting that a puppet of this scale brought with it some sizable challenges of its own, one being working around ways to perfect Kong’s ‘voice’ as per the director’s specific requirements.

‘Peter spent many hours working on the voice of Kong to capture the many emotions required by this 6m marionette, and continues to work closely with Harley Durst who performs Kong's voice on a daily basis,’ explains Shelly Lee, Australian sound associate for the production.

‘The big challenge was getting Kong’s voice right,’ agrees Mr Martin. ‘Our designer and sound team worked hard on this, and with success. What we needed was a lot of bass and subwoofers – more than any other musical – to give Kong that deep, growling voice.’

Sharing Carl Denham’s vision, Mr Martin enthuses: ‘we want all who see the show to quiver with fear, but enjoy it totally! The sound has been designed uniquely for King Kong – all the equipment has been placed precisely where the designer wanted it and was tailored to exactly what was needed. After all, poor sound means poor production quality, which translates to poor audience enjoyment and thus poor ticket sales, then attendance. Our job is to present the best,’ he beams.

‘For me, it has been more a case of: were we able to design a system that could truly bring life to King Kong?’ adds Mr Matthews. ‘In that sense, I think we did. When you see the massive size of Kong himself you quickly realise that the scale of the sound has to be able to match that, and in many ways enhance it. This is not simply a case of sheer volume alone; it is about dimension and depth. The system that was installed not only allows us to give a voice to Kong, but place him in a sonic universe.’

King Kong will continue to scale the Empire State Building (within the confines of the Regent Theatre) until March 2014 before heading off overseas – with the aim of getting a production on Broadway.

‘A lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into making this show occur,’ smiles Mr Martin. ‘Every technical department has excelled itself to ensure we give the very best support to the big beast. As for the audio, it is performing extremely well, the system operates smoothly, without issue and audiences never complain!’

Indeed, all signs so far indicate success levels rivalling Walking With Dinosaurs, as since opening just five months ago Mr Hylenski has won a prestigious Helpmann Award for Best Sound Design, while the show itself has won in the category of Outstanding Theatrical Achievement.

‘All projects have challenges,’ concludes Mr Matthews. ‘If they don't they are probably not worth working on! Whether the challenges are technical or artistic, the solution is always hard work, ingenuity, collaboration, and sometimes a little luck. On King Kong we experienced all of these – and usually daily.

‘What I am most proud of is what we are able to deliver to the audience. It is not about making them think, “wow, this is a great sound”. It is about creating a dynamic experience and contributing to that in anyway we can. As sounds designers we provide the best tools for the artists that perform the show every night.’

www.creaturetechnology.com
www.dbaudio.com
www.global-creatures.com
www.meyersound.com
www.prg.com
www.systemsound.com.au