For veteran sound designer, Richard Fitzgerald, and his co-designer, Domonic Sack, both of Sound Associates, 'The Rocky Horror Show' could have been a horror show indeed. Broadway's Circle in the Square Theater, where 'Rocky' was running, is a small, horse-shoe shaped space (seating capacity, 623), with a thrust stage - which would present considerable problems for a sound designer, if this were a typical Broadway-style show. But 'Rocky' is not, for a number of reasons.
"90% of the show's action takes place out on the thrust," says Domonic Sack. "Instead of playing in the pit, the band plays onstage, in stereo through two main speaker stacks, 36 feet apart. The audience, no matter where you sit, is visible to each other."
Because of the setup and the nature of the show, Fitzgerald and Sack developed separate sound systems for the band and for vocals; the band sound emanates from the proscenium stage, and the vocals from the thrust. The FOH loudspeakers are from Meyer Sound, with two inverted EAW stereo delays 12'' apart at the closed end of the horseshoe. (Meyer speakers above the stage support the on-stage stacks.) The vocal system, comprised of EAW and Meyer speakers in three concentric rings, is distributed around the horseshoe to the seating areas.
For the 15 wireless vocal mics used in the show, Sound Associates chose the DPA 4065, which Sack describes simply as, "the best you can buy." The 4065's work with two Sennheiser SK50 transmitters and 12 Sony 860's. Sack makes the important point that the DPA's work equally well with both units.
"There are points in the show where the character, Frank N. Futer, is within four feet of a loudspeaker stack. But the DPA's gain before feedback is so good, that we have no trouble in situations like this... Essentially, we're running them without much EQ at all. Normally we might roll off below 100Hz, but we have some actors - Dick Cavett, for one, as the Narrator - who have a real presence in the lower vocal range. We have three Meyer USW-1P subs running on vocals, so we don't roll off at all. Just to be able to do this with a miniature vocal mic is remarkable."