Get It In Writing

The Celtic Woman saga is as much of a fairy tale as one can imagine in today’s jaded, seen-it-all music industry. The trend-eschewing group’s eponymous debut album stayed atop Billboard’s World Music chart for an unprecedented 81 weeks, finally ceding that position only to its follow-up, A Christmas Celebration. With their third release, A New Journey, the group commanded the top three spots on the World charts and number 4 on the Billboard 200, with a record 95 consecutive weeks atop the charts. Their live PBS special has aired nearly 4000 times across the US since its March 2005 debut, and the group’s tours have sold out dates across three continents.

The five women, backed by a six-piece band and eight-member choir, are currently in the midst of yet another world tour, covering a challenging assortment of venues. “We might be in a mid-sized theater one night and an arena the next,” explains FOH engineer Wayne Pauley. “Our PA setup might be different every night as well, depending on the venue.”

The main system, twenty MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers and four MILO 120 high-power expanded coverage curvilinear array loudspeakers, can be reconfigured to adapt to each venue’s conditions. “We basically have to determine the character of each room and do the best we can to adapt to that,” says Pauley. “Tom Stegemann, our systems tech, gets in there first and sizes things up with MAPP Online Pro. We might hang two MILO arrays one night, do a ground stack the next, or a combination of both. Every show is literally like a one-day install. We’ve got a great team of guys, and that really helps make it a lot less challenging.” That team also includes monitor engineer Gordon Adams, RF tech Jason Dallin, A2 Jason McCarrick, and production manager Scotty Ross, as well as Masque Sound production coordinator Mitchell Keller, systems coordinator Lorne Grabe and Masque’s systems designer and executive director Lucas Corrubia.

The Masque Sound system also includes two side hangs of four MSL-4 horn-loaded long-throw loudspeakers each, as well as ten UPM-1P ultra-compact wide coverage loudspeakers for front fill, and infills of four CQ-2 narrow coverage main loudspeakers. A Galileo loudspeaker management system utilzing two Galileo 616 units provides DSP control and EQ. As Mitchell Keller reports, the plan is to trade the MSL-4s for 12 MICA compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers per side before the next leg of the tour in the spring. “That’s primarily for the smaller theaters, most of which don’t have two-ton rigging points,” he explains.

In fact, says Pauley, rigging points are one of the biggest challenges. “Our biggest hurdle most days is finding enough rigging points to get the PA where it needs to be. Arenas aren’t so bad, but in many of the theaters you’re somewhat restricted, since the rigging points are in more traditional locations alongside the proscenium. At any given time I’ve got as many as 13 omni wireless headset mics on stage, and it’s a challenge to get the PA far enough out front. The MILO’s tight focus really helps.”

Low end is covered by twelve 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers. “I’m using the subs mostly in the 30 to 80 Hz range, to add power,” says Pauley. He mixes over 85 inputs on a PM1D digital console.

The material itself covers a soaring spectrum of musical genres and dynamics. “It ranges from symphonic to pop, Irish folk to classical, instrumental and acapella,” says Pauley. “It can be very, very intimate in some places, and very big in others. It’s almost like twenty-eight different five-minute shows and five or six musical genres in the space of two hours. It’s very demanding on the sound system, and it’s made me even more of a fan of the MILO. I’m regularly surprised and impressed with how well I can pick out even the most minute aspects of the mix, even at the back wall. I can’t recall ever having a situation where everything is this articulate; it’s like mixing a record every night.”