New York, NY (May 17, 2023)—When the 76th annual Tony Awards are broadcast on June 11, two Broadway reveals that you just’ll maintain listening to about will probably be Kimberly Akimbo, which is up for eight awards, and New York, New York, which is up for 9. They’re each within the working for Best Musical, and because it occurs, each characteristic sound design by Kai Harada—who in flip is nominated for Best Sound Design of a Musical, for the latter present.
It’s not Harada’s first nomination (he received in 2018 for A Band’s Visit) and he drew on expertise when he put collectively the methods for the respective reveals. The two musicals have similarities regardless of important variations in each the venue sizes and the content material of the productions; amongst them is the intensive use of Meyer Sound loudspeakers for each productions.
“Kimberly Akimbo is taking part in on the Booth Theater, a comparatively small Broadway home seating round 800, whereas New York, New York is on the bigger St. James, with a capability of over 1,700,” says Harada. “Kimberly is extra of a chamber musical, with a smaller solid and smaller orchestra, however nonetheless the present’s rating nonetheless requires an enormous dynamic vary, so there are a variety of loudspeakers within the house. I scaled up the identical method for New York, New York, which is an even bigger and brassier, dance-oriented present. Although the orchestra is in an uncovered pit — a rarity lately! — it was essential to me to have a system that gave me a variety of dynamic vary and full protection for all seating sections.”
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Sometimes a present’s sound is a given, and different instances, there’s a technique of discovery: “We had finished Kimberly Akimbo off-Broadway on the Atlantic Theatre — additionally with a Meyer Sound system — so we knew what the present was, musically talking, and had a sonic aim in thoughts. For New York, New York, we had finished just one workshop of the present, so there have been much more unknowns. In that case, I wanted to know that the system I specified was going to sound good in order that I may consider all the opposite variables.”
Current Meyer Sound merchandise utilized in each productions embody the LINA very compact linear line array, ULTRA-X40 compact loudspeaker, and UPM-1P ultra-compact loudspeaker. Legacy loudspeakers used for each embody M1D line arrays, UPQ-1P, UPA-2P, UPJ-1P, UPJunior, and MM-4 loudspeakers in addition to the 500-HP subwoofer.
The system for Kimberly Akimbo encompasses a complete of 77 full-range loudspeakers plus 9 subwoofers. A complete of 108 full-range loudspeakers and 7 subwoofers are deployed for New York, New York. The full audio methods for the 2 productions had been equipped by Masque Sound of East Rutherford, New Jersey.