NEW YORK, NEW YORK (July 13, 2007): An adaptation of Alice Walker's immensely powerful book, The Color Purple Broadway musical recently took to the road and is currently playing an extended engagement in Chicago. The show's tremendous success and gushing reviews from otherwise stolid critics are owning in no small part to the spectacular attention to detail that has characterized every aspect of the production, not least of which is the show's studio quality sound reinforcement. Jon Weston, a 25-year veteran of theater sound, perfected every nuance of The Color Purple's sound design. Drawmer signal processing equipment figured prominently, owing to the manufacturer's flawless record of reliability and legendary, sought-after sound. The music for The Color Purple spans Gospel, Blues, Jazz, and Rock and is performed by a band big enough to crowd any orchestra pit. Weston specified Drawmer DS404 quad gates and DS501 power gates for all of the drum kit mics along with the electric bass. The DS404 features four frequency-sensitive and fully adjustable gates in a single rack space. The DS501 features two frequency-sensitive gates with expanded dynamic control and Ivor Drawmer's unique Peak Punch feature for transient accentuation. Since Drawmer came out with the first flexible and truly usable noise gate over 25 years ago, almost every other signal processing company has introduced a gate of their own. When asked why the legendary Drawmer gate remains the gold standard, Weston replied, "Drawmer gates are so musical! No matter how fast I need to make the release, there's never a moment when I feel like I've snipped something off - it just sounds like a fader closing very quickly. There's never a perceptible click either, as you can get with other manufacturer's gates. The EQ on the key is so much more effective than other's as well. Drawmer gates are the gold standard because, in my opinion, they are perfect." Weston specified a Drawmer DL251 spectral compressor for the snare and for the bass drum. The DL251 features Ivor Drawmer's one-of-a-kind high-frequency compensation circuitry that generates compressed material that, while dynamically tamed, sounds as lively and bright as the pre-processed signal. The bass drum application is particularly interesting. "We mix two bass drum mics together," Weston explained, "one just outside the hole, one inside the drum. Then we send those through the DL251 spectral compressor. It takes a little bit of fiddling, but once we have it, it's very nice. When the drummer kicks lightly, we get this nice, warm 'puh' sound. When he kicks a little harder, the spectral compressor kicks in and the sound gets more directed. It's perfect because there are times when the music calls for drive under dialog. We don't always want a big kick characteristic because it may not go with what's happening dramatically. The Drawmer DL251 Spectral Compressor makes that - and more - possible." Finally, while not in a 'starring role,' seven Drawmer DA6 distribution amplifiers keep the show going. The single rack space, six-channel units handle all of the "show program" distribution for intercom and paging systems for the incredibly elaborate show. When asked why he chose Drawmer for this application, Weston answered, "Because show program is one thing we cannot afford to have go down during a show. I'm sure we've all had a bad experience with show program going down to the stage manger or the spot booth. With Drawmer and our proprietary distribution scheme, it has yet to happen. Drawmer is positively bulletproof. You can't put a price on that!" |
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