Minack Sound Handover

For once I've actually managed to get around to doing a proper write up for one of my handovers! What follows is an attempt to list everything you need to care about, as well as some stuff that inevitably you don't.

About the Theatre

• The Minack is an open-air theatre constructed in a rocky gully.
• Located at the top of the cliffs overlooking Porthcurno Beach.
• You get all the fun that comes with that:
  • Rain, sleet, hail, strong winds etc.
  • Occasionally you get buzzed by the R.A.F. search and rescue helicopters.
• The band go in a marquee tent off-stage left. Be aware that it can leak slightly in a torrential downpour.
• There is a control room about a third of the way up the cliff, roughly in line with the centre of stage.
• There is a shed about halfway up the cliff, in line with stage left. This is used as the sound mixing point and DSM cue position.

About the Company

• For the duration of the show, everyone lives in the village of Paul which is a few miles down the road from the Minack Theatre.
• Cast and Orchestra members live in the village hall. Techies live in Boslandew House or another rental property in the village.
• Cast and Orchestra spend one week rehearsing, then they are joined by the techies for a further week of rehearsals before the final week in which the performances take place.

Sound Desk

• You have complete free reign to chose whatever equipment you want, within the limits of your budget and the limits of what hire companies are willing to deliver to a cliff in Cornwall at the end of the country in the middle of nowhere at the top of a steep hill with narrow roads and hairpins of death!
• In past years people have overwhelmingly opted for the Yamaha CL5 as a sound desk together with a 48-input 24-output Yamaha Rio stage box.
• Make sure you get an ethernet loom to connect the two:
  • The 50 metre length will come on a drum and the 100 comes as a long hank.
  • 50m is the correctly length for the job but 100m is easier to get down the cliff as one end can be 'fed' down the human chain.
• In order to feed your outputs into the Minack's speaker processors and amplifiers you will need to take the outputs from the Rio and feed them into the stage-to-control-room tie-lines. You may need to use gender-reversing adaptors for this.

Cast

• The Minack has 8 radio mics of their own. You will probably want to look at hiring another at least another 8.
• You can hire them from SLX in batches of 4 TX/RX at a time.
• Double check you're ordering beltpack transmitter not handhelds!
• Make sure you go for the Sennheiser G3 300 series so that you can view the mic telemetry remotely.
• You'll need to purchase the correct frequency license from OFCOM before hand. This can be done online using their website for a cost of circa £40.
• The radio mic hire kit will come with 2 pairs of 2 RF 'paddle' antennas. You'll want to place these for best diversity and signal gain within the confines of the set on stage.
• You can buy cheap mic elements from CPC/Farnell (product code MP34259). Remember to factor in breakages as you probably can't get them delivered to the Minack if you need more.
• Don't forget to order mic tape!
• The Minack also has 3 or 4 boundary mics which can be placed on the floor to pick up general stage ambience.
• In order to feed the outputs from the Minack's radio mics into your sound desk you will need to use the stage-to-control-room tie-lines. You may need to use gender-reversing adaptors for this.

Orchestra

• You will need to hire a complete set of band mics for string, woodwind, brass and percussion.
• A typical inventory might look like:
  • 3 x CK91 + SE300B (Small Diaphram Condenser)
  • 3 x SM81 (Medium Diaphram Condenser)
  • 2 x MKH40 (Medium Diaphram Condenser)
  • 6 x AKG C414B (Large Diaphram Condenser)
  • 10 x SM57 (Dynamic Instrument)
  • 1 x SM58 (Dynamic Vocal)
  • 1 x Beta 52 (Base drum)
• You will also need to hire music stands. Make sure you get the ones with lights in them - preferably LED so the bulbs don't break if you drop them!
• Don't forget to order mic stands as well.

Band Monitoring

• Typically the band don't have foldback speakers but use a headphone monitoring solution.
• Each band member has their own personal mix on the sound desk which feeds their individual headphones.
• The band connect to the WiFi and control their mixes using the Yamaha StageMix mobile app.
• The headphone solution is provided by Alan Egan for a very reasonable fee.

Cable

• You need to order your own XLR cable, for example:
  • 20 x 5m XLR Leads
  • 30 x 10m XLR Leads
  • 10 x 20m XLR Leads
  • 8 x Gender bender (M)
  • 8 x Gender bender (F)
• The Minack's 32A Cee form power outlets are not RCD protected.
  • You need to hire an inline 32A RCBO that's rated at 30mA.
• Speak to your show's PM about hiring general power distro.

Addendum

Things which you don't need to wory about but which you should probably be aware of:

• WiFi/networking - this is handled by Alan Egan.
• Radios (walkie talkies) - this is handled by yours truly!

That's about it I think! If you have any questions, please just give me an email - I'll be more than happy to offer advice or help. I imagine there will definitely be some things I've forgotten about, but hopefully this covers all the main bases.

Charlie Jonas
May 2019