Behind The Scenes of MDing a Musical: The Rig

Far from just saying “play these notes”, an MD’s role is about achieving an overall sound - and being music theatre, we need to be able to switch from sound to sound in an instant - so we’ve engaged a bit of tech to help us get into the nitty gritty of sound design.

For Kildare Catholic Colleges production of High School Musical we have 2 MacBooks running seperate instances of MainStage, multiple keyboards, and an audio interface at our fingertips.

Our MD’s MacBook is responsible for cueing sound fx, and running a handful of extra sounds triggered by the teeny tiny Behringer UMX25 midi controller, and sending patch change signals to the Yamaha CP88 (where we use the keyboards incredible internal sounds) as well as punching up the sound occasionally with a bit of added synth using software instruments in MainStage.

Our second MacBook is hooked up to the Focusrite Scarlet 4i4 giving us multiple inputs and outputs - from there, we create patches in MainStage covering complex sounds for Keyboard 2 (a multi keyboard rig operating as midi controllers - no internal sounds are used, they simply trigger software sound modules in MainStage giving us a huge control of our keyboard patches), and amp and pedal simulations for Guitars 1 and 2 allowing us to switch amp and pedal sounds in an instant. Guitars are also using the iRig Keys I/O with access to the expression pedal (which can be programmed to FX like volume control and wah wah) and keys to trigger FX changes mid song (like adding tremolo or overdrive)

The sound design of a musical is a biggggggg job, but when it’s done well it allows for seamless transitions from song to song, and an endless scope of sonic possibilities.

(Yes, James will be drinking a very nice bottle of red wine once this job is done!)

Kildare Catholic College's production of High School Musical will be on at the Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre from May 15th - tickets are available at www.civictheatre.com.au

Don't miss out on this seriously talented bunch o' kids!