The world-famous Stomp Company used over 30 custom designed and built instruments in the premier of their provocative and lively new work, The Lost & Found Orchestra.

The performance fuses hardcore industrial noise making with fluid movement in an intense and haunting cacophony of sound and expression - from aerial percussionists to a flushing toilet, the show shimmers with unpredictability, ingenuity and fun.  The five shows were part of a special commission for the 40^th anniversary of the Brighton Festival.

Sound designer and FOH engineer Mike Roberts worked closely with monitor engineer Nick Lythgoe on the challenging project of producing live sound for a completely new and unique show and set of instruments. Both are veterans of several years with Stomp.

It involved 86 assorted mics, scattered all over the stage, a Nexo Alpha sound system, two fully loaded 96 channel Yamaha PM1D consoles, and copious lateral thinking and ingenuity!

Inconceivable!

All the instruments are created from everyday and recycled materials. From giant oil drums to plastic and metal plumbing fittings, traffic cones to giant blacksmith's bellows, glasses and bottles to bed bases, every conceivable - and some quite inconceivable - objects were utilised in this mind-expanding production!

Whilst the proverbial kitchen sink didn't make the stage call ..... a fully plumbed working shower and toilet certainly did!

Roberts and production manager Ward Ransom started the gargantuan task of constructing a whole orchestra's worth of stringed, wind and percussion instruments - completely from scratch-  at the end of 2005.

When it came to the live show, they turned to long term Stomp audio suppliers SSE to provide the sound system and source the myriad of microphones required for the shows.

No idea!

Mike Roberts admits that at the outset they had "Absolutely no idea how this would work out from a sound point of view". Such is the frission and excitement of working with experimental artists, that this only added to the sonic challenges.

From their Stomp experiences, they did have a series of audio ‘givens' amidst this highly volatile collage of musicality and imagination.

They knew how the Nexo Alpha system would perform - it's their preferred system for percussive based music.

They had a basic mic plot which they knew would work as a starting point, and certain specifics that they would use, like improvised shock mounted mics in the oil drums. They also knew they would need large quantities of hypercardiods and shotgun mics to achieve the cleanest possible sound.

Organic Mic'ing

Other then that ..... it grew organically.

Mic'ing expanded with the construction of the scaffolding based two tier stage during the short and hectic technical rehearsal period

They started off with 5 Sennheiser ME67/K6P shotguns across the front of stage and four at the back, carefully separated and phase aligned, combined with two AGK SE300s with 91 cardiod capsules - one at the front and one at the rear. This reflected stage movement ... an absolute must for Stomp shows.

AKG SE300's with CK93 hyper cardioid capsules were placed around the stage; with off stage positioning  allowing  a high SPL and good separation..

Specific instruments were mic'd up in special ways - for example, a series of custom Marimbas featured AKG 414 hyper cardioids. There were Audio Technica AT851 boundary mics inside various props like plastic beer crates used as seats, C-ducers on contact instruments like the 24 string bed harp and 18 string Woks, and bespoke shock mounted assemblies for the oil drums.

DPA in the Toilet

The toilet - the first time either Roberts or Lythgoe had wired a loo - was achieved using a DPA 4061 attached to the cistern down pipe, which perfectly reproduced the crisp swoosh of the flush.

The shower sound included a Crown 160 taped to the ceiling for the opera singer who performed in full flow inside, plus a full stereo IEM mix for him - provided on disposable headphones changed each show. This was part the ‘Waterphonics" section.

Radio mics were kept to a minimum,  seven in total, and used only where there where cabling issues.

Systematic stuff

The Nexo Alpha E system was specified because Roberts likes its "warmth and mid range integrity", and the general musicality of the system.

At the Dome, it comprised 8 EM cabinets a side, four flown and four on the deck, six B118 bass units a side, two flown and four on the floor, four concealed S2 subs and Nexo PS10 infills. All were powered by Camco amps.

Monitors were 16 SSE CMP12 wedges, positioned all over the stage and set, plus the shower IEMs, bringing the total to 18 mixes.

Lighting was designed by Paul Emery. He used a combination of the Dome's in house lighting equipment including their dimmers and Strand 530i console, and hires from PRG including 16 Vari*Lite 5Bs and over 90 Source Four profiles.