JBL Pro VERTEC System Soars With Sound Advice On Peter Pan

To complete its sound rental contract for the national tour of Peter Pan, Huntington Beach, CA-based Sound Advice LLC is using the JBL VERTEC® line array system.

The tour, launched in September 2004 at The La Mirada Theatre, stars Tony Award-nominee and two-time Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby in her farewell performance and commemorates the 100th anniversary of the James M. Barrie tale and is being staged in week-long productions across the US throughout the year.

Sound Advice LLC president Julie Ferrin acts as sound designer on the tour. Ferrin also served as sound engineer for a segment of the successful 1997 tour of Peter Pan that earned an extended run on Broadway and ended with an Emmy Award-winning A&E Special.

Ferrin and assistant Brandon Rice chose the JBL VERTEC line array system for its flexibility and reliability, realizing the challenges the touring musical production could face. The setup contains 16 VERTEC VT4888 midsize line array speakers, two full-size VT4880 subwoofers, JBL Marquis Series front-fill and onstage monitors, and Crown I-Tech power amplifiers.

"We are in a new venue every week, and I need a system that is going to be flexible and deliver the sound that I need," Ferrin explains. "One week we were challenged with a venue with no rigging points, so we had to ground stack the rig. I was excited to see how it would work, and it was great. The coverage was good and the crew had it together in record time." "By bringing the best that concert sound technology has to offer into the musical touring production world, Julie and her staff raise the bar on what audiences expect and experience when they attend a favorite, timeless stage show like Peter Pan," says David Scheirman, director of tour sound for JBL Professional. "This show’s sound design and the JBL VERTEC system being deployed by Sound Advice LLC around the nation are an excellent showcase for how clarity, dynamic headroom capabilities, and venue coverage can all be improved within the theatrical sound industry."

With plans to tour nationally through July 2005, Ferrin’s hectic schedule calls for quick setup and breakdown of the staging equipment. "We typically have eight hours to load in and we open the show on the same day," Ferrin says. "Having a VERTEC system makes that possible. This rig is so easy to assemble. We are flying eight per side and we are consistently getting the arrays in the air in less than an hour. Even the local stagehand crews are excited to be working with them."

More Information:
Sound Advice LLC, www.soundadvicedesigns.com
JBL Professional, www.jblpro.com
Harman Pro Group, www.harman.com