Exhibits – Theatrecrafts.com

Cadac

Starlight Express Cadac Console (1984)

On its opening in 1984, Starlight Express pioneered many of the techniques which remain standard in theatre sound today, particularly head-worn microphones, and microphones on every cast member. This presented quite a control challenge.
Sound designer Martin Levan and production sound engineer Andrew Bruce of Autograph decided that instead of the operator chasing around the desk, the desk should bring the right control to the operator at the right moment. This console, custom built by Cadac for the show, achieved that, any of the 56 input channel assignable cue-by-cue under computer control to any of the eight VCA faders. It’s how shows are still mixed today.
The console also offered 32 main outputs and six auxiliary outputs, with 10 of the output groups feeding the ‘wall of sound’ speaker array set into the back wall of the theatre to bring the feel of a band in an open put to the audience, even though the band were completely hidden away substage!
The console controlled Starlight for its entire 18 year run, then retired - until now!

See the Starlight Express show page for more information about the sound system.

A surround sound effect was achieved using a 'special panning module' control (known as the Doughnut) which was used manually by the operator to pan effects around the auditorium during the races. This was a large dial located on the surface between the mixer sections which contained a light source and a series of light sensors around it, which ramped the audio up and down in a series of speakers around the auditorium in response to the brightness of the light.

The desk was effectively two consoles in one frame, sharing output busses. One section dealt with vocal inputs (22) and the remainder handled the band. Due to the number of channels, and the physical space available in the theatre, the first 12 vocal channels were in a section at the left end of the area, at 90 degrees to the rest of the desk.