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Omani Women’s Day

Every year in October, Oman celebrates Women’s Day. It is a day to celebrate all that women do. From working to support their families, to caring for their children. It has a strong emphasis on the achievements of the women of Oman and the positions they hold in the private and public sectors. Oman is very proud that they are one of the most progressive countries in the region in terms of encouraging women in the workplace. It is common to see women in Oman holding high positions and this includes in government.

The programme at the Royal Opera House aims to showcase some of the diverse musical talents of Omani women and those from further afield. In line with Omani Women’s Day, a group of sound girls took the opportunity to attend the first SoundGirls.org meet-up in the Middle East. We are a hugely diverse group (already) with attendees from as far afield as Cuba and Australia. All members are currently residing within the GCC and working in live music, performing arts, and theatre.

Currently, we are acting as a support group in a pretty hidden industry in this part of the world. Interestingly, female sound engineers are in demand here. During weddings, men and women celebrate separately so women sound engineers are required to mix bands for the women’s party! We are very keen to expand and hope to offer workshops for aspiring engineers in the future.

This year I was lucky enough to be rostered to work front of house on the live mix for our Omani Women’s Day concert. Of course, we still need to archive the performance so this also included a broadcast mix that was used in-house for our camera feed as well as the audio feed for Oman TV who often come to record performances here.

The interesting part of this concert for our department was the mixture of amplified and non-amplified sections. As the performance was in ‘concert mode’ rather than ‘theatre mode’ this creates some interesting issues. Arabic music has a very distinctive sound that relies upon amplification. The best way to describe this to an ear accustomed to ‘western music’ is to ride the vocals as hot as possible. At the same time, it is very important that every syllable of every word is heard. The band are generally held back somewhat with the exception of crucial melodic instruments such as the oud and qanoon.

The lineup this year included a female string quintet of members of the Royal Omani Symphony Orchestra. They played three moving pieces which we recorded via our UM69 stereo microphone. A Palestinian dance troupe then performed two pieces via playback on Q lab. This was followed by an absolutely incredible Irani folk group called the ‘Kaliveh Ensemble’. They played traditional Arabic instruments which included drums such as the ‘duf’, tars- which resemble small-bodied guitars, a santur- a stringed instrument which is laid out on the player’s lap or stand and hit with small mallets, the oud, which looks a bit like a lute and the distinctive sounding kamancheh. Two singers provided vocals with backing vocals produced by other musicians when required. The result was a hypnotic and exhilarating sound that was just brilliant fun to mix. An experience that will stay with me for a lifetime. Our headliner was a singer called Mohammad Assaf. A winner of ‘The Voice’ he was a big hit with the audience. His performance for Omani Women’s Day was followed the day after by his own concert. It was such a joy to be mixing for such an appreciated star.

In all a busy but rewarding month in Muscat. This week we are back into theatre mode for ‘Lohengrin’ the Wagnerian opera… nothing like diversity to awaken the soul!

 

A Teaching Guide to Monitors

This month we welcome a new Omani team member to our department. With only a few weeks left until the beginning of the season, we are focusing on desk training. In particular, programming for monitor engineering. This article can be used as a tried and tested teaching aid for those new to monitors.

We usually use our Digico SC9 or our Venue SC48 for monitors. This step-by-step guide can be used for any desk.

1. Get a copy of the rider. Check all the stage plans are clear and that you have enough information about who needs what mix and where. It is best to clear up any ambiguity at this stage so that your programming can be as ready as possible for when the band arrives. At the opera house, we always have a senior member of the department in charge of a show who is in communication with the visiting band. This can be an extremely difficult job as quite often English isn’t the first language of the visitors. We also have at least two members of the department assigned to the stage.

2. Use a template or set up a new show file to save your work to! Sounds obvious but during the season quick load-ins and outs can often mean that files are not saved accurately. We aim to back everything up to a USB stick too. Sometimes we may need to access files after a company has departed so this is important! Good practice is also crucial to our teaching objectives for the Omanisation programme.

3. If necessary ensure that the desk is set up in the correct configuration for inputs and outputs. Both our desks can be changed during programming but it is good to think these things through before you start. Using the stage plan and rider information, label all the inputs. Don’t forget the talk-back mic and FX returns. Check your gain structure and that all EQ’s are flat and compressors and gates are switched off. It is worth doing this now rather than trying to troubleshoot later.

4. Now label all the auxes. We like to add an extra two or three auxes for effects. Depending on the desk you will also need your own monitor aux – (cue).

5. Patching next. Depending on your set up check your desk patch. We have an optocore system so the desk is fed by madi. This should be nice and straightforward!

6. Now go back to your auxes. Referring to your rider you can feed a few inputs to mix auxes in preparation. For example, the drummer will probably want some kick in his sub. Less is best at this point.

7. Set up your FX auxes. We go for a couple of different reverbs. In most cases, the internal effects in the desks are quite ample. Sometimes bands ask for specific effects units. The set up is exactly the same procedure.

8. Use the FX return channels that you labeled on your inputs earlier. Remember not to send the FX back to itself (awful, awful feedback… just don’t do it).

9. Check and save!

Other things to consider:

– Digico (and other desks) have an iPad app so that you can control the desk remotely. This is useful after the soundcheck. You can walk around and make adjustments as the band are playing.

– In conjunction with this, consider having the monitor mix on a wireless belt-pack so that as you walk around you can solo mixes and actually hear what the musicians are hearing. This is especially useful to us when there is a language barrier! Up can surprisingly often be misconstrued as down!

– You might also want to insert a graphic EQ over each aux send. This will give you a bit of fine control if needed.

Living and Learning

Eid Al Fitir was announced last week, marking the end of Ramadan. The opera house is currently dark as we are out of season. This means that the strict rules of no music, no eating, or drinking are more easily adhered to during this holy month. Many expats choose to take their annual leave during this period. However, the Sound and Broadcast department uses this quieter time for maintenance and training. For us, this is pretty exciting!

Post formal education, the training normally received ‘on the job’ in our industry can vary wildly. From workshops with experts at hire companies, to companies selling their equipment to learning a new mix for a show. In my experience, given the nature of our work, we are always very grateful to receive any guidance at all.

Training at the opera house takes two different but intrinsically linked paths. Primarily as expats, we are employed to train Omani colleagues as part of the Omanisation programme. We also have to consider the development of the skills of all team members for an effective show running.

On my arrival last July, under the guidance of our technical director, Ric Green, and head of the sound and broadcast department, Mike Compton, I started developing a skills competency framework. It was imperative at this stage, that we were careful to limit the framework to the most basic skills that we needed our trainees to perform during the season. This would mean that progress could be easily tracked. My previous three years spent in teaching was invaluable in applying solid educational theory to teaching and learning in this new environment.

The development of the framework depends on the whole department’s collaboration. The sound and broadcast department covers two areas, so we chose to have two separate frameworks- one to cover sound and the other to cover broadcast. Because of the nature of our season, we wanted the framework to be trainee-led. After agreeing on the areas that we wanted to cover, we then created four levels of competency. Since we have to presume any trainee arriving at the opera house has no experience of a particular area this is where we started.

Based on Bloom’s taxonomy, three further levels were then developed:

None: No skill in this area

Level 1: Can memorise equipment required or reproduce a basic skill after a demonstration

Level 2: Can interpret instructions or compare suitable skills in order to select the best method to complete a task

Level 3: Can demonstrate skill by applying knowledge

The frameworks have now been in place for 12 months. They have been successful in engaging the trainees, mainly due to the clarity of showing exactly what is required of them. It is easy for us expats to forget that we come from a culture of hundreds of years of western theatre, opera, and ballet. Oman has an incredibly rich heritage of music and performance and with the opening of the opera house, it has just embarked on its engagement with classical western arts. With this in mind, we must remain open-minded to this fusing of cultures.

In a recent department review of the skills competency frameworks, we discussed how we should now move forwards. It was agreed that we shouldn’t ‘add’ increasingly more difficult levels. This is because once basic skills have been mastered, trainees are able to engage in the work and develop at their own pace- much as most trainees in western theatre environments. However, we are leaving a legacy to any future leaders of the department and we are cautious that we should develop a training ethic that can be followed. With this in mind, we will work on an approach that identifies needs and pinpoints specific areas for development.

 

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