Sound designer Tom Gibbons chooses d&b Soundscape and CCL for Sondheim at the National Theatre.
For Stephen Sondheim’s final musical, Here We Are, at the NT’s Lyttelton Theatre, sound designer Tom Gibbons drew on the remarkable clarity and control offered by d&b Soundscape in conjunction with d&b’s brand-new CCL (Compact Cardioid Line Array) loudspeaker system . . .
Setting the Scene
The final creation from the mind of celebrated musical maestro Stephen Sondheim, Here We Are enjoyed a successful run at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton during the early summer of 2025. Directed by Joe Mantello and with a book by David Ives, the production’s top-flight creative team included sound designer Tom Gibbons.
For this show’s quick-fire dialogue and rapidly-sung lines, particularly in Act One, intelligibility was key. “The first act is wordy,” says Gibbons, “with lots of movement and quick interjections. The dialogue and sing-speak had to be really clear, or the audience could get lost. I wanted to follow the actors and keep the image super clear.”
To achieve this, Gibbons would rely on d&b Soundscape to enhance the clarity of the presentation and enable the audience to effortlessly follow the action.
This production included another notable step forward from Gibbons’ first involvement with its off-Broadway appearance, at The Shed in 2023. There, with the band hidden away in a separate room, there was little excess acoustic energy, so a point source solution had been effective. The Lyttelton, however, offered the enhanced connection of having the orchestra visible in the pit – but with a commensurate increase in acoustic energy which would need to be carefully controlled.
Setting Objectives
Gibbons’ idea was for the music to provide a static ‘frame’ within the auditorium (the band were amplified via a traditional LCR system) and then, within that context, to allow moving elements – the performers and certain effects – to roam. The sound of the band emanating from the pit would serve as the anchor for the object-based sources of the Soundscape content.
With Act Two, its style more akin to a straight play than a musical, the ‘frame’ of the music would give way to a reliance on more precise tracking of the dialogue from the actors. Here, d&b Soundscape, combined with an automated tracking system, would be used to achieve this aural alignment with the cast’s movements.
To maximise this clarity in practice, Gibbons was intent on using a high-quality PA system with cardioid characteristics, in conjunction with d&b Soundscape – one that would effectively mitigate unwanted reverberations in the space.
The Solution
Gibbons, having heard an impressive demo of the system, chose d&b audiotechnik’s newly-introduced CCL (Compact Cardioid Line Array) – the first product in the company’s new CL Series. Building on the proven, ground-breaking low-frequency cardioid behaviour of d&b’s larger SL-Series systems (namely the GSL, KSL and XSL), the new CCL introduces this all-important directivity control to a smaller line array system than ever before. Importantly, it does so in a passive design, enabling single channel amplifier operation and allowing for increased efficiency in deployment.
For this, one of the first uses of the new CCL in the UK, Gibbons used five hangs, each comprising 5 x CCL12 and 2 x CCL8 cabinets, to deliver the Soundscape coverage. The small, neat hangs provided an unobtrusive solution, well suited to the clear sightlines of the Lyttelton auditorium.
Joel Price, the Lyttelton’s sound and video supervisor, says, “The size of CCL makes it the perfect speaker system for a frontline PA in the Lyttelton – it fitted very neatly in front of the header. The cardioid nature meant we could focus more of the energy away from the walls and reduce unwanted reverberation. Its rear rejection also allowed us to get high SPL from the omnidirectional mics worn by the cast on stage, and the orchestra directly below.”
d&b Y10Ps point source loudspeakers covered the Lyttelton’s stalls, with more Y10Ps positioned upstage for effects, while the NT’s stock of d&b T10s were re-purposed as front-fills. A flown sub array of XSL-SUBs – plus a single flown centre KSL-SUB and two ground-stacked XSL-GSUBs – provided the low-end support.
For the technical team at the Lyttelton, using automated tracking to seamlessly feed positional information to Soundscape has become a tried-and-tested method of working. This was the fourth production on which the NT employed its own Zactrack automated tracking system to accurately tie positional data from Zactrack to the sound ‘objects’ within Soundscape’s DS100 processor.
On-stage effects included a ‘prop’ piano, which contained a d&b E8 loudspeaker: the sound from the piano in the pit was routed to this speaker to make the sound image seem to come from the prop piano on the stage.
Soundscape’s En-Space room emulation was used to provide a reverb that could keep aligned with the vocals. Says Gibbons, “We used the En-Space function in the DS100, which is an intelligent room emulator that moves with the sound objects.”
For control, OSC was sent from the DiGiCo SD7QT console, via Atlas software, and into the DS100.
Conclusion
The success of this production’s sound design was what Gibbons describes as a “team game”, with invaluable input from Stage Sound Services and all at the Lyttelton Theatre sound team. In broader terms it was another example of how advanced sound technology can be used to maximise the clarity and ‘realism’ of presentation, ultimately enhancing the experience and enjoyment of a live performance.
The interviews featured here were conducted for the September 2025 issue of Light&Sound International (LSi) magazine.
