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Synchronized Mayhem with the Sirens of TI

Oct 7, 2004 6:01 PM, By Bennett Liles

When in Las Vegas, be careful when in the vicinity of Treasure Island (TI) along famous Las Vegas Boulevard. You may suddenly find yourself in the middle of a furious sea battle raging between a band of swashbuckling pirates and the sexy sirens trying to lure them to their doom. Four times nightly, the battle erupts as water sprays, flames flare, and a 17th-century sea battle explodes with 21st-century sound and lighting effects before a crowd of some 2,500 guests. At 7, 8:30, 10, and 11:30, the action wows the crowd with music, dancing, water, fire, and acrobatic swordplay as the battle takes place between the sirens’ ship, The Song, and the pirate vessel, known as The Bull. The whole show takes place in TI’s huge lagoon, now called Sirens’ Cove, with the audience right in the middle of the action.

Director and choreographer Kenny Ortega put the show together for TI when it was decided that the long-running Buccaneer Bay Sea Battle would be closed and completely revamped for a more modern and sexier show. The well-established pirates theme has become a staple for fans cruising the Las Vegas Strip, having produced more than 18,000 performances during the 10 years since Treasure Island opened in 1993. The new show features a musical score by Emilio Estefan and vocals recorded by the actual players. Teamed with the talents of production designer Michael Cotton, costume designer Ingrid Ferrin, and lighting director Leroy Bennett, Ortega has produced an extravaganza worthy of the Las Vegas audience. A national talent search produced a distinct cast experienced in dance, vocals, gymnastics, swimming, and theater.

For about 18 minutes, scantily clad sirens taunt and tempt Captain Mac’s pirate crew, conjuring up a storm complete with lightning, thunder, and a raging sea. Although these coordinated effects require a complex, time-code-synchronized array of equipment running behind the scenes, the audience on hand seems as oblivious to the mechanics as they should be. Sound and lighting gear is everywhere, but most of it is hidden, built into the set, or disguised as something else. Water and fire effects are concealed either under the surface of the lagoon or hidden aboard the ships. Some of the original programmed logic controller (PLC) subsystem used for the old Buccaneer Bay show has been incorporated into the new show, but the effects control system, sound, lighting, and show control computer have all been upgraded for Sirens of TI.

Thunder and Music
The sound system for Sirens of TI is custom installed for maximum effect and minimum visibility. In order to allow the performers the utmost mobility and still afford an excellent mix and level control, the music, sound effects, and vocals are all prerecorded and played back in a Tascam MX-2424 digital recording and playback unit. All of the vocals, however, were recorded by the performers appearing onstage or on deck. The MX-2424 operates in sync with a SMPTE time code generated by the master show control computer. The MX-2424 was a pretty safe bet owing to the fact that there is already a worldwide base of some 2,000 in service. The Tascam’s 9.1 GB internal hard drive exceeds the show’s 18-minute needs with 45 minutes of 24-track, 24-bit recording capability at 48 kHz or 12-track, 24-bit recording at 96 kHz. Recording time could be extended with the addition of a second 5-1/4-inch hard drive. The synchronizer required for chasing the show’s time code is internal.

From there the sound is routed to a Yamaha GF16/12 mixer. Why mix a "canned" soundtrack? The show is performed outside, in the high desert. Local ambient temperature can range from below freezing at night to over 110 degrees during the middle of the day, and such extremes can alter the character of the sound, particularly when it has to be heard over a wide area. Delay units can be adjusted to keep slap-back to a minimum and maintain intelligibility in the lyrics. Once the mix is set for current conditions, the mixer is left on its own.

"There is no sound guy manning the board during shows," says Sirens of TI technical director Bill Quinn. "Instead it’s in set-it-and-forget-it mode." The output section of the Yamaha GF16/12 is particularly well suited to an environment requiring a large number of separate mixes in an architecturally varied area. The unit can provide four group outs and six auxiliary outputs as well as the main stereo mix. That could come in handy for covering a crowd of 2,500 with speakers hidden or built-in just about everywhere.

Once the sound leaves the mixer, it is sent through distribution amplifiers and then on to a group of digital delay units. Several makes and models are used, but the one found most frequently among the sound control racks is the Yamaha D1030. These units offer a 1-in and 3-out design in which each output has a separately programmed delay and a complete digital parametric equalizer. The D1030 features high-output, balanced line compatibility for high amplification with low noise. The programmed delays can be displayed in milliseconds, meters, or feet, and the delay and EQ settings can be stored in 15 separate memories for instant recall. That is vital on such a show in this environment.

"Sound delay has always been an issue since our show takes place on two ships separated by about 200 feet," says Quinn. "Most of the audience is located in the area between the two ships, so it was important that delays be used to eliminate the slap-back as the soundtrack jumps back and forth from one ship to the other."

From there the sound is sent to Rane MPE 14 programmable EQ units and then to the amplifiers. EQ is one area that is subjective, and this type of unit is one that everyone loves to tweak and play with. For this reason, the MPE 14s are equipped with two modes of security lock-out. The units can also store as many as 32 setting combinations for instant recall. This ability is especially useful for rapid A-B switching between settings for comparison. Quinn has arranged the sound coverage areas to suit the action and the placement of the audience.

"Although the show is primarily a stereo mix, we’ve broken down our system into seven zones for EQ and delay purposes. All of the speakers and amps are basically evenly distributed among those seven zones." Covering those areas are 8 JBL SP225 speakers, 16 JBL SP222 speakers, and 8 Bag End dual 15 subs, all powered by Mackie M1400 amplifiers. In addition, four EAW dual 15 subs are used with power from Mackie M2688 amps and eight Servo Drive subs powered with Mackie M800 amps.

The proximity of the crowd, the lighting, and the water effects all present a challenge for the sound system to evenly and effectively cover the right area at the right time in the show. Most are disguised to blend in with the surrounding architecture, but some are still quite visible on the deck of the nonmoving ship. Quinn relates the task of hiding dozens of speakers for the show.

"One of the toughest things for us, when the new show was installed, was to find new hiding places for speakers. Many of our old speaker locations went away when the facade was redesigned, so we really had to scout for unobtrusive speaker locations. Many are in plain sight but blend in with the surrounding architecture, and some are hidden in the bushes." He also explains how guests are surprised with a little treat for their feet. "Perhaps my favorite speaker placement is the eight Bag End subs that we installed underneath the boardwalk where the audience stands while watching the show," says Quinn. "This really surprises people when the subs kick in, as well as providing a vigorous foot massage." Some of the Community RS Series speakers and Crown ComTech amplifiers that were installed for the old show have been repurposed to fill in various areas.

Moonglow and Lightning
Because the show involves a great deal of choreography and is repeated four times nightly, the lighting system for Sirens is completely automated. A High End Systems Whole Hog III forms the heart of the system, and it controls around 40 automated fixtures consisting of High End X-Spots and Studio Beams. "We also have about a dozen Martin 600 architectural fixtures as well as too many Par Cans to count," says Quinn.

The Whole Hog III seems to be a natural choice for the Sirens of TI control environment. Only 30 inches wide, slightly over 4 inches high, and less than 23 inches deep, this unit has maintained the compact size of its predecessor, the Whole Hog II, while adding features, and it takes up little space for the level of operational flexibility that it offers. The console’s most visually distinctive feature is the pair of full-color TFT touch screens. Preset scenes can use the bank of MAC 600 lighting instruments to bathe the Treasure Island facade in soft moonlight for the beginning of the show, and by the time the action is over, fiery colors and strobe-simulated lightning have transformed the mood to one of breathless excitement.

Flexibility for expansion is also maintained by the lighting controller’s ability to add accessories connected through 100Base-TX Ethernet or USB. In addition to the internal shockmounted hard disk, all-important backup file capability is facilitated through both a Zip drive and a rewritable CD drive, each conveniently located just beneath the console’s leather armrest. The system can control as many as 8,000 multiparameter fixtures, so it is not being stretched at all to accommodate the Sirens’ complement of 40 or so. The X-Spots can be controlled in pan, tilt, focus, and color, with all the commands inserted into the automated stream for perfectly timed lighting effects. This follows with the other elements of show control because the perfectly consistent timing of all effects show after show is a safety feature. Everyone on the performance and tech crews needs to know exactly what is about to happen and where.

The lighting, sound, pyrotechnics, and water effects are handled and coordinated by the master show controller, an Anitech Media Pro 4000. It generates a SMPTE time code by which all the show’s effects are tied. For sound the MP 4000 synchronizes the Tascam MX-2424 digital playback unit. For lighting the MP 4000 sends the time code to the Whole Hog III, and it passes the commands to the various lighting instruments mounted above and among the set components. For pyro and water effects, the master show controller sends its RS-422 commands to PLC modules that interface with the water cannon, gas burners, and a huge electric winch that moves the pirates’ vessel, The Bull.

Water and Fire
This is where things get exciting—and potentially dangerous. The conversion from the old show took about three months, and during that time, both ships were completely gutted and refurbished. Birket Engineering of Ocoee, Florida, was contracted for the installation of special effects and assigned Marcial Godoy as the project engineer.

"When they [the TI crew] worked out the schedule, they were designing it as they went, so every day was a surprise from the new effects added, so we had to adjust our wiring and so on," says Godoy. "It was supposed to take a couple of months, but it took an extra one." Further care had to be taken with submerged equipment to make sure that it stayed put and was installed solidly. "If something breaks under the water, the lagoon has to be drained," Godoy says. "That has only happened once. The umbilical cables pulling the boat got tangled up, and they basically exploded almost every cable in there, so in that case, they had to drain the lagoon and replace everything and start over. If it happens, you start getting all these computer faults saying ‘sensor gone.’ I think the show was down for about three weeks." There are a number of control panels on The Bull, the boat that moves, and they are submersible. Each one has 24 bolts that have to be checked and tested where the tow cables attach. The boat is installed in a big loop of cable so that it can be pulled in either direction.

"It’s a huge electronic winch that has a cable under water," says Godoy, "and it runs through an equipment room, and it has a giant spool in there. At a given time in the show, the controllers become enabled and the winch acts as a big fishing rod and pulls the cable."

There is a lot more activity on the crew between shows than during them. Lights must be reset, music must be recued, propane gas must be reloaded, and the pirates’ ship has to be retracted by the cable along the submerged track into its original location. Before anything is moved in the water, a visual check is done down below.

Safety Video
In order to make sure that obstacles are clear and cables aren’t tangled underwater, video cameras are used to provide the technical director with an underwater view. There are so many water and pyrotechnic effects combined with a number of highly mobile dancing performers that the position of the actors must be precisely predictable and instantly verifiable. Cameras are also used below deck on the ships to make sure that all the actors are safely below before the largest gas explosions are set off above. More than a dozen cameras feed a bank of four monitors in the show control room and are switched by the master show controller to present the video from the right location at the right time while manual override is instantly available on command.

For additional safety control, the principal performers carry an electronic "pickle switch," and as long as they push its enabler button, the water and fire effects can proceed on time. If the button is not pressed, the fire and water effects are simply skipped while the music, lights, and ship movement continue as usual. This is vital with performers right on top of water cannon and directly beneath gas burners that, when activated, instantly consume about 16 cubic feet of propane in a huge fire blast. The Honeywell RN-7890 flame controllers allow the gas burst only after the pilot flame is confirmed by an ultraviolet sensor. Five high-speed turbine pumps drive the water cannon inside one of the ships, and video confirmation along with performer override are also used to prevent anyone from standing over it at the wrong moment. The pumps also sync to the Anitech MP-4000 show controller to begin "leak effects" with water streaming from the deck of the sinking ship. Activation for most of these devices are made through Allen-Bradley PLC units that convert RS-232, RS-422, and other serial command streams to synchronize the various effects perfectly and consistently for safe predictability.

With its numerous safety features and time-coded master control, the Sirens of TI show has achieved an artistic blend of synchronized sound, light, fire, water, dance, and song to give a mighty wild ride for the crowds on the boardwalk of Treasure Island.

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