Shelly Lee, Associate Sound Designer, discusses 'Tina – The Tina Turner Musical'

Full article published by ALIA, Photos: Daniel Boud.

In 1992, Shelly graduated with a Bachelor of Science majoring in Electronic Engineering, during which she commenced her now 32-year career in theatrical sound, initially as a Radio Mic Technician. Shortly after, Shelly commenced mixing international productions such as Cats, Westside Story and Les Miserables (to name a few) regularly touring throughout Australia, NZ and Asia. Shelly also spent time in London working for the highly reputable “Autograph Sound Recording” mixing on the Westend.

Since then, Shelly has been Sound Supervisor, Associate Designer or Sound Designer on numerous local and International Productions. Most recently, Shelly was the Sound Designer for the Opera Australia’s production of The Phantom of the Opera on Sydney Harbour, Associate Sound Designer on the Australian Tour of Mary Poppins, as well as Phantom of the Opera (Sydney Opera House/Arts Centre Melbourne) and now she is Australian Associate Sound Designer for Tina – The Tina Turner Musical.

“I have been an Associate Sound Designer on numerous large-scale productions and was initially approached by Tina – The Tina Turner Musical’s Technical Manager Cameron Flint,” explained Shelly.  “I then had a meet and greet with the Sound Designer Nevin Steinberg and the rest is history.”

Nevin arrived in time for the System Tune and Cast Onstage and Shelly notes that he was wonderful to work with. 

“He is very generous imparting his knowledge regarding the original concepts behind the sound design of Tina, which have been thought out in great detail,” she added. “He approaches sound very much from an emotive perspective which was crucial for Tina – The Tina Turner Musical and most likely why he was asked to design this show. He most definitely captured the dynamic of her life, the rawness of her vulnerability, the elation of her successes while paying critical attention to the various sonic environments and changing sound over the decades.”

The overall concept of the sound design is pretty much the same for all productions of Tina – The Tina Turner Musical however the system design was modified to suit Sydney’s Theatre Royal to optimise coverage.

JPJ Audio Pty Ltd supplied the audio with the very talented and skilful Andrew Poppleton at the helm as the Production Sound Engineer.

The PA system mainly consists of d&b speakers with Shelly remarking that she thinks the d&b speakers are a good choice for Tina – The Tina Turner Musical.

“They deliver a clean, present sound and handled the large dynamic required throughout the show, well.  Also, having the same brand of speaker throughout the system helps with their sonic integration.  I also like the workflow between Array Calc and R1.”

The main system comprises 12 x d&b Y8, 4 x d&b Y12, 4 x d&b Y7P, 2 x d&b V7P, 10 x d&b V8, 2 x d&b V10P, 2 x d&b V12, 2 x d&b J-Subs, 4 x d&b V-Subs, [as well as 4 x flexible line array loudspeakers]. In addition to this is 29 x d&b E8 and 2 x d&b V7P for fills and delays, 38 x d&b E6 for surrounds and 22 x d&b E5 for stage foldback. 

“We [also] have some special speakers in set pieces and props to localise the sound."

A [253-channel digital mixer] is used for the main console, [with a 144-channel digital mixer] for the band foldback. For the system processing a d&b DS100 is used with Shelly saying that it has assisted in taking the show from ‘play’ mode into ‘concert’ mode.

According to Shelly, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical is deceptively complex, an aspect that did not reveal itself until they started rehearsing.

“We were lucky and grateful to have Simon Fox with us who originally operated Tina – The Tina Turner Musical in London and was an incredible source of information,” said Shelly. “The whole team were terrific not only in the sound department but across all departments. It was a real pleasure to be working alongside such a great bunch of people who were so passionate about this show. It helped overcome any challenges when everyone is so supportive of each other.”