PDA

View Full Version : Park Sound System



Believe
01-29-2002, 05:04 PM
I've allways wanted to know where the HUGE CD player is that plays all the area music,street parades,believe shows and stuff.

I know for Fantasmic they have a Sound/ light both but what about everything else ?

Is there a CD Player at each land playing the area music ???

Thanks,

:D

LightGuy20
01-29-2002, 05:14 PM
I think I remember reading in an article about Fantasmic that it actually uses laserdiscs.

And, not that I know for sure, but I doubt they use CD players. Most of the audio is probably on hard disk recorders for playback.

I do know that WDI came up with their own control system for lighting (I got to see it at a convention a few years back, still have the brochure somewhere), so there's a good chance they have their own proprietary system for all that sound playback.

Believe
01-29-2002, 05:20 PM
Cool !!!!

lighting system ??

what kinda lighting system do they have ?

Thought Fantasmic had to run on somthing high tech like laser disc or DVD ! :D

thanks for your info !!!

:)

LightGuy20
01-29-2002, 05:36 PM
Well, this was back at LDI94 (Lighting Dimmensions International) an entertainment lighting trade show. I was at a conference session about WDI, and they brought out this lighting console that they used to program attraction lighting. They made it themselves, because they needed one that they could program on a board, but then playback from a small rackmount controller. While this isn't that revolutionary now, it was something back then. This was right about the time they were programming Indy, so I think that's the main thing it was created for.

You can stop reading now if you're not that into entertainment lighting.

The WDI console was very similar to what the WholeHog II/HogUnit combo is now. (sans touchscreens)

http://www.highend.com/products/hog2/hog2accs.html


Again, all that info is coming from my foggy memory of a trade show that happened 8 years ago, so I'm gonna state that it's for entertainment purposes only. I don't want anyone going out and basing any life and death decisions on it. ;)

tabacco
01-29-2002, 05:58 PM
There's a sound control room above the Bank/Opera House. I don't know if it's the whole park (I doubt it) or just Main Street, as I've just seen the door. But it's there :)

Mouse
01-29-2002, 06:12 PM
I've worked with techs before at some of the DCA shows. They have their sound boards with which they control the music and sound efects from but I never thought of where the CD, or hard disk or what have you is. I always just think the music is coming from the speakers..not were it is really coming from.

Polar33
01-29-2002, 10:43 PM
I took a tour of "Audio Central" the year "Believe..." began, I'll try to tell as much as I can remember.

As Tabacco mentioned Audio Central is located above the Bank of Main Street. If you are facing the Bank from Main St. it is the room behind the MSEP window. Inside the room is a big computer console that does indead control audio for most if not the entire park. I am not sure if the computer actually is what runs each areas music or if it more or less just routes information around such as what music feed should be playing where. My guess is that is that it just routes information around because there were many other types of audio playback devices in the room to. I do know that all park wide announcements such as the park closing announcement are controlled by audio central, in which case the computer will tell all the speakers to fade out whatever music they are playing and play the announcement. Likewise for Believe... they can cut out the Small World, Village Haus, Tarzan's Treehouse, and Observitron audio for the show as well as fading out the area music on Main Street and in Frontierland at the five minute safety announcement. Fantasmic!, when it runs, essentally has a "manual override" that they flip to do their show and flip back for the fireworks, the same is also true for Club Buzz and the Plaza Gardens stage. They also have control over parade route lighting and run SYMPTE (information for lighting, sound and pyrotechnics) for Believe... (the computer might just be a Compaq...I forgot to look) They also have a closed circut tv setup showing every inch of the parade route and a camera to view the Believe... fireworks. I hope this answers a few things. It's truely a facinating place for anyone interested in the tech aspect of entertainment. Unfortuneatly, I have yet to find out the location of DCA's Audio Central, It has been a while since I have seen my techie friends (honestly, it hasn't even crossed my mind un till now).

driftwood714
01-29-2002, 11:10 PM
DCA's Audio Central is behind Golden Dreams by the Golden State Attractions office.

tabacco
01-29-2002, 11:22 PM
SMPTE is the timecoding system they use for the parades and whatnot, I know. Fun stuff, that. I use it for video work myself :)

WizKidRyan
01-30-2002, 02:38 PM
How can I get a job in Audio Central :D

LIMANDL4EVA
01-30-2002, 03:42 PM
i rememeber at the end of main street, i believe it is the photo shoppe, that i was waiting inside for th park to open and the security guard opened up a cabinet on the ground, near the door and he turned knob 360 degrees and he said that triggers the announcement, but thats just what he told me soo..

Sheila
01-30-2002, 03:48 PM
Two years ago, I took the Backstage Magic Tour at Magic Kingdom (in Florida). Part of the tour was visiting underneath their Main Street where the Utilidor corridors are. We were allowed to visit the main control room where all the computers and sound equipment are for the park.

We saw computers for each attraction (big old mainframe types).

There was also a small room with televisions that displayed views from cameras located throughout the park which were pointed at each section of the parade route. The tech there explained to us that as a float rolls by, it trips a sensor in the street which controls which music is played. It's way cool.

I imagine a very similar computer set-up is used for DL. Unfortunately, this kind of tour is not available for DL, so if you get a chance to go to WDW, be sure to take one of the behind-the-scenes tours....

Sheila

Gemini Cricket
01-30-2002, 04:24 PM
Originally posted by LIMANDL4EVA
i rememeber at the end of main street, i believe it is the photo shoppe, that i was waiting inside for th park to open and the security guard opened up a cabinet on the ground, near the door and he turned knob 360 degrees and he said that triggers the announcement, but thats just what he told me soo..

I'd like to confrim this. I, too, waited in the photo shop for DL to open and the same thing happened to me.

Here's a fun fact for Magic Mountain (yuck): When I was waiting in line for Batman, I noticed a speaker in the ground of a lanscaped area. From the speaker came recorded crowd noises of people talking, screaming and laughing. The irony was that everyone in line was waiting for Batman to start running again. It had been closed for a technical problem and everyone around this happy speaker was NOT happy nor making any noise for the last hour or so of waiting... It was as if they were telling us subliminally to have fun. We weren't.:mad:

tabacco
01-30-2002, 05:15 PM
On more than one occasion I've come onto Main Street well before hours (5AM-ish) and heard all sorts of music playing on the PAs. A couple of the funnier ones were one day when they were testing the sound for a mini-parade of squaredancers (for those of you who remember that from this summer). Every now and then the PA would loudly proclaim: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, we hope you've enjoyed this exhibition of squaredancing by the blah blah" and we'd all start laughing because it seemed so funny with nobody on Main Street but delivery trucks :)

Also, I came in one morning for canoe practice and they had an unidentified trance mix playing, apparently for the benefit of the facilities guys :)

Polar33
01-30-2002, 09:45 PM
LIMANDL4EVA: It is very possible that the knob the security gaurd turned triggered the announcement. There are many switches around the park that control audio in sections so Audio Central dosn't have to do everything all the time. The Disneyland Band flips a switch behind the Town Square parade gate to fade out the Town Square music when they have their concert. The Dapper Dans have a similar setup when they do their act further down Main Street. A switch in ToonTown activates the clock and sound effects above the Toontown City Hall when the characters come out to do their meet and greets. Those are the ones that stick out the most in my mind, but there are many audio control boxes around the backstage areas. In this case they probabally don't want the opening announcement to be run if the park is not fully ready, so security is given the direct ability to run the announcement when they are given the all clear.

Tabacco: Oops...I knew that SMPTE didn't look right when I typed it...I suppose I should try going to bed before 3 in the morning sometime. Music in the park after hours is entertaining indead. Although it isnt every night, I have heard various types of music playing parkwide during the late hours of the night (or morning depending on how you look at it). I too have heard trance playing, other days I have heard rap, disco, pop, oldies, latin, and once Britney Spears. There is nothing stranger than standing in Small World Mall at 2am when no one else around listing to "oops I did it again" playing loudly over the parade route speekers. I've noticed though that more and more of the 3rd shift people are bringing their own headsets to listen to...can't blame them. Oops...I knew that SMPTE didn't look right when I typed it...I suppose I should try going to bed before 3 in the morning sometime.

Driftwood714: Thanks for the location of DCA's Audio Central, good to know that there is actually something in that corner of the park other than facades.

Believe
01-31-2002, 02:04 AM
Thanks for all your great information Polar33, i'm really into the entertainment side of Disneyland, sound and lights also shows

Whats SMPTE ???? :confused:

Also you got any info on how the Believe show runs ??


thanks again !

LIMANDL4EVA
01-31-2002, 09:25 PM
i too would LOVE to know how the believe show runs

and a little off subject but i think the best part in any show would be mickey at the finale for fantasmic, directing all the fireworks, i always thought would be so exciting, anyways, thats another thread:D

Polar33
01-31-2002, 10:31 PM
SMPTE is a time code system used mostly in video and audio production, that brakes down time into hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. It is used primarily to keep various peices of equipment linked together and keep them working on the same page so to speak. In the case of "Believe..." it is used to keep the pyro, and lighting synced with the music. In "Believe..." it also controls various safety announcements and the cue to let Tinkerbell fly over the headsets of the crew. The show director for "Believe..." sits on top of Photo Supply with other crew and VIP type guests. There are three spotlight operators for the Tinkerbell part of the show, one on the Photo Supply roof, one atop Coke Corner, and the other behind Storybook Land. When Tink flies she lands in a tower located next to the village haus where the gates inbetween Frontierland and Fantasyland are (she uasually lands very fast too). The neatest thing that I can think of about "Believe..." behind the scenes is that the show is actually started 5 minutes before the music starts. This gives time for the launching system to pressurize and for other various system pre-launch tasks to occur. It's pretty neat stuf!

LIMANDL4EVA
02-01-2002, 09:33 AM
the show director for believe actually sits atop of the photo shoppe?
wow what a great viewing station
does he just sit up there with a lan chair or what, i dont thihnk there is much to direct though, just press a button andthe pyro starts? i find this all very interesting on how the comp know exactly when and where to shoot the pyro and how it adapts to wind conditions
does anyone else know more about backstage at believe or fantasmic?:D

Believe
02-01-2002, 08:41 PM
Yeah lets know more about backstage of Believe and Fantasmic please :D

Thanks !

Polar33 any more info ?

PhilMP
02-01-2002, 09:28 PM
I've always wanted to go up and see the show director's booth up above Photo Supply, except during the holiday show, since I saw they were having a hard time with all those soap bubbles blowing around them as they were trying to do their work. I also saw Harriss up there New Years Eve, apparently keeping an eye on things.

But what's with the 2 control booths for Fantasmic. I know there's the show director who sits directly beneath the center light tower behind the giant sound board, but what's with the control tower up in New Orlean's Square. Does it control all the mechanical things on TSI, or does it control lighting pyro, etc, while the show director sits in front of the action for better control?

Phil

Polar33
02-02-2002, 01:44 AM
The show director does a bit more than just sit and watch. Although the show is pretty much clockwork for those folks, he still calls the shots and oversees everything else that goes on. When it is windy or other conditions arise he is the one who makes the call to delay or cancel the show. He also has a checklist of safety procedures neads to be taken care of before Tinkerbell flys. If for some reason the "mini Tinkerbell" effect towers can't lower before it is time for the castle pyro he will pull that from the program. He also calles the "in" and "out" points for the spot operators during Tinkerbells flight. As for the lawn chair thing...I've never been up there personally :( but I assume it would look more or less like the setup they have underneath the B tower for Fantasmic!, but scaled down a bit.

I don't know to much about Fantasmic!s inner workings but I can speculate a little about the setup recalling my small background in technical theatre. Audio technicians generally like to be where the sound is to do their job. There is no better way to know what your audience is hearing than to be in the middle of it yourself. So the person underneath tower B is most likely working audio. As for the booth above NOS I would speculate that the person at that location is doing lighting. A further distanced vantage point would make it easier to see all three light towers and gain a greater perspective of the show as a whole. However, useing that knowledge I would assume that the show director would use that location also, but I don't recall seing more than one person up there to often so I don't believe that that is the case here. Being down under tower B would also give the show director closer access to the rest of the crew if something neaded to be taken care of in between performances. On TSI the Cider Mill is used as the nerve center of the island, the island effects equipment is housed there and the techs controlling them are there too. As for who what and where controls the pyro for Fantasmic...you've got me there...but you can bet that it's linked to lighting and sound with SMPTE! :D That is about all I can say for Fantasmic!, next time you are on TSI spend a few moments looking around, most of the good stuff is kept locked up but if you do find something unlocked I've seen no harm in a quick peak...just don't go tresspassing or anything! :)

LIMANDL4EVA
02-03-2002, 12:52 PM
what is there 2 control with audio, all i can think of is that you press play, and that sit, im sure its more technical than that but you get the gist

Polar33
02-04-2002, 10:52 PM
What they do all depends on what time they are there. Whoever is there in the morning makes sure that each land's background music is running for park opening, they do music tests up and down the parade route later on, they test and set up for any announcements scheduled to run that day for things like pre parade marching bands, monitors audio levels, etc. If something isn't working they nead to get it working fast.

The afternoon and night crews have to devote most of their time to makeing sure the parades and fireworks go smoothly. There is something like 40 different audio zones along the parade route and if the music isn't synced right not only will it sound odd for some guests but the performers will loose their timing as they go down the parade route. For the fireworks, certian attractions audio must be overrided, control for music in all areas you can view the show must be varified, someone has to make sure it happens and get it taken care of if it dosn't.

On good days, I'm sure that it is alot of just pressing play...but they have to be around to make sure it stays playing, is playing where it should be, and is playing at an appropreate level.