City Springs Theatre Company, based in Sandy Springs, GeA, mounts four large-scale Broadway-style musicals each year. Each production is staged at the Byers Theatre within the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center—a 1070-seat venue requiring the production team to “build the show house” from the ground up each time. The theater turned to a Dante-enabled TiMax SoundHub, TiMax TrackerD4 tracking, and a Dante network backbone for a recent production of The Wizard of Oz to ensure enhanced audio for all guests.
[‘The Wizard of Oz’ Gets Radical Audio Reinvention]
Anthony Narciso approached The Wizard of Oz, “as if we were doing a tour,” given the lack of permanent infrastructure, creating a fully deployable sound system that transformed the static venue into an immersive, story-driven soundscape.
“We deploy a spatial audio system and tracking for the spatial audio system that allows voices to be placed in time and space,” Narciso explained. The large cast, including a child ensemble, demanded precision and clarity across a complex mix of dialogue, music, and effects.
To meet this challenge, the design relied on a Dante-enabled TiMax SoundHub, TiMax TrackerD4 tracking, and a Dante network backbone to connect microphones, consoles, processors, and amplifiers seamlessly.
Dante, We're Not in Kansas Anymore
Producing The Wizard of Oz posed both artistic and logistical challenges. The load-in period was just over a week, half the normal time. “We normally have about 12 to 14 days to get up a show, and we have about a week to put this up,” Narciso noted.
From a creative standpoint, the show demanded sonic storytelling that could balance orchestral grandeur, environmental effects, and vocal clarity. “The biggest thing for me is providing clarity to cacophonous moments,” Narciso explained. During the tornado sequence, for instance, “we have to be swallowed by this tornado... but we also have to hear the orchestrations clearly.”
Achieving that clarity required precision control of placement, movement, and intelligibility—made possible only through a robust, flexible Dante infrastructure connecting every piece of gear digitally.
We're Off to See the Wizard...
The Wizard of Oz sound design hinged on a TiMax-based spatial audio system. The TiMax SoundHub processor and D4 tracking system create delay-based spatialization — placing each performer’s voice in its physical onstage location with near-millimeter accuracy.
“Without Dante, this is not even a conversation,” Narciso emphasized. “You need an individual channel for each speaker cabinet... Dante’s the way to go to do spatialized audio.”
The complete signal chain included: Shure Axient wireless microphones feeding a DiGiCo console via Dante; each microphone sent over Dante to TiMax SoundHub; DiGiCo Orange Boxes convert Dante to AES3 to feed 17 amplifiers driving 65 loudspeakers; QLab playback systems running Dante Virtual Soundcard for primary and backup operation; Wavetool monitoring software leveraging Dante splits for real-time RF and audio analysis; Clear-Com Arcadia intercom integrated with Dante for crew communication and spotlight monitoring; and much more.
The Magical Wizard of Oz
The payoff was immediate. Audience members and colleagues alike noted the crystal-clear intelligibility and spatial realism. “It sounds better than some Broadway shows,” one lighting designer commented. Others praised that they “understood more of the words in your shows there than I do in a Broadway show generally.” This reaction wasn’t just about volume or clarity; it was about how the sound occupied the theater space, enveloping the audience in a fully immersive experience.
In the company's earlier years, sound was the area that needed the most improvement. Amongst several other improvements, implementing the spatial system led to the audio receiving frequent compliments from longtime patrons and new audience members alike. This feedback highlighted the importance of spatially accurate sound placement, something Dante-enabled networks make seamless.
“The best thing I can tell you is Dante just works," Narciso concluded.
