Brit Row Supplies Young Voices' 30th Anniversary Tour

	"It's a balancing act getting the audio just right. From screaming to whispering, you have to let them do their thing and shine. It's a sum of the parts on stage," says Lewis. Photo: Young Voices and Olivia Johnston Photography

Young Voices, the world's largest children's choir, brings together school children aged 7-11 with the aim of inspiring a lifelong love of music through the experience of a professional concert production.

For 26 years, Britannia Row has supported the organization with audio design, equipment, and crew, becoming dedicated to its unique touring client which has shown over 2.5 million children what it feels like to be a star for the night by singing in an arena.

On its 30th edition, Young Voices CEO, Ben Lewis, reflects on three decades of visibility, inclusion and production values aided by Britannia Row's live sound solutions, which include L-Acoustics and SSL.

"We want the children to grow their confidence, and feel part of something truly memorable," begins Lewis. "But they're beginer singers -- some being part of a choir for the very first time - and their voices may not project easily. There's a lot of matching the sound with what the expectation might be for an arena concert, and that's where Brit Row has always understood what we need.

"Inclusion is a big part of participation from a young age but marrying that with production excellence is in everything that we do. For the children to be in this environment and feel like they belong instantly, it can really broaden their horizons in the future.

"Ultimately, the children are the stars of this show, and they're the ones selling the arenas out, so we make sure that we give them due care and attention as you would any artist."

Lewis goes on to explain how the skills of his longtime audio team help the vision: "It's a balancing act getting the audio just right. From screaming to whispering, you have to let them do their thing and shine. It's a sum of the parts on stage; we could have Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet) or Miss Honey (from the West End's Matilda The Musical) sitting next to a break dancer, or a symphony conductor. It's a real mishmash of personalities, skills and people, but that's what creates the magic for the children and that understanding of diverse talent is what we bonded with Brit Row over all those years ago."

Britannia Row's Bryan Grant reminisces on this notion: "It very quickly became apparent that this was a real audio challenge for us; thousands of massed choirs, made up of school children who are only available to rehearse together on the day of show, in the UK's biggest arenas -- not to mention it's a different choir every night! The Lewis family, who conceived the project, have always been passionate about delivering a professional show. For many of these children, it's their introduction to concerts and their first visit to an arena, so the production must reflect at that level.

"I've personally developed a close friendship with the family over the years and am honored to be part of their team. Their vision and energy to expand this idea really is inspiring, and it works; we even have freelance crew who had been choir members when they were young."

For Young Voices veteran and audio crew chief, Grace Howat, it's this accessibility that makes the project special. "Whether someone sees a sound engineer, a drummer, a singer or something else catches their attention, who knows where that may lead for them in the future? Above all, we're a family. Young Voices has always been, and will always be, about inclusion, and that's a big reason I'm still here."

Another real-life example of this can be found in performer Alex Spencer, who recently signed to CAA booking agency & Modest Management. At nine years old, he was part of a Young Voices choir, and by chance a few years later, Lewis bumped into him busking with his guitar. "I asked what the song was called that he was playing, and he said, 'this is an original'," laughs Lewis. "He was 14 at the time! After I told him what I do, he told me that he knew all about Young Voices, so we had to have him back as an artist."

Spencer, who is now 18, describes the serendipitous moment: "Ben always kept in mind that I play and when he invited me to come back and sing on stage all these years later, it felt like a full circle moment. I'm singing an original song that is happy and the kids can clap along to, and a song that has influenced me a lot: Oasis' 'Don't Look Back in Anger.'

"It is surreal, playing in an arena, because everything is so much bigger than I'm used to. The production, the crew, the equipment, it's all next level. I brought my pedalboard, and this is the first time I'm playing wireless, which is so cool! The sound is perfect and the gear is pristine. It really feels like the crew are all behind you, and that the audience is backing you."

For Lewis, the solidarity in the atmosphere at his concerts comes in part thanks to the returning crew and vendors. "Keeping our teams together is a big part of it. The understanding and knowledge base from Brit Row has always been amazing; they're constantly coming up with iterations for how we can get better."

Howat agrees: "It requires a unique approach; it's not rock and roll and it's not theatre; it sits in another place, so you do need both the ability and experience of putting all manner of different productions together."

This includes the Britannia Row commissioned Perspex parabolic microphone dishes, deployed to help with directivity. Grace confirms the latest versions "sound more defined" for the large-scale monitoring set up (ten mics for 7,000 singers).

At both the front-of-house and monitor stations, the team's familiar SSL Live L550 control surface package has made a return, and Clear-Com's digital comms system, HelixNet, keeps the production communicating.

"Everything we do on this gig is about consistency," adds Howat. "With the PA system, we have a lot of hangs directly in front of where the singers are, which can be delicate. We have a traditional arena PA pointing towards the audience (main hangs and side hangs are K2 line array enclosures); we have 5 x hangs of KARA II placed around the back of the room to point towards the children's seats, and we're using KS28 subs."

Driving the system is LA12X amplifiers situated within an LA-RAK II AVB amp rack.

"It's a hybrid setup -- not fully 360 degrees like you'd design for an in-the-round performance - but it delivers sound to the audience surrounding the space, the children's choir at one end of the arena, and the band positioned centre stage. It's handling multiple roles, but by now, Young Voices feels second nature to us."

Working with account executive Tom Brown, the Britannia Row Productions crew is completed by front-of-house engineer Gavin Tempany, monitor engineer Dee Miller, systems engineer Nico Royan, RF tech Fergus Mount, stage and PA techs Pat Coghill and Paul Gardiner, and stage techs Luke Chadwick, Luke Cohen, and Catherine Bowdidge.