A dynamic audio experience

Friday, June 2, 2006 | 7:20 a.m.

The Beatles may have felt that "all you need is love," as they put it in one song, but the folks at Cirque du Soleil believe that you also need stellar sound for "Love" to succeed.

When "Love," Cirque du Soleil's tribute to the Beatles, premieres tonight at the Mirage, the Fab Four's tunes will reach audiences' ears through an elaborate audio system created by internationally acclaimed sound designer Johnathan Deans.

"You should be able to close your eyes and listen to the music," said Deans, who has worked on "Ka" and other Cirque productions, and was given the task of capturing the essence of the music.

"But that is not our objective. The production has visual treats - the amazing visuals should be enhanced by the audio. Both should become one."

The long-anticipated collaboration among Cirque, Apple Corps. Ltd. and MGM Mirage will unfold in a $100 million theater that once was the showroom for Siegfried & Roy.

Each of the 2,013 seats in the renovated venue is equipped with three speakers - more than 6,000 speakers overall that will give fans an intimate experience that producers hope will be unforgettable.

Deans says the speaker system exceeds the film, TV and music industry standard of 5.1 digital surround sound.

"I have calculated that the minimal a person in any seat in this theater will have here is 25.5," he said. "That doesn't mean it's five times louder or five times better, it's just that the experience is five times more dynamic with that many more speakers and mixers."

Audiences will hear five different mixes, he said.

"You're aware of sound right by you, in the seat and across the other side of the theater," Deans said.

A CD of the production's music will be released later this year, but it will not be the same as sitting in the theater, he said.

"When you listen to the recording of the show at home, it will remind you of the audio experience you had in the theater, but the CD won't reproduce the exact sound," Deans said. "If it just reproduces it, it doesn't feel as if I have done my job to create a unique theatrical experience."

This is Deans' eighth sound design project for Cirque. Among his other assignments were "O," "Mystere," "Zumanity" and "Ka."

He also has worked outside of Cirque, and when his work is finished here, he will head to Chicago for another assignment.

"Love" has been among the most challenging.

Usually he works with productions in which the music has been created specifically for a show. "Love" was the opposite, with the production being created specifically for the music.

Deans credits longtime Beatles producer George Martin and his son, Giles, with bringing the music to the project by going into archives to assemble what fans will hear.

"They have gone into master recordings of the music and compiled a new take on sections of the music - not all the music," Deans said. "Some are just the songs we know and love, but other sections take you on a journey almost through the entire catalogue of the Beatles."

He calls it an "incredible, emotional ride." It will be up to audiences to decide whether it also becomes a magical mystery tour.

"It is always the Beatles we are listening to, no one else," Deans said.

One of the challenges for Deans involved working with music familiar to so many people.

"When you sit down and mix their work, you are restricted by the fact that everybody knows how the song is," Deans said. "You cannot go crazy with movement or position or level adjustments because then it isn't their song anymore."

He compared the mixing problem to that of tearing down a house, and then rebuilding it exactly as it was.

"Every window and brick has to be in the same place that it was, or it isn't the same house," he said.

Like millions of others, Deans has concluded that the Beatles' music "holds up after all these years."

He cherishes the experience of working with master recordings of the music of his youth.

"When you mix in the theater, you do it from midnight until the late hours of the morning, because that is when it is the most quiet," Deans said. "No one is around.

"When the midnight hour approaches you are so tired. Then you turn on the music and you just light up. You become re-energized by the music."

Deans has spent almost four years on the project .

He will leave the show after the gala grand opening on June 30 and plans to spend time with his family before moving on to the next project.

"It is unlike any other Cirque show," Deans said. "It's unlike any other show, perhaps - there is something so unique about 'Love.' "

He recalled watching a woman of about 60 who attended a recent sneak preview of the production.

"She was jumping up and down and crying and saying, 'This is history,' " Deans said. "She said, 'I just relived my entire life in 90 minutes.' "

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