Market Sector:
ENTERTAINMENT
NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
WHIRLYREELER CASE STUDY
Bringing live entertainment closer with innovative design and precision engineering
Imagine you’re a busy theatre producer, running plays, musicals and concerts, including recording sessions. Your stage managers have to position microphones and cameras with pinpoint accuracy, at speed, for seamless performance and scene changes. What mechanism enables you to automatically reel such equipment up or down to within millimetres of live performers precisely, safely and quietly?
We think the answer is the innovative WhirlyReeler, designed by Ewart Richardson Design Ltd. and manufactured by Warren’s precision engineering team. It combines unique features, including no slip ring and a helically-grooved drum, for quiet, fast and accurate cable reeling. It’s particularly suited to electrical or fibreoptic cables that must transmit data, audio or visual, with high fidelity.
Ewart and the Warren team have collaborated on design and engineering projects for the entertainment industry over many years. They have created numerous stage production technologies for venues around the world. Now, they have developed the WhirlyReeler to handle virtually any cable size, length or load.
A MIND FOR SCIENCE AND LOVE OF THEATRE
His university studies included physics, but Ewart’s first job was working in the Nottingham Playhouse. “I started out making scenery and quickly got involved in the more technical work,” he explains. “I have been in the business ever since, designing and building stage sets for theatres and TV shows across the UK, as well as for venues and exhibitions in across the world.”
Ewart’s talent is in designing technology that enables producers to bring ever more elaborate and thrilling shows to audiences. He has worked as a freelancer and employee in a number of leading stage production companies and was a Director of Stage Technologies.
He now specialises in designing sophisticated equipment that meets the high production standards of theatres, studios and recording artists.
“Venues often used to assemble bespoke mechanisms onsite, so you could not move them. However, new British Safety Standards led to a shift towards standardised and increasingly automated designs, both in the UK and around the world. When I worked with Stage Technologies, I would draw-up those designs and then select partner companies to make the components, which either we or a sub-contractor would assemble.”
BUILDING A PARTNERSHIP FOR SOLVING PROBLEMS
Warren has never seen their client relationships simply in terms of producing work to specification, they always want to ensure the final product works as planned and desired.
Ewart Richardson, Director of Ewart Richardson Design
Warren has never seen their client relationships simply in terms of producing work to specification, they always want to ensure the final product works as planned and desired.
Ewart Richardson, Director of Ewart Richardson Design
“That’s when I first became aware of Warren, back in 1998. Initially, I saw them as just another metal turning company but Richard Bridgman quickly convinced me that they could do more than simply manufacture components. He was offering a turn-key approach, combining machining and assembly, which made the process more streamlined; we still did all the design drawings.
“Richard really demonstrated his commitment to his clients when, on one occasion, we were having problems assembling a piece of kit. Different subcontractors (including Warren) had made the components but there was an alignment issue that only revealed itself during testing.
Richard volunteered to come down from Norfolk to see me in South London to look at it.
“We took the piece apart, inspected all the components and together we solved the problem. The funny thing is, he asked me if I minded him coming down – which of course I didn’t because normally people try to avoid such ‘downstream’ problems. I like that proactive attitude – Warren has never seen their client relationships simply in terms of working to specification, they always want to ensure the final product works as planned and desired.”
SOLVING COMPLEX TECHNICAL CHALLENGES THROUGH DESIGN AND ENGINEERED INNOVATION
Over the next 15 years, Stage Technologies grew from 5 people to over 200 worldwide including offices in USA, Australia and the UK. Ewart’s department went from two to ten staff. Then, following an amicable takeover, Ewart left to set up his own design company, Ewart Richardson Design Limited (ERDL) in 2015.
“I had been managing a great team of talented designers but I wanted to get back into actually doing more hands-on design work. Setting up my own design company, ERDL, was the best way to do this and has enabled me to work with some amazing organisations around the world. One of those contracts, where I was advising on the mechanics to resolve acoustic issues in a concert hall, gave me the WhirlyReeler idea.”
That idea came from a complex problem that is common to many big venues that have to host a range of productions at various times in one season. For one production you might need 50 microphones set at different, but precise, heights above a classical orchestra, for another you might need all of them cleared away above a musical’s set. You have to also be able to swap the configurations over between shows, quickly and accurately.
Traditionally, stagehands would manually lower microphones on cables through holes in the ceiling, until the sound engineer said stop. They’d then mark the cables to record the desired length and haul them back up, dumping all the cables into a bucket to keep them out of the way during other shows. That could be 15 to 25 metres of cable for each microphone, and a different configuration of holes and cables for each show.
“What was needed,” explains Ewart, “was a rig that could control multiple automated reelers and deploy any combination of microphones to precise, pre-set heights at the touch of a button. This would enable different directors to specify not just the arrangement of microphones for their shows but also their heights to within a few mm. This would make multiple changeovers easier and simplify the recording process.
“There are lots of systems and rigs on the market but few if any could offer that level of control and precision combined with the unique cable management abilities of WhirlyReeler. Repeatability of positioning (assured with WhirlyrReeler’s single layer helical drums and precise encoder positioning) can make a huge difference to the sound quality when recording, say, classical musicians. It is also vital for high quality recordings to have unbroken cables linking the microphones to the recording desk – without any excess ‘captive’ cable that some reelers need to avoid a slip ring.”
When Covid hit, Ewart found time to start developing ideas for solving this technical challenge. After getting positive feedback from industry colleagues for one solution, he took his drawings to Warren. “I knew they would rise to the challenge because they had the electrical and mechanical engineering capabilities (they also have design capabilities but I am happy doing that).”
Warren was keen to get involved and, using Ewart’s designs, rapidly produced a prototype. When that proved successful, Warren and ERDL agreed to a 50/50 development process and took out a UK patent for WhirlyReeler (GB2589123), as well as applying for international patents. They have already sold the first 10 units to a confidential buyer at a famous venue and will exhibit it at a US entertainment tradeshow in 2023.
Warren has all the skills under one roof to make and assemble all of those parts – and the expertise to solve any engineering problems along the way.”
Ewart Richardson, Director of Ewart Richardson Design
Warren has all the skills under one roof to make and assemble all of those parts – and the expertise to solve any engineering problems along the way.”
Ewart Richardson, Director of Ewart Richardson Design
The WhirlyReeler’s unique design solves all the technical challenges facing concert halls that Ewart had identified. It only needs around 26m of cable for 25m of ‘stroke’ (the distance from ceiling to stage), which minimises microphone-to-mixer distance. On-board safety monitoring technology makes it extremely safe to use in confined roof spaces. Its electronic controls also let stage managers monitor all the microphone positions individually, all the time.
“The manufacturing process is multi-disciplined,” concludes Ewart. “It involves folded metal, turned metal, rapid prototyping plastics, laser profiling, motors, gearboxes and electronic controls, all fitting perfectly together in one neat package. However, Warren has all the skills under one roof to make and assemble all of those parts – and the expertise to solve any engineering problems along the way.”
You can see all the specifications for the Whirly Reeler here. Please contact ERDL or Warren to find out how we can help you put on your show. We can tailor our design to your individual performance requirements.
To find out how Warren can help you bring your complex innovations to market, please ask about our Design for Manufacture service – simply complete the enquiry form.
Report by Huw Sayer at Business Writers Ltd for Warren.
