LAKE SILJAN, SWEDEN — Approximately 360 million years ago, a meteorite (roughly four km in diameter) collided with our planet about 280 kilometers north of Stockholm, Sweden, and the modern day result of this impact is Lake Siljan, home to the music venue Dalhalla. (The name is a deliberate reference to Valhalla, home to the gods of Norse legend.) The venue's location dictates that its concert season be limited to the summer months only, when Dalhalla hosts opera, classical, jazz and rock concerts. The open-air design makes it impractical to maintain permanent audio and lighting installations. As a result, Dalhalla requires an AV installation each May. That task is the responsibility of Park Brothers (Bröderna Park AB), a full-service production company with headquarters in Insjön. Managing director Bengt Park notes that the annual installation consists entirely of sound and lights. "We don't use much video," he says. "Because the environment is so bright, video is not often used." What is often used is the venue's system of Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers.
Diana Krall's FOH engineer, Dave Lawler, said, "You're going to a very remote area and don't know what to expect, so to find a Meyer Sound system there was amazing. It's high technology in the wilderness; quite a contrast."
The primary house system at Dalhalla is self-powered, consisting of two Meyer Sound M2D compact curvilinear arrays of 12 cabinets each. The arrays are driven from a Meyer Sound LD-3 compensating line driver, which provides EQ to compensate for air absorption of high frequencies on longer throws.
A group of three Meyer Sound 700-HP subwoofers on each side of the stage augments the line arrays. By arranging the subs one meter apart and applying delays for them progressively, a cardioid pattern is achieved, eliminating bass buildup on the stage. Dalhalla also has a stock of M2D-Sub compact subwoofers for use in rock shows requiring even more bass.
Dalhalla's open-air stage is 36 meters wide and built of wood over a concrete base, with a 1,500-square-foot fabric roof overhead. Parking is located at ground level, requiring a 10-minute walk to get down into the amphitheatre's 60-meter depth.
In the bottom of the quarry is a lake, necessitating the use of a pump to keep water levels under control. During performances, the pump is used to create a fountain. The lake also serves to separate the audience from the stage. "The distance from the stage to the nearest seat varies from 10 to 15 meters," Park explains. "That means frontfill is not that big a problem." For some shows, however, Dalhalla employs six M1D curvilinear array loudspeakers near the center of the stage, in left-right pairs.
For more information, visit www.meyersound.com.
