Despite competition from multiplex cinemas, home theaters and every conceivable form of sporting event, there is still considerable interest in watching humans in live onstage performance, whether in drama, musicals, concerts, dance or opera. And smaller and mid-sized venues seem to be doing well, especially as artists once strictly relegated to arenas are now turning to more “intimate” spaces.
These days, audiences expect — and demand — a first-class audio experience where intelligibility and musicality are just as important as rock ‘n’ roll SPLs. With than in mind, we present a look at some recent installation projects —that reflect the current state of the art in theater and performing arts venues.
Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA
A few blocks from Amazon’s global headquarters near downtown Seattle, the Cornish College of the Arts is surrounded by some of the nation’s highest-priced real estate. As a consequence, when the school proposed expanding into a new performance and learning facility, maximizing the utilization of the space was a top priority. Fortunately, by implementing a Constellation acoustic system by Meyer Sound, the school’s recently opened 160-seat Raisbeck Auditorium can provide the optimum aural ambiance for lectures, drama, film screenings, dance recitals and concerts.
“When we examined our curriculum about five years ago, one principle was shifting to a multi-disciplinary arts education,” says Pinky Estell, director of creative services and event spaces. “This new space had to be multi-functional, and a primary challenge was the difference in acoustical requirements. We needed a movie theater, black box theater, lecture hall and a concert hall. And with music, the acoustics ideal for jazz are very different than, for example, taiko drums.”
Audio-video system design and acoustical design for the auditorium was handed over to the consulting firm of Jaffe Holden, with associate principal Steven Schlaseman assigned to acoustical design and project management.
“Cornish has a very forward-looking music department, so they didn’t flinch when we proposed a system of active acoustics,” says Schlaseman. “That was our only option for changing the acoustics as the room dimensions were absolutely fixed. Although we could dampen sound reflections by adding physical absorption, there was no way we could expand the room volume to extend reverberation as would be optimum for many uses.”
In the early planning stages, a new Constellation system recently had been completed for Octave 9 at the Seattle Symphony. However, the room configuration and uses there were significantly different. Consequently, Estell and other key decision-makers flew to Meyer Sound in Berkeley to hear demonstrations in the similar Pearson Theater.
“We were more than impressed,” recalls Estell. “What I heard with Constellation was remarkably cleaner than what I was expecting. It did not sound at all digitized, which was almost a shock in itself.”
Raisbeck Auditorium now has 110 Meyer Sound speakers, deployed in four sub-systems. The Constellation and Atmos-capable cinema surround system includes 70 small full-range loudspeakers (Ashby-8C, HMS-5, MM-4XP) and 16 MM-10XP subwoofers. And 64 miniature condenser microphones are arrayed around the space for ambient acoustical sensing. The primary reinforcement system utilizes six UP-4slim and three ULTRA-X40 speakers augmented by a center-flown cardioid array of three USW-210P subwoofers. Three Acheron 80 cinema loudspeakers carry the screen channels with LFE assigned to three X-800C cinema subwoofers. Six MJF-208 stage monitors provide artist foldback.
All Meyer Sound systems, along with video projection and extensive audio recording facilities, were supplied and installed by Morgan Sound of Lynnwood, WA. In addition to a DiGiCo SD-10 console, QLab show control and Aviom personal monitoring, Morgan Sound spec’d premium microphones from Neumann, Royer, Shure and Sennheiser.
“When we did the initial demo session for faculty and donors, everybody was impressed with what they heard — and not just Constellation,” says Morgan Sound project manager Steven Weeks. “The stellar sound reinforcement system is flat and musical. And when we ran the cinema system with Atmos content, everybody was blown away by how good it sounds.”
Founded in 1914, Cornish College has long been a cutting-edge arts institution, notably during the years when composer John Cage was in residence. “We have a tradition of innovation, and we always urge our students to push forward,” says Estell. “We look forward to pushing the limits of what Constellation can do over the coming years.”
Cornish College of the Arts
- Capacity: 160
- Key Components: Meyer Sound Constellation system
- Designer: Jaffe Holden
- Integrator: Morgan Sound
JK Tyl Theatre, Pilsen, Czech Republic
Located in the Czech Republic’s fourth largest city, the JK Tyl Theatre (Josef Kajetán Tyl Theatre) is an important regional cultural center. The theater’s two primary buildings — the Great Theatre and the New Theatre — are designed to accommodate operas, dramas, musicals, and ballets.
Management of the 460-seat New Theatre sought a flexible audio system and chose to install Europe’s first permanent L-Acoustics Ambiance Acoustic System, supplied by L-Acoustics’ Czech distributor ProMusic. For optimal acoustics in diverse genres, including unamplified concerts such as string quartets, the solution would have to offer flexibility in sound perception and ensure ideal room acoustics for both performers and audience. And with limited changeover times between shows, instantaneous variable acoustics were a crucial element.
To address this, The New Theatre’s technical manager, Igor Staškovič, and the venue team partnered with ProMusic’s Daniel Krčmář to enhance the theater’s acoustics using the L-Acoustics Ambiance Acoustic System.
With Ambiance, the team can now increase the reverberation time from 0.95s up to 2.0s with the simple press of a button on the L-ISA Controller. This activates the appropriate pre-tuned Ambiance configuration for orchestral music, opera or theater shows, delivering the ideal room sensation for each scenario. Implementing the system ensures greater intelligibility and stunning, natural sound for unamplified concerts, enhancing the overall experience for both performers and audience.
“Ambiance represents the cutting-edge of active acoustics, offering a unique combination of premium acoustics and immersive audio realism,” explains L-Acoustics’ Julien Laval. “The system requires both surround and overheads to create a proper acoustic field, providing a rich and immersive audio experience. The loudspeaker and microphone systems are designed using Soundvision, L-Acoustics 3D-mapping design software, ensuring the system is tailored to fit the geometry and volume of the room.”
With Ambiance, 24 strategically placed microphones capture the venue’s existing acoustical energy, processing the signals through the L-ISA Room Engine. The L-ISA 3D audio reverberation leverages the DSP resources within the L-ISA Processor II through a cross-functional approach. It gives the power to shape the venue’s acoustic identity, crafting Ambiance Signatures by adjusting three key types of reflections.
Each Ambiance preset or “signature” is designed to meet the performance requirements of the venue, from simple acoustic enhancement to high-performance immersive hyperreal productions. Ambiance and L-ISA can operate independently or be combined to create endless sonic possibilities, allowing for maximum flexibility in system design. Six Ambiance Signatures let end users find the best match for the various event types.
JK Tyl Theatre’s L-ISA system has 71 loudspeakers. In the main audience area, the flown L-ISA Scene system uses five arrays of two A10i Focus and two A10i Wide each, with two further extension arrays of A10i (Wide and Focus) flanking the stage. Spatial front-fill is provided by 5XT across the stage lip while 19 X8 around the theater handle surrounds and overheads. KS21i subs add LF punch.
“Concertgoers can now look forward to an exceptional audio experience at the theater, thanks to L-ISA Ambiance,”says Laval. “This innovative system enables the theater’s acoustics to be tailored precisely to the specific genre and work being performed.”
The system also brings the possibility of easily creating various sound effects, “for example, we can create the illusion that the ghost of Hamlet’s father is walking around the audience without changing the color or level of his voice,” adds theater director Martin Otava. “The built-in reverberation system creates a truly immersive experience, enveloping the audience in sound from both the stage and auditorium. The system’s greatest advantage is its ability to produce entirely natural sound, allowing the listener to feel completely integrated with the action on stage.”
JK Tyl Theatre – New Theatre
- Capacity: 460
- Key Components: L-Acoustics L-ISA system
- Integrator: ProMusic
Marchionneschi Theatre, Guardistallo, Italy
Located in a small town near Pisa, the Marchionneschi Theatre recently installed a new K-array sound system, part of a creative initiative to define a benchmark for audio quality in live performances. In an effort led by Antonio Aiazzi, a well-known Italian musician, the system upgrade is part of a wider project, aimed at transforming the space into a hub for musicians and reclaiming the Marchionneschi’s position as a cultural center following the challenges posed by the pandemic.
Part of an “Arte Residente” project designed to revive the local theater and encourage audiences back for live performances, numerous companies, including K-array, decided to support the venue as it worked to set the standard for professional live audio.
“When I leave a concert where I heard good music and experienced it fully, I can’t wait to return for another performance,” explains project founder Antonio Aiazzi. “That’s how you create and maintain an audience.”
Thanks to the theater’s acoustic properties and the installation of a K-array audio system, the Marchionneschi Theatre has been transformed into a space with one of the best sound responses in Italy. For live music performances, it is crucial for performers to hear their voices clearly. To meet this need, the installation features K-array’s Pinnacle-KR802 column P.A. system. Additionally, Mastiff wedge monitors ensure clear onstage monitoring.
The project has welcomed a diverse community of artists hailing from the music industry and beyond. From recording albums to rehearsing for upcoming tours, the Marchionneschi has become a focal point of the creative community. The end goal is to establish a circular system of services and hospitality for these artists and the entire village of Guardistallo, where the theater is located.
Artists and sound engineers have expressed their satisfaction with the acoustics of the theater, which provide them with a reliable reference for the sound reproduced during tours, while the “Arte Residente” project has also become popular for artist recording sessions.
“We’re thrilled to be a part of the Arte Residente project,” confirms K-array CEO and president Alessandro Tatini. “Arte Residente is a project that not only empowers musicians and creatives but also brings benefits to the local community here in Tuscany through the revival of their local cultural hub.”
Marchionneschi Theatre
- Capacity: 183
- Key Components: K-array Pinnacle-KR802
- Integrator: K-array
Gateway Theater, Singapore
Located at the heart of Bukit Merah Central in Singapore, Gateway Theater is a multi-theater venue that serves as a creative arts space promoting made-in-Singapore works and talents of all cultures. The theater features several performance spaces, including a 922-seat auditorium, 207-seat black box studio, 100-seat sky garden and other multi-purpose studios.
With the vision to enhance the theater’s production value and experience, Gateway Theatre engaged Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd (E&E) to install a new system based on JBL’s VTX A-Series speakers and Crown amplification. As a popular venue within Singapore’s art scene and with ongoing bookings within the venue, one challenge was E&E having to conduct installations without disrupting any existing venue bookings.
JBL’s VTX A-Series proved ideal for the main theater. With a compact design and 100-degree dispersion, the JBL VTX A8 delivers optimal sound for the audience thanks to its high-quality transducers and innovative waveguide technology. The mains were paired with JBL’s VTX B18 subwoofer. Additionally, the team installed JBL VRX928LA 8-inch, two-way compact line arrays as front fill. Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD Class-I amplifiers provide up to 7,000 watts, offering ample power for any of Gateway’s performances.
“Sound is a key element in our staged productions, playing a critical role in defining the mood of any performance,” says Boon Bing, Gateway Theater’s technical manager. “We are pleased with E&E’s recommendations of JBL’s product range. At Gateway Theatre, we strive to provide consistently stunning world-class sound, elevating performances here through our carefully calibrated audio system and bringing immersive experiences to our audiences.”
Gateway Theater
- Capacity: 922
- Key Components: JBL VTX Series
- Integrator: Electronics & Engineering
Volkstheater, Vienna, Austria
Built in 1889, the Volkstheater (literally “People’s Theater”) was founded to bring classical drama to the citizens of Vienna, a goal that continues to this day.
When the theater needed to update its sound system, besides clarity and focus, the new system needed to blend in unobtrusively and elegantly with the historical and not interfere with the aesthetics of the historic architecture.
Volkstheater sound department head Michael Sturm was intrigued by Kling & Freitag’s Vida-L column system, which not only not only provided solid performance down to 60 Hz, but offered beam steering technology, which focuses sound on the audience rather than the walls and other reflective surfaces.
After hearing the Vida-L system at an outdoor event, Sturm was convinced that the rig could handle the Volkstheater’s needs, not only for traditional theater and dance production, but — with added subwoofers — could also expand the venue’s repertoire to support rock and pop performances, which was one of the one of the goals of Kay Voges, the theater’s new director.
The Volkstheater’s previous system had a Kling & Freitag Line 212 system, with two point-source speakers per side. These have been repurposed and occasionally find use as stage side fills or effects speakers.
The new system has three Vida-L modules per side, with the two lower modules covering the ground floor and the balcony. The upper modules provide sound for the tier seating and can be muted when those seats are not occupied. A center array with five K&F Sequenza 5 can pull the image into the middle. Front fills are K&F Passio left/right and three center Sona 6. Additional Passio and Sona 5 speakers supply box seat fills and delays for the tier seating. K&F Nomos XLT and Nomos XLS subwoofers can be added for sub-bass enhancement, typically for music performances. All amplification is Kling & Freitag D-Series, with Lake processing.
In addition to the new loudspeaker system, the Volkstheater made a few other upgrades. “We switched completely to a Dante-based audio network and a Solid State Logic System T console,” says Sturm. “We can also control the Vida system via Dante, which gives us a high level of flexibility.”
However, the biggest — and by far the most noticeable change — was the move to the new Kling & Freitag system. “That’s where the decision for Vida paid off, because we can use it to do everything from light speech amplification to a fully amplified theater show at medium volume with background music and rock concerts, and supplemented by a subwoofer — a fully-fledged P.A. for medium-sized events in general.” Sturm explains. “In the meantime, some pop/rock bands have come to us without bringing their own sound reinforcement equipment for the concert — but mixed on our Vida permanent installation. Even the band technicians, who didn’t know the loudspeakers at all, were very satisfied.”
According to Sturm, the new Vida system was an excellent choice in every way. “The sound is much clearer and more precise; nothing is distorted, and the sound is very honest and direct. It was clear to me that these loudspeakers fit perfectly into our house in terms of sound and at the same time meet the visual requirements.”
Volkstheater
- Capacity: 830
- Key Components: Kling & Freitag Vida-L System
- Integrator: In-house
