Installations

Every year, the Church of Jesus Christ of  Latter-day Saints present a Christmas show with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square and Bells on Temple Square. The event takes place over three evenings at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. This year’s series of shows included special guest Santino Fontana, the Sesame Street Muppets and also myself. Of course, I wasn’t in the show, but I had an amazing time watching and listening to this incredible event.

Theaters can exist in an extraordinary variety of forms, ranging from (ancient — yet still used) amphitheaters to storefront conversions to specifically designed modern performing arts centers and repurposed movie palaces, and everything in between. So when it comes to deciding what sound system is best in any particular venue, the answers are as varied as the architecture, seating and decor. More than a few of these were never intended for either high-SPL music programs or even for the needs of traditional theatre, where vocal articulation and intelligibility is paramount.

It’s been nine years since Hurricane Katrina smashed into New Orleans and the Gulf Coast (August 29, 2005), killing more than 1,800 people and causing more than 80 billion dollars in property damage. To say that New Orleans was devastated doesn’t begin to tell the story. The catastrophe affected every facet of life in the Big Easy.

Anatomy of the World’s First L-Acoustics K2 Install

History doesn’t always happen exactly where you’d expect it, which can be both exciting and unpredictable. So when L-Acoustics’ next-generation large K2 line array — which replaces its landmark V-DOSC with a smaller, lighter, more efficient design — made its world debut in a permanent installation application, probably no one guessed it would be in the small town of Valley Center, Calif.

Once upon a time, the only “high performance” involved in sports facilities came from the players. Typically, when it came to the installed sound system, the audio emanated from clunky overhead “junkyard” clusters or the ubiquitous “horns on a stick” scattered around the field. In those days, the audio — while often fine for reproducing a gravel-voiced announcer — was anything but hi-fi.

There’s definitely an upswing of interest in live theater and performing arts centers, both in terms of new construction, renovations of historical buildings and transformations of existing structures into new venues. Along the same lines, facilities have also seen the benefits of upgrading sound systems to meet increasingly higher standards set by audiences who expect hi-def clarity, vocal intelligibility and punch from live music and theatrical presentations. With that in mind, we looked into a number of interesting new projects and found a range of successful approaches designed for both production flexibility and great sound — in venues of all sizes.

Redemption Church, Gilbert, AZ

When Redemption Church recently committed to an expansion and retrofit of their multipurpose conference and worship center, they wanted an audio, video and lighting system that would provide a truly meaningful experience for their members.