AUSTRALIA: ArrayProcessing was used to power the d&b audio system in use for 2015’s Vivid Live at Sydney Opera House (SOH). Now in its seventh year,Vivid Live prides itself on‘pushing the boundaries’,both in musical style and the technical structure supporting it.The opera house’s head of sound and A/V therefore suggested to the festival curator that he wanted to implement the control software into the Concert Hall for this year’s programme.

‘It was good timing for us,’said Jeremy Christian, head of sound and A/V at SOH.‘It’s easy to assess something as great, but how easy and useful it is to apply is what really matters.When we came to implement ArrayProcessing we already knew of its potential from our experience at a d&b event in Germany.Downstream of the festival we have realised there are capabilities within ArrayProcessing way outside our original expectations,and that could have significant benefits for SOH and for our audiences in the future.’

The manufacturer’s sales service and application manager, Ralf Zuleeg, travelled to Sydney prior to the festival to assist with ArrayProcessing’s deployment.‘I have a long association with SOH.They have been d&b users for many years now,so it was natural I should be there.But of course Jeremy’s team is more than proficient technically,as you would expect in such a prestigious venue.In fact when it came to it,as we started work in the Concert Hall,it was almost a competition between them and me to see what results we could achieve.

Having been installed,the Concert Hall audio team discovered that sound coverage to the rear of the hall was so good that the existing delay cabinets were no longer required.As a result of this,the project scope was expanded to include the use of ArrayProcessing in the theatre’s Joan Sutherland Theatre (JST).

‘We were originally just going to apply ArrayProcessing in the Concert Hall,’continued Mr Christian,‘but we were so impressed with the improvements we decided to do the same in the Joan Sutherland Theatre (JST) as well for the duration of the festival. The JST is home to our opera productions and doesn’t have a permanent largescale sound reinforcement system like the Concert Hall, so we installed a temporary system of d&b V-Series, the smaller cousin to J-Series, which we rented in from Eighth Day Sound Australia.’
 

It’s important to cater to the varying needs of our patrons; for example some choose seating positions based on sightlines, others on proximity to stage. The point is listeners by nature have differing sensitivity to sound levels. Don’t forget, it’s not just rock concerts where we use sound reinforcement, a jazz recital averaging 94dB could still be too loud for some,’ concluded the head of sound and A/V. ‘But with ArrayProcessing we have a very realistic prospect of sculpting out a quieter zone within the audience listening area, and patrons could preselect seats in that area. Now that really is listening à la carte.’

www.dbaudio.com

*Source from Pro Audio Asia Magazine Issue 2016 Jan-Feb