Battle of the Titans, a dinosaur exhibit featuring life-size recreations of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops designed by Jurassic Park theme park designer Hall Train, was bathed in an immersive soundscape designed by Gary Hardesty on a TiMax2 SoundHub, for replay over 36 loudspeakers. Full story in S&VC, May 2013.

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When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But mixing isn't the only production tool available to sound designers for voice reinforcement, where intelligibility suffers when vital localization cues from the stage are lost as voices are disembodied and mixed into a center cluster, L-R, L-C-R, or surround loudspeaker system.

Moreover, high quality sound and high intelligibility are separate goals, and are not necessarily coincident, as SynAudCon's Don Davis demonstrated back in 1986. Just listen to an aircraft cockpit radio, designed for maximum intelligibility of speech in perhaps the most critical application we know, but far from high quality sound.

To mix, or not to mix; that is the question for theatre sound designers. Our article appears in the May 2013 issue of Lighting & Sound America.

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Induced noise in low level mic signals can be prevented by following some practical advice from the late Neil Muncy regarding mic cable wiring and choosing the right brand of connector for the job. Read all about it.

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For the first time in almost 40 years, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) is set to update standards and recommended practices to improve the quality and consistency of cinema sound.

"Improvements in measurement technology, digital sound delivery, and in sound reproduction equipment, as well as the greater detail and dynamic range of movie soundtracks, present a variety of challenges in providing quality cinema sound," said Brian Vessa, executive director of digital audio mastering at Sony Pictures Entertainment and chair of the new SMPTE technology committee TC-25CSS. "TC-25CSS, the first SMPTE technology committee dedicated solely to cinema sound, will explore and standardize new sound measurement techniques with the goal of consistency in sound reproduction between the mixing stage and diverse cinema spaces."

Museums, science centres, and similar attractions are the primary beneficiaries of the new TiMax2 SoundHub-M multi-channel audio server and multi-zone controller introduced this fall by UK-based Out Board Electronics.

The SoundHub-M’s unique audio localization and spatialization enhance the all-important visitor experience by heightening message impact and sense of immersion, while helping to cut through the noise and clatter that plague so many traditionally hard-surfaced facilities.

TiMax2 SoundHub-M multi-channel audio server and multi-zone controller, designed for museums, science centres, and similar attractions

“No other single device offers a similar combination of facilities for routing, processing, zone control with music and effects playback as well as spatialization and show control,” said Out Board director Dave Haydon. “The savings on hardware and installation costs are significant, particularly with the SoundHub’s optional interfaces for industry-standard networking, including Cobranet, Ethersound, Dante and MADI, and with a new AVB interface waiting in the wings.”

Intensive collaboration and consultation with museum and hospitality AV integrators resulted in the development of the new SoundHub-M, its first application being an installation for Belgium’s Museum of Original Figurines. The museum showcases highly-collectible figurines of comic strip characters as well as original drawings and plates, using multiple ‘windows’ into their heroic world.

The Soundhub was programmed by Stijn Vermeiren, engineer with Out Board’s Belgian distributor FACE, to provide multiple soundtracks localized for each of the different character zones and feature exhibits of the museum. He also programmed presets for visitor announcements as well as for music and public address for those occasions when the museum is used for corporate events and parties.

“TiMax2 SoundHub is the only processor combining spatial sound imaging with state-of-the-art audio matrix and playback functions in a single product,” explained FACE CEO Karel De Piere. “Previously, we would set up a full rack of equipment, spend most of our time making them talk to each other in sync and making sure it is all stable.

“Today, SoundHub gives us all the necessary features in one, plus the sound placement tools and playback tools as extra—all without having to make any compromise on speech intelligibility for announcement or evacuation messages if needed,” he said.

The TiMax2 SoundHub-M is fully scaleable to provide 16, 32, 48, or 64 audio-tracks and outputs, with 8 inputs for external sources such as show feed and paging. A simple drag-and-drop iTunes-style playlist creation facility has been added for the hospitality sector to allow snapshots to play selected background music compilations and announcements across multiple zones at pre-determined times of day, or even on specific dates, using the SoundHub’s internal date/time triggering.

Associated Buzz Creative's Alan Hardiman previously used the SoundHub-S, featuring full timeline-based editing, to localize performers in an immersive soundscape for the Redpath Waterfront Festival's The Wharf at York interactive theatre presentation earlier this year in Toronto.

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Immersive-interactive theatre is alive and well in Toronto. The folks who brought us the Tall Ships extravaganza in Toronto a couple of years ago mounted a 4-day re-creation of the outbreak of the War of 1812 at the end of June, entitled The Wharf at York. The 3-hour show, a component of the Redpath Waterfront Festival, was staged three times daily for four days in Toronto's Harbour Square park. Featuring 16 actors portraying historical figures, along with a collection of tradesmen (blacksmith, cooper, sail-maker, shoe-maker, sword-master, coppersmith, etc.) in period huts teaching their trades to "apprentices" from the audience, the show included the arrival of a tall ship bringing news of the imminent outbreak of war, and concluded with a rousing sword fight—fought with real swords wielded by members of Rapier Wit—that surprised one over-excited spectator, leading him to exclaim, "I just sh*t myself!"

left to right: The audience gets up close with the actors; onstage at the wharf; American spy unmasked and disarmed (photos by Catherine Bacque)

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Krista Slack, artistic director for The Wharf at York, developed the creative concept, and brought me on as sound designer to produce a historically accurate soundscape that would transform 2012 Toronto back into Muddy York of 1812, and to bathe the audience in a subliminal sonic environment. With 14 wireless mics, a surround soundscape replayed from 14 mostly concealed loudspeaker locations, including loudspeakers rigged on the tall ship itself, I saw this as an appropriate opportunity to employ the technology of TiMax "source-oriented reinforcement."

In a 2-RU enclosure, TiMax routes up to 64 inputs to as many as 64 outputs via a 4096-crosspoint matrix. Each crosspoint affords control over level and delay of the signal in order to establish localized images via Haas-effect perceptual manipulation.

I believe we accomplished something that hadn't been attempted before, by integrating pre-recorded crew voices shouting commands from the tall ship, à la "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World." In fact, the producers relied on historical consultant Gord Laco, who consulted on the film, to write the lines and ensure the accuracy of the historical re-creation.

As soon as the ship came within wireless range of our IEM transmitters, we relayed the voices, wooden ship creaks, ship's bells and Bosun's whistle from the TiMax Soundhub to the ship-board loudspeakers. An additional 12 loudspeakers were distributed around the park to reinforce the actors' voices and reproduce the soundscape, with elements appearing to emanate from very specific locations, courtesy of TiMax.

Up to 30,000 people attended each day, including a number of Grade 7 classes who have studied the War of 1812 as part of the curriculum. Many of them got well into the spirit of the piece, not least a group of girls who just wouldn't be satisfied without a wedding in the performance they attended. The scripted lovers were doomed, so the girls cajoled two of our other actors into an impromptu marriage, solemnized by "the Reverend Strachan" (as he was known prior to becoming York's renowned Bishop Strachan), and they themselves served as bridesmaids, scattering blades of grass for confetti.

Many in the audience who attended the "town meeting" to decide on the establishment of a volunteer militia to protect the 700 inhabitants of York threw themselves enthusiastically into supporting the issue on either side of the debate, spontaneously pounding the tables with their fists and hollering their encouragement, complete with rousing shouts of "God Save the King!"

While the schooner Challenge was enlisted as the set piece, the majestic square-rigged Kajama—a summer fixture in Toronto Harbour—shared in the fun, surprising us on several occasions by cruising close to our wharf only to let fly with her extremely loud cannon. Even though she was firing blanks, the sonic peaks served as a thrilling reminder of the power of uncompressed dynamic range experienced up close.

My sense is that this historical re-creation drew the audience in so much more than established attractions such as Black Creek Pioneer Village and Upper Canada Village because the actors and tradesmen were sharply drawn as real people. Their concerns and key aspects of their personalities were communicated clearly through the tight script by Terry Hart and Rick Kunst, their charms, flaws and worries outlined for all to see.

Hats off to Krista Slack and Lea Parrell, co-producers of the Redpath Waterfront Festival, and to producer Julie Donoahue and staff from Krista Slack + Aylett and Harmony Marketing for a wonderful kickoff to the summer of 2012. Technical services were by Frischkorn Audiovisual under the able direction of Chris Baron. Special thanks go to sponsor Bill Coons of Contact Distribution for generously supplying the TiMax2 Soundhub and Renkus-Heinz loudspeaker systems.

David Atkins Enterprises delivered the Opening Ceremony at the 2011 Arab Games in Doha, Qatar in December, 2011. The production included a number of firsts, including the integration of video projection with an LED audience net. Some 55,000 LEDs were installed in the seating, and the entire stadium seating bowl was used as a surface. I covered the production design in detail in the March 2012 issue of Lighting & Sound America. Here's video footage of the Opening Ceremony.

 Khalifa Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 Arab Games. The earth cracks open to reveal the fires of Hell. (photo: RobbieKlaesi)

A monster of evil arrives to seduce the tribes with deadly sins. Note the integration of projection on the field of play with the LED audience net. (Photo: Robbie Klaesi)

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The Montréal Symphony Orchestra's new Maison Symphonique de Montréal is a welcome addition to the Place des Arts complex in the heart of downtown, and Québec's first Public-Private Partnership in the Arts and Culture sector. In Montréal for the inaugural gala in September, I caught up with architect Jack Diamond, acousticians Tateo Nakajima and Bob Essert, and music director Kent Nagano. Read all about it in the February 2012 issue of Lighting & Sound America.

Maison Symphonique de Montréal with acoustical panels lowered, showing Meyer Sound performance sound system loudspeakers deployed

Rear view showing orchestra seating, three balconies and loges

Ceiling acoustical panels in place (photo: Tom Arban)

The Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal rehearsing in its new home (photo: LuceTG)

Inaugural gala of the Maison Symphonique de Montréal, September 7, 2011 (photo: LuceTG)

The 1,900-seat concert hall will serve as the new home of the Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal, which will have exclusive occupancy rights for 240 days each year, well above the 100 days it was formerly granted in Salle Wilfred Pelletier, the 2,990-seat multi-purpose centerpiece of Place des Arts that opened in 1963. This will permit the orchestra the rare luxury of rehearsing in its performance space, something it was unable to do in its old digs. The remaining 125 days each year will be programmed mainly by the Orchestre Métropolitain, Les Violons du Roy (an early-music ensemble) and the McGill Chamber Orchestra.

The Maison Symphonique is unique in being the first public-private partnership (3P) in the construction and management of cultural infrastructure in Québec. 3Ps in other sectors, such as construction and operation of roads and public utilities, have proven to be very efficient: for one thing, the government knows exactly what the project will cost before construction begins. In addition, strict controls are usually in place in 3Ps so that there is no ballooning of costs, as was the case, for example, with Montréal’s Olympic Stadium, a project fully funded from the public purse that took 12 years to build, wasn’t finished until long after the 1976 games for which it was intended, and wasn’t finally paid off until November 2006.

A unique advantage inherent in the structuring of the Maison Symphonique deal stems from the fact that the builder and the operator of the facility are both wholly owned by the same party, SNC-Lavalin, which may resolve any tensions regarding the balance between investment in capital costs versus operating expenses. In most other situations, where the builder and the operator represent different parties, battles can erupt over where the money is spent: the operator usually wants all the facilities and amenities that make operation of the venue efficient, but the builder wants to keep construction costs down in order to maximize profit. A central vacuum system, for example, is more costly up front, but for the operator, it facilitates cost-efficient cleaning of the building.

The fact that the builder and the operator of the Maison Symphonique are under the same umbrella may be key to a much happier outcome here. And the government may well not care whether a particular cost center appears in the capital or the operating column—in the end, it’s all coming out of the same pot.

The Maison Symphonique will be operated and managed until 2038 by SNC-Lavalin ProFac, a wholly owned subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin, for $9.1 million per year from the Québec government, at which time the hall will be returned to the government’s control for one dollar. (SNC-Lavalin ProFac also operates all the federal government buildings in Ottawa.)

Of the total $266 million price tag that includes the cost of financing, design, building, operation and maintenance, Québec was required to make a down payment of $75 million, leaving a balance of $191 million to be paid over the next 27 years.

The “private” designation of the 3P partnership ensures that the cost of operation and maintenance will remain undisclosed—it has never been broken out publicly from the $266 million total. Jean Roy, director of Québec’s Ministry of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women’s project management office, estimated the construction project cost to be around $150 million, so by this reckoning, of the $191 million balance outstanding after December 31, 2011, $75 million (39 per cent) represents the balance of the estimated $150 million cost of the construction project, and $116 million (61 per cent) will go toward financing, operation, and maintenance—in 2008 dollars, to be indexed to inflation.

In addition to the $9.1 million it will receive annually from the government of Québec, SNC-Lavalin will also derive revenue from the hall’s operations, including rentals, concessions and bars, and the cloak room. Parking revenues, however, will accrue to Place Des Arts. The five other theatres in the downtown arts complex receive no government subsidies at all, according to Place des Arts’ director of programming, Michel Gagnon.

Adding to his existing responsibility for Salle Wilfred Pelletier, Théâtre Maisonneuve, Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, Cinquième Salle, and Studio-théâtre, Gagnon is now tasked with filling the 100 newly dark nights in Salle Wilfred Pelletier no longer reserved for the OSM. This should present few difficulties, however: he has already booked a touring production of Wicked for 31 performances next August, in addition to the line-up of Mamma Mia, Beauty and the Beast, and Shrek. He has also programmed a 25-performance run of Romeo et Juliet, a French-language musical, something he described as “a rarity.” Noting with no little enthusiasm that touring musicals generally command substantially higher ticket prices than orchestral performances, Gagnon said that he broke even for 2011 early in October, due in part to a very successful run of The Lion King last summer. His responsibilities do not extend to the new hall.

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In Montreal for the 32nd annual Montreal International Jazz Festival—the largest ongoing festival of its kind in the world—photographer Doug Cotton and I caught up with festival sound reinforcement sponsor Meyer Sound, and sat down with co-sponsor Solotech's founder and president Denis Lefrançois for a chat about the company's origins and strategies for growth in a highly competitive industry. Read about it here.

The B-52s perform on the main stage at the 2011 Montreal International Jazz Festival. (Photo: Jean-François Leblanc)

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Our audio and music production departments have teamed up with John Evans Productions to produce two exciting new radio spots for the Muskoka Bay Club, a four-season community with an abundance of recreational and social activities just a 90-minute drive north of Toronto in cottage country. Listen to them on our Spots page.

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