Consultants to the Arts and Culture
Loudspeaker system
The loudspeaker system in the theatre was designed to provide immersive audio for the audience. The design provides 360 audio and overheads creating a sense of source direction and envelopment to the audience. This becomes an element of the show rather than simply reinforcing the actions on stage. The system consists of 24 JBL Professional loudspeakers and Crown amplification.
Audio control system
The audio signal distribution is based on the Dante protocol. The installation includes a BSS processor, providing signal routing and processing to the amplifier and loudspeakers. The show was programmed using Pro Tools, connecting directly to the system using Dante, and then printed to multi-channel files. The show, in its operational state, runs from a QLab session on a venue computer.
Show Control System
The show control system is based on an AMX control system and the control capabilities of QLab. A touch screen provides the operator a simple user interface with simple controls to start a show as well as entry and exit states for the theatre. This interacts with QLab, which in turn provides audio playback and synchronisation with video and lighting.
Performance acoustics
The venue in which the show is staged was originally an empty shell with concrete walls and floor and a steel roof. This resulted in excessive reverberation times. This is problematic as the show is driven by dialogue in English and the audience is typically an international audience with English as their second language. It was imperative to make the hall adequate to support an intelligible sound system. As part of our involvement, we designed acoustic absorption to be installed on the available surfaces that were not used as projection. We worked closely with the building company to ensure that the construction of the absorptive panels was adequate. The resulting reverberation times are adequate for speech intelligibility.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The people and companies that made it happen.
A huge thanks to Mik and Ceilia from Red Thread Solutions for inviting us to be involved in this project and congratulations to the whole team for delivering a really great show. We also thank Legoland Malaysia and Merlin Entertainment.
Our Client
The Audio system was designed by Scott Willsallen and Luis Miranda. Luis managed the project and programmed the replay and control systems. We also looked after the sound design and music with our friends Christian and Max from DasDur.
Our Team
The installation was completed by Systems Electronics & Engineering, lead by Kheong Sen Lim.