Major refit for Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre
Published: ASIA
AUSTRALIA: A d&b audiotechnik front of house system and Stagetec Nexus router have been placed at the heart of a new audio installation in the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre, a 540-capacity proscenium venue located inside the famous Australian landmark. The renovation of the single-level theatre was originally planned in 2009 and is intended to increase the number of output feeds to the FOH system.
The Drama Theatre is used mainly for spoken word, dance and musicals, with some concerts and occasional talks. Boasting just 19 rows of seating, the venue is described by Sydney Opera House head of sound and A/V services Jeremy Christian as working well without amplification for spoken-word performances, though an FOH system is required for sound effect and more elaborate, music-based productions.
‘We wanted to expand the number of output feeds to the PA,’ explained head of technical support Cameron O'Neil. ‘Designs in the Drama Theatre can require upwards of 30 mixes. After a great deal of research we settled on the Nexus router from Stagetec to perform the level of control and reliability required.’
However, the room is so compact that audience sight-lines can be unacceptably compromised by large loudspeaker installs. To help counter the problem, d&b's Australian distributor National Audio Systems (NAS) contacted Ralf Zuleeg, head of d&b audiotechnik's Application Support team, to draft a design.
‘We ended up following Ralf's initial design in most areas,’ continued Mr O'Neil. ‘There are now 22 cabinets in the standard FOH rig, with Q10s to the left and right, with E12s for the orchestra fill and delay, whilst E8 loudspeakers deal with the surround. There are also J-INFRA subwoofers for low-frequency reinforcement. Everything is individually amplified; we use the d&b R1 Remote control software for d&b's amplifiers to calibrate all of the loudspeakers for time alignment, room EQ and gain. That means we can use the Nexus for the matrix and bussing controls, and it is now a relatively simple matter to link in a lot of channels to the Recording Studio when needed. We've also included a couple of Nexus XDSP cards to allow us to have EQ, delays and mixing within the router.’
The installation itself was designed by the Sydney Opera House’s own technical team, as Mr O'Neil continued: ‘The consultation, the DSP design, and the project management was all by the Opera House, then tendered to an integrator, as opposed to contracting everything out. NAS responded quickly with the equipment when the window of opportunity presented itself, and were very forgiving of our changes to the order.’
Mr Christian concluded: ‘This system should be able to service all our needs for performances in the space for years to come.’