The long wait in Perth

Sometimes it can take longer than expected to select the correct sound reinforcement system for a venue, with considerations of brand awareness, aesthetic appeal and cost all coming into play in the decision making process. The experience of Perth Concert Hall (PCH), however, must surely be some kind of record, with the venue having taken so long to find a perfect system for its main performance space that technology has come and gone in the interim. An impressive 37 years after its opening night party, the venue has finally wed its permanent sound to a d&b audiotechnik Q Series rig. All of which begs the question – why now?

The man in possession of the answer is technical manager Brian Coghlan, whose prominent role in not only the selection of the d&b audiotechnik system but also the conversations that led to Perth Concert Hall abandoning its long-standing policy of hiring in rigs may well have altered Perth’s live sound culture for good. For while the Concert Hall may have resisted opting for a fixed install for more years than most, it is nevertheless one of Australia’s most prestigious venues, and with good reason.

Located at St George’s Terrace in central Perth, the Concert Hall initially opened on 26 January 1973 in a grand ball attended by 1,700 people. It was, by all accounts, a spectacular opening night, marking the end of a development process that began in 1961. Since then the building – designed by architects Howlett and Bailey, and constructed according to the Brutalist architectural movement of the 1970s – has undergone substantial work, including complete reroofing in 1988 and the replacement of its air conditioning plant in 1998. A further upgrade to the concrete exterior in 2008 led to the management finally turning its attention to the interior audio requirements.

‘The house had no pre-existing audio when I came – gear has always been rented in,’ confirms Mr Coghlan, who joined the PCH in May 2005. ‘The normal procedure when I arrived was to contract out audio, but it always used to drive me mad. Whipping gear in and out did not make sense – you never got the same system twice. I pushed for an installed system from day one.’ With funding for the installation initially allocated in 2006, the tendering and selection process was as substantial as the challenge facing the winning brand.

‘One thing I insisted on for the tendering process was that I got to hear all proposed systems in the hall,’ explains Mr Coghlan. ‘Shane Bailey from National Audio Systems brought along a d&b Q-Series system and it performed so well it became our benchmark. His demo was that good we wrote a specification around that level of quality. After the demo the general manager came up to me and said he thought it shone.’

However, with such a long gap between the completion of the building and Mr Coghlan gaining approval to find an audio system, the technical manager was understandably thorough in his research, which began long before any audio system was tested within PCH itself. ‘When I first secured the funding I went to Entech (The Australian entertainment technology show) to get a good look at the latest equipment. As with all manufacturers there, I talked to Shane and fellow NAS director Peter Holland, and pointed out that I would have to have local West Coast support.’ That was eventually found in the shape of Martin Gould, an experienced audio specialist based in Perth, who later established Audio Technik Pty Ltd specifically to handle the installation and later provide support.

Mr Coghlan describes himself as delighted with the arrangement. ‘He is doing really well. The house system plan was always to be able to supplement what we have when a show demands it, and Audio Technik Pty has that rental gear in store. In fact as soon as Martin’s company was up and running, before we even had the installation made, we used him and the service and sound was very good.’

Working alongside Mr Gould during the design process for the hall was Ralf Zuleeg, head of d&b’s Application Support department, who provided technical expertise including selecting a centre cluster as the best solution to the hall’s lively acoustics.

‘For aesthetic reasons we had a cradle specially built for the centre cluster,’ explains Mr Coghlan. ‘It’s a relatively small hall holding an audience of 1,729 to be precise, and when the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) is playing it looks better without it, so the cradle was well worth the investment. We can lower it in and wheel it off in no time at all. In place the system performs very well. The accuracy of the array really reduces the reverberation, and the delay system is very low profile. It's a lively room so it is important not to push too hard.

‘Rear fill to choir stalls are Q7 loudspeakers, sides are Q7 and Q10, whilst the Q1 centre cluster has a Q10 hung beneath. In the stalls under the balcony, an area deeply shaded by the balcony’s depth and angle, we have six d&b E3 loudspeakers for delay.’

In the past, continues Mr Coghlan, the far corners of the stalls have always proven ‘a real issue for coverage, but the E3s are accurate, well matched, and fill that hole. Walk between the two different loudspeaker elements, Q or E, and you can’t tell which is which.’

The system is also coming in for praise for its adaptability, having to cope just as well with musical drama and ballet as symphonic and choral performances. ‘We do have contemporary performers here, where we’ll have the orchestra backing a singer through the audio system,’ Mr Coghlan confirms. ‘We recently staged a children’s series, which can be a sensitive event. Using their own engineers they had the system sitting just where it should. To be honest, since the principal EQ session back in October during installation, we haven’t tightened the tuning at all – the system has been in and out, we’ve done more than 20 events since then and had no negative feedback.’

For a venue that was so used to hiring in FOH systems that the practice had become ingrained, it is remarkable that Mr Coghlan still openly describes the systems in question as not fit for purpose because ‘the delay area of the room is so critical’. It may have taken 37 years and a lot of persuasion from the technical manager, but now that Perth Concert Hall has opted for a permanent installation, those days of wrestling with acoustics are over.

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www.perthconcerthall.com.au