BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA: Which do you want: music or movies? Thanks to
the Symetrix SymNet(tm) Audio Matrix, Sightsound Consulting, an audio/video
systems design firm in Hamilton, Ontario, was able to provide the Empire Theatre with the capability to present both types of performances with the absolutely best sound possible.
The Empire, a classic 700-seat venue built in 1938, and re-opened as the
Empire Theatre & Centre for the Performing Arts in 2003 after an extensive
18-month renovation, was intended to be able to host premium concerts and to
show surround-sound cinema presentations as an anchor to a larger renewal
program in Belleville, Ontario.
The primary issue, according to Arthur Skdura, principal of Sightsound and
the project's media technology consultant, was how to have a single system
that was optimized for both music and film sound applications, and
accomplish that without interfering with the Theatre's restored interior
esthetics. The solution, he found, was the Symetrix MH-3 SymNet system.
SymNet's highly flexible programming ability allowed Skdura to create master
programs for each specific application, with highly customized sub-program
pages allowing the SymNet to adapt to any type of event. "For instance
for
film sound we were able to set up pages that would turn on or off individual
sound system components, such as turning off a left-side mid-range driver or
the high-frequency driver in the center cluster," Skdura explains. "For
music we can configure the page for a full-range system and also
automatically set up an aux send for a subwoofer. Every program, live or
pre-recorded, is different and has its own nuances. SymNet allowed us to
create programs for many possibilities that the Theatre staff can call up,
via the ARC remote, and have the Theatre adapt itself to the music. Even
within an event's program, they can have perfectly tuned sound, such a page
for a 5.1-surround film playback, followed by a program set up for a panel
discussion about the film afterwards. The fact that this is all menu driven
from the Symetrix ARC remote means the Theatre staff has a great degree of
control over the system sound, yet has a foolproof way of addressing it,
since we were able to create programs for so many possible applications."
The SymNet system is located at the Soundcraft SM12 FOH console, and allows
the system to toggle between the Theatre's two primary applications using
preset I/O configurations. Two ARC remote controllers for the SymNet are set
up both at the FOH position and in the projection booth. "We didn't use
half
the DSP power the system has, yet that programming was the key to it all,
because sound engineers and projectionists don't have to worry about
reconfiguring the space for each new use."
SymNet controls a sound system based on EAW MQ speakers. A flown center
cluster consisting of two MQV-1364E three-way boxes and an MQM-1215
low-frequency cabinet handles both the LCR array chores for cinema sound and
LCR for live shows, with eight EAW SB1000ZPI subs sited beneath the stage.
Cinema and music performances further use nine EAW CR-721 surround speakers
mounted on the side and rear walls. The fact that the center cluster and LCR
array can be used for both music and film applications significantly helped
fulfill the requirement that the sound system be minimally intrusive
visually. "Better programmability meant we could use fewer components in
the
system and still achieve the sonic goal we had," Skdura says. "SymNet
was
the key to this, and the key to the success of the project."
