The Coliseum is the Cutting Edge

Text:/ Derek Powell

DESIGN TIME

On the design side, L-Acoustics’ Soundvision software is capable of modelling complex spaces with tens of thousands of surfaces and comes with integrated tools to predict and optimise the behaviour of each line array.

“The heart of the transformation is the L-ISA processor,” according to Harrison, “you can take up to 96 input channels and make them objects by applying metadata to describe their spatial information. For each object we have a pan, a width, a distance and an elevation.”

The placement of each audio object takes the place of a simple left-right pan that you would apply in a stereo mix. The spatial control happens either on a separate laptop – or can be integrated into modern consoles or DAWs.  The Coliseum’s Digico SD12 can handle everything from the board itself, though at the demo, a laptop was in use to illustrate the process more clearly.

This separation of sources is what really creates the magic – and gives a clarity to the mix that a stereo mix in an ordinary venue can’t achieve.  Sounds can’t be panned hard left or right in a venue where only twenty percent of the audience can hear the proper stereo spread.  In a situation where ninety percent of the audience will hear proper separation there is much more scope.

LONG & WINDING ROAD

There is no question that West HQ management now realise what a promotional asset L-ISA represents, but  putting it in place at the beginning proved a challenge for the Coliseum’s Technical Operations manager Bicci Henderson.  Originally, a conventional sound system was specified, something that didn’t sit well with Bicci when he joined the project some 16 months before it opened.

“The importance of any new venue is to be state of the art when you open,” he stated.  “I wanted to open the theatre with the best available and the original design just wasn’t what was happening in the world today.”

It was a trip to Adelaide that convinced Bicci to push for the L-Acoustics Hyperreal system in the Coliseum.  The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (in association with CineConcerts and Warner Bros) was to perform the John Williams film score live for a screening of ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.  The orchestra had performed to Harry Potter films before but for this concert, working with production company Novatech, they chose to deploy L-ISA Hyperreal Sound.  The performance was a triumph, thrilling the audience, who stayed right through to the end of the credits and impressing the conductor and players.

“When I experienced it,” Bicci recalled, “I thought -‘that’s what I want to do!’  The difficulty was coming back and changing everyone’s perception of what an audio system is – and what it could be.  I had to convince my bosses here at the Sydney Coliseum that this was worth the fight”.

History will record that Bicci’s persuasive powers won the day.  “Everything had been designed and agreed on but I got to turn it around,” he added.  “I am glad I pushed [because] the end result is a system that’s going to be in here and talked about for years and years, maybe decades.  It’s the first one, and it’s great to be part of.”

Scott Harrison is another who is bullish for the prospects of L-ISA and the Coliseum. “I definitely think it will be a drawcard for both audiences and performers,” he commented. “A lot of the audience members may not exactly know what is going on but they’ll certainly realise that something is different – and that’s been the experience of a lot of other L-ISA shows around the world.  L-ISA gives both the performers and the sound engineer a lot more scope to be creative with the mix and the ability for everybody in that audience to hear that creativity.”

WHAT ABOUT AV?

This is all very well for a concert venue but will immersive ever become relevant in more typical AV situations like Conference and Convention work?  The answer is that it already has.  Psychoacoustics plays a big role in audience involvement with the spoken word.  Just the ability to localiSe a presenter or a panel of speakers on stage makes listening less fatiguing and more involving – a point not lost on convention organisers.

Already one influential US convention (the annual conference for Salesforce, the world’s largest client relationship management software company) has used L-ISA.  In San Francisco, it was used to create unique ambience for 150,000 attendees in the Expo hall but the broader possibilities were immediately obvious.  Laurent Vaissié, CEO of L-Acoustics USA and Canada, sees corporate event production as a key application for multichannel sound and waxed lyrical in a recent press release. “L-ISA makes a lot of sense – from a plenary speaker localiSation and intelligibility standpoint [through to] creating an immersive environment or enhancing a dramatic product release with 3D sound effects,” he said.

Immersive sound systems will probably always need specialist design expertise to suit each venue but touring systems are already available in Australia and it won’t be long before our major convention centres look closely at the opportunities presented by L-ISA and its competitors. Trickle-down to smaller, more affordable systems may take a little longer but they will inevitably come, as the cost of DSP and quality amplification continues to fall.

Gerry Gavros, who as Jands’ brand manager for L-Acoustics effectively acted as midwife for the Coliseum installation, sees the Coliseum as a stepping stone for immersive sound in Australia. “It’s going to demonstrate where mixing is going in the future,” he believes. “You’ll see a lot of sound engineers embrace this technology because they’ve become artistic mixers rather than trying to get all the material down to a left and right array.  They’ll have more room to move and be more artistic with their sound.  Like [the first] line arrays, it will take time to embrace and for everyone to get on board, but it will be great!”