Acoustic Enhancement - Design and Application

Design and Application

Acoustic enhancement systems use microphones, amplifiers, and loudspeakers interconnected with some form of processing. The number, type, and placement of microphones and loudspeakers varies according to both the application, as well as the physics limitations that are imposed by the inherent operating principles associated with each manufacturer's equipment. In most instances, however, these systems employ at least one array of loudspeakers that are distributed throughout the venue.

As concertgoers have become aware of the use of these systems, debates have arisen, because "...purists maintain that the natural acoustic sound of voices instruments in a given hall should not be altered." When employed properly, however, acoustic enhancement can improve listening quality in ways that would be impossible for architectural treatments to accomplish, and deliver sound quality that the concertgoer desires to experience.

At the Vienna Festival in May, 1995, a LARES system was used outdoors to augment the Vienna Philharmonic's performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 conducted by Zubin Mehta. "This was the first time on this location with classical music that we were not criticised for spoiling the music by amplifying it. "Alfred Toegel, Sound Department, Vienna Festival. Commenting on a performance by the Grant Park Orchestra at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park Chicago IL, Senior V.P. of WFMT Radio Steve Robinson stated "I have never in my life heard sound projected so faithfully and beautifully over such a great distance; it was an ethereal experience"

Kai Harada's article Opera's Dirty Little Secret states that opera houses have begun using electronic acoustic enhancement systems "...to compensate for flaws in a venue's acoustical architecture." Despite the uproar that has arisen amongst operagoers, Harada points out that none of the major opera houses using acoustic enhancement systems "...use traditional, Broadway-style sound reinforcement, in which most if not all singers are equipped with radio microphones mixed to a series of unsightly loudspeakers scattered throughout the theatre."

Instead, most opera houses use the sound reinforcement system for subtle boosting of offstage voices, onstage dialogue, and sound effects (e.g., church bells in Tosca or thunder in Wagnerian operas). Acoustic Enhancement systems are most often employed in traditional opera houses to improve the sound of the orchestra, and have little if any effect on the sound of the voices. In a review of the State Opera of South Australia's performance of Wagners' Ring cycle at the Adelaide Festival Center Theatre, Michael Kennedy of The Sunday Telegraph, London, wrote: “The balance between the orchestra and the voices has been ideal.” The live recording of "Wagner: Die Walküre", the world's first 6 channel SACD "blitzed the 2005 Helpmann Awards, winning ten of its eleven nominations and earning critical accolades." - and the recording of "Wagner: Götterdämmerung" was nominated for a 2008 Grammy award. "