But lifelessness still managed to manifest itself in other, more acutely problematic ways. "The auditorium was very dry," said head of sound for Granollers, David Carrión. "Less than one second of reverberationis not a proper acoustic for the performances we wish to present."
Fortunately Carrión has twenty years experience as a sound engineer and knewexactly what to do; install a surround system to support the acoustic. "Wehave established a system configured to provide three reverbs: 1.2 secs forjazz; 1.6 secs for contemporary classics; and 2.0 secs for classical."
Choosing the correct system was less obvious. "Apart from the reverberationissue, the chosen system had to be powerful and neutral enough to do anykind of show; from rock to theatre," continued Carrión. "It was criticalthat the design included well-placed sound sources to create correct virtualimaging for theatre.
"Our technical director, Jordi Tarrida, and myselfinvited an open contest to all brands. We eventually made our decision basedon a number of important factors: live audition with an orchestra; acousticstudies and sound design; pricing; safety issues; size, weight, and specialcolour options and new technologies in both hardware and software. We chosea d&b audiotechnik system following all the comparisons and although pricingwas a factor this was not the primary issue."
David Rosello of d&b audiotechnik Spain made the main system design, whilstlocal supplier Toni Puig of Sonostudi implemented the installation. LarsFrederiksen from d&b's Application Support team provided technicalassistance for the reverb system. "The main PA is d&b's Q-Series in aleft/centre/right configuration," commented Rosello. "The reason to chosethe Q-Series loudspeakers for the main system instead of d&b's Ci-Seriesinstallation based loudspeakers was to get as much gain before feedback aspossible while working with the electronic acoustic enhancement system.However Ci80s were used on the sidewalls in a left/right/rear surroundconfiguration with further Ci80s mounted in the ceiling," continued Rosello.
A TC Electronics Rev 6000 controller was usedto set the configurations, with d&b's proprietary ROPE C softwarecontrolling levels and some EQ. "The really clever thing about this systemis that it provides the theatre with a variable acoustic. This enables themto support all kinds of performances with an acoustic suitable for thepurpose," says Frederiksen.
The concept of the electronic acoustic enhancement system in the TheatreAuditorium of Granollers is, to use a few superb quality pieces of equipmentthroughout the entire signal chain. Two Schoeps MK-8G microphones pick upthe sound on the stage, which is then amplified by a GML 8304 pre amp beforeit is sent directly to the TC Electronics controller. From this the signalis distributed directly to the d&b D12 and E-PAC amplifiers, so no mixer isinvolved. Different presets have been created in the TC Electronicscontroller to provide acoustic enhancement for several purposes. The d&bamplifiers are remote controlled from the PC by d&b's ROPE C remotesoftware, where presets have been created to switch between the acousticenhancement configuration and other specific configurations for theatre,jazz, rock and other genres.
"I already had had experience with d&b equipment and knew its neutralcharacter and power ability," continued Carrión. "But the remotecapabilities of ROPE C proved a perfect control and system set up solution.In the tests we made live SPL measurements for multiple frequencies at manypoints around the auditorium to check coverage and imaging. Being capable ofswitching from one set up to another so easi
