Going by the name of Electrotheatre, in homage to one of the first pre-revolutionary Russian movie theatres that occupied the same building in 1915, the theatre's current art director Boris Yukhananov is determined to combine truly avant-garde traditions with classical Russian theatre art.
The theatre has three main performance spaces, including the foyer which is often open for lectures, book presentations, discussions and children's plays.
The TiMax Soundhub is located in the 'Transformer' Hall, so named as it is the main performance space and, as Alexander Mikhlin, Electrotheatre Stanislavsky's chief sound engineer explains, "can be transformed according to the requirements of the current show".
Mikhlin continues, "We present much contemporary art, so a lot of modern technology is used. TiMax helps us to make animated surround audio effects, to have a lot of different sound sources, to create dynamic three-dimensional sound fields. And with TiMax Tracker fully automating the performers' radio-mic localisation we are able to achieve a high degree of realism and intimacy in our productions."
TiMax SoundHub is inserted between a Yamaha CL5 digital mixing desk front of house, receiving signal via either Dante or AES - or a combination of the two. The TiMax outputs feed via AES to a Fohhn audio AIREA system via five AM-40 Master modules to 28 LX-20 ASX and a further ten AS10-ASX loudspeakers distributed evenly throughout the auditorium.
Mikhlin says, "We use TiMax on the majority of performances. The audience appreciates the sound clarity and our director here appreciates the boundless possibilities TiMax gives him." We are very pleased with the TiMax SoundHub and also feel the TiMax Tracker localisation adds a special transparent quality to our performers' amplified voices."
(Jim Evans)
