With recent seasons’ productions of plays authored by Bulgakov, Molière and Shakespeare underpinning its reputation for ‘set texts’, Moscow’s Maly Theatre both a cornerstone of the city’s theatre community and of Russian arts in general. The theatre is also an innovator, exploiting technology to enthral its audiences.
In this forward-looking context, the theatre’s management initiated a major audio upgrade project in 2011, working in conjunction with Salzbrenner Stage Tec Mediagroup Russia (SSMR). Now complete, the new system ranks among the most advanced in the world, complete with object-based immersive audio and adaptive room acoustics by Astro Spatial Audio.
Russia’s second-oldest venue, it was founded in 1756. Originally known as the Petrovsky Theatre, it was renamed after the Bolshoi Theatre was founded. Located in close proximity, the two theatres were named the ‘grand’ (bolshoi) and the ‘small’ (maly) theatre respectively. The Maly Theatre core audio system is based around d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers and amplifiers and Stage Tec mixing, integrated with Astro Spatial Audio’s Sara II Premium Rendering Engine.
A 48-fader Stage Tec Aurus Platinum mixing console system is installed in the sound control room. With a Star router and three Base Devices, the Nexus audio routing system is at the heart of Maly Theatre’s sound system. The Nexus audio network is equipped with analogue, digital and IP interfaces. This links the theatre’s own systems with each other, and can also connect to external equipment brought in by theatre groups doing guest performances.
The 3U-high rackmount Sara II brings the creative possibilities of object-based 3D audio to live entertainment and installation projects, using an conversion engine to translate audio signals into audio objects, attaching meta-data to each, including its position in 3D space, its acoustic characteristics and much more. Sara II then renders the position of each audio object in real time within 3D space (depending on the user’s choice of room shape) up to 40 times per second. The result is a seamless, phase-free, three dimensional audio canvas.
Sara II includes ultra-low noise cooling, redundant onboard SSD drives and up to 64 Madi or 128 Dante configurable network pathways, all of which are assignable to at least 32 audio objects. Browser-based access to a user-friendly GUI ensures ease of operation with simultaneous control from up to ten devices. Crucially, the Sara II rendering engine is entirely brand agnostic.
‘The Maly Theatre is a wonderful example of how a very traditional space can be augmented with object-based 3D audio from Astro Spatial Audio,’ explains ASA Director, Bjorn Van Munster. ‘One of the key benefits of our technology is that we don’t make damaging demands of the theatres, opera houses and venues in which we work – instead our technology’s inherent scalability means we can adapt to suit our environment. For a building as historic as the Maly Theatre, that means it’s possible to deliver incredible immersive experiences without unduly harming the beautiful architecture.’
With the specification of the Astro Spatial Audio solution the theatre is planning for the long-term creative future of its productions and the opportunities that will arise from the integration of cutting-edge technology.
‘This is a very innovative system and it is fair to say that the technical team is still studying the new equipment and getting to grips with its immense creative possibilities,’ Van Munster says. ‘It is early days, but already the quality and feature-set of the system has become very apparent to the team at the Maly, and to visiting productions and technical staff. In fact, they are filled with enthusiasm for the new technology.
‘We are very proud to be part of such an important project.’
