When The Muny – America's oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre – kicked off its 106th season of productions for 2024, patrons were treated to an enhanced and immersive audio experience featuring new Meyer Sound Panther large-format linear line array loudspeakers as specified by resident sound designers John Shivers and David Patridge.
‘Over the course of ten years at The Muny, John [Shivers] and I had made all of the possible improvements with the audio package we could think of,’ says Patridge. ‘Thankfully, Masque Sound has been an amazing partner and has allowed us to improve loudspeakers, consoles, radios and infrastructure, year after year.
‘Various stages of new construction on the campus have allowed us to go to a 100 per cent AoIP network using a fibre backbone. We were also able to include better rigging for flying the line arrays and this led to being able to enlarge the main arrays for a wider coverage area.’
Up until the 2023 season, The Muny (St Louis Municipal Opera Theatre) designers were using Meyer Sound Lyon loudspeakers together with Leopard compact linear line array loudspeakers for the venue.
‘We wanted to eliminate relying on two different cabinets, so I approached Scott Kalata at Masque Sound to discuss replacing the Leopard part of the system by increasing the count of Lyon,’ Patridge says. ‘At the same time, Meyer Sound had been getting rave reviews for Panther and it made sense to consider a wholesale change rather than asking Masque to acquire a larger inventory of the Lyon, which was nearing end-of-life.’
In discussing the prospect of updating the rig, Patridge asked theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company Masque Sound’s Scott Kalata to arrange an in-shop demo at its facility in East Rutherford, New Jersey. ‘Before we asked The Muny to invest in added rental costs, I wanted to hear the Lyon and Panther side-by-side,’ Patridge says. ‘Masque Sound was able to coordinate this for us – and there was an incredible difference.
The improved detail and wider soundstage of Panther was immediately evident. The other game changer was the far-field projection. With a 300-ft throw to the rear seating area, that projection made a difference that even non-audio professionals can hear. We have had many compliments on how much better the sound is with the new rig.’
With the Panther system, the designers are able to offer spectators in the free seats at the rear back and along the sides of the amphitheatre the same sound quality as in premium box seats closer to the stage. Shivers and Patridge have also been able to exploit the venue’s AoIP infrastructure to send outputs from the DiGiCo Quantum SD7 console to the Meyer Sound Galileo Galaxy 816 network platforms and onto the arrays via AVB (Audio, Video, Bridging) networking.
‘So many people came together to make this happen, from our Associate Sound Designer Kevin Kennedy and Josh Hummel, our Production Sound Engineer, to the season mixers, the entire audio crew at The Muny,’ Partridge says. ‘The Muny Technical Director Todd Moore, as well as the other Muny departments heads and the entire house crew, whom all deserve a major thanks. I also want to give a shoutout to Bob McCarthy and the team at Meyer Sound’s Technical Services department for the invaluable advice that they offered on the project.’
‘Masque Sound had the contract for The Muny audio before we came along, and continues to be a valuable partner,’ he adds. ‘Every season their technical team comes through for us. Scott Kalata and our Masque Sound Project Manager Leslie Stong are by our side year after year in making The Muny a complete success. They are a great company to work with and we rely on them. It may sound cliché, but it really does take a village, and John and I feel supported and welcomed back every year for one of the best gigs that I have ever been involved with.’
More: www.MasqueSound.com
