With a live audience of 800 and a TV audience to be served in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, leading Singapore broadcaster MediaCorp, was looking to install a slightly unconventional sound system.
The desire was for a more direct frontal coverage from a front-of-house PA, as compared to the top-down dispersion provided by its its previous system. ‘MediaCorp’s audio team – headed by Senior Sound Manager Sherman Lee – stated very clearly from the start the objectives they would like to achieve,’ Kenny Chng of d&b audiotechnik SE Asia explains.
The shows held in the theatre range from music competition, prime time entertainment variety shows, to festival celebrations such as Singapore Idol, New Year’s Eve Special, Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Celebrations.
‘Sherman Lee approached several vendors including d&b audiotechnik SE Asia to discuss their plans in late 2010,’ says Chng, ‘We then presented them with two demo systems; d&b audiotechnik T10 loudspeakers with ground stacked Q-Subs and as an alternative, Q10s also with ground stacked Q-Subs. They had the opportunity to conduct live listening tests over a number of shows – the studio’s principal sound man, Peter Tan, worked alongside Sherman Lee for these tests.
‘After listening to the d&b Q and T-Series systems demonstrated in the studio several times, we found the Q-Series system design proposed by Kenny Chng best fitted our specific needs,’ says Tan. ‘Putting a front-on rather than an overhead PA system into a studio demands very precise positioning and excellent pattern control behaviour across the full frequency range. Delivery also needed to be at sound levels remarkably higher than is usual in a TV studio. All of these things have been achieved without compromising the broadcast sound so we are very pleased.’
‘From the events where we set up our demo PA systems, we were able to build a more permanent system design that addressed the theatre’s applications, as well as the audio engineer’s concerns such as coverage and SPL,’ Chng continues.
The system comprises Qi10s at left and right with a Qi10 centre array, along with Qi10s for left and right fill. The out fills are Qi7 while floor-standing Qi-Subs supply the low end. The system is driven by d&b D12 amplifiers and configured wirelessly using the d&b R70 Ethernet to CAN interface.
The studio alsoreceived a technical makeover during the install period, the principal contract falling to Electronics and Engineering (E&E) who installed the PA with Soon Chee Boon serving as supervising engineer. Kenny Chng and his team from d&b audiotechnik SE Asia defined the loudspeaker configuration and signal routing and completed the tuning and commissioning.
‘MediaCorp has upgraded its sound system in this TV theatre to a d&b sound system that delivers an “in-studio” experience to the audience, similar to that of a theatre or concert hall, yet without interfering with the capture of the sound for TV broadcast,’ Lee concludes. ‘That requires a delicate balance which was achieved through the great cooperation between the broadcaster’s Production Resource team and the teams from d&b audiotechnik SE Asia and E&E.’
More: www.dbaudio.com
More: www.mediacorp.sg
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