Multi-use performing arts centers were once considered pariahs of the arts community. Through the use of adjustable acoustics systems, these types of halls can now adapt to different types of performance without degradation in sound quality and are comparable to many concert and single-purpose halls. My passion for the complexity and artistry required in the acoustic design of these spaces is revealed within this book. I wanted to dispel the many myths and use evidence-based design (not just theory) to prove that outstanding acoustics can be achieved in multi-use performance spaces.
I guide the reader from planning of the initial concept through to the final tuning, which is the featured chapter in this piece. The text is a tool for architects, acousticians, musicians, and students in addition to the general public.
Be sure to read Part One first!
Introducing Musicians
I always find it thrilling to witness the first musical performance in a newly designed facility. Remember that tuning a hall is like tuning a piano: The piano tuner begins by forcing the string out of tune, and then brings it gradually into tune.
Following that basic idea, begin with all drapes fully deployed. Understand that the hall will never be used for unamplified musical performance in this configuration as it will sound dead and muffled. Gradually, store each group of drapes, listening to differences in sound in all parts of the hall. Listen for increased reverberation, but also listen for the timbre differences, the sense of surround, the balance of low to high registers, the loudness and the energy levels. Document the settings with acoustic instrumentation, and take images to record the process for later use.
With the shell in its full configuration, meaning with all ceilings and towers in place, start with musicians far upstage within the shell. Experience indicates this is not the best sound, but it is the starting point of a process that is aurally complex and time-limited. The simple yet effective practice is to begin at the poorest setting and make incremental improvements.
Tuning With A Piano
A new hall often gets a new nine foot Steinway B piano. The solo grand piano is ideal for tuning because it is percussive, full frequency, and dynamic. It moves easily about the stage, has a large repertoire of music to test, and a high-quality pianist is not difficult to find.
Finding The Ideal Location In The Shell
The forestage lift is often the best musician location because the hall is usually energized, meaning that the reverberation level is closer to the direct sound. Overall, the piano is louder, and better feedback to musicians exists. More shell support and better onstage hearing exists for musicians in an upstage position, but there is often a disconcerting lack of feedback from the hall itself.
Settings For Piano
Starting with all drapes deployed, the sound moves from bad to good. Tonality of the piano may change dramatically as the drapes are stored. Normally, the drapes should be set so the sound is a little over the top, meaning a bit muddy in the lower register and lacking definition in the upper notes. The audience will settle the sound down to just the right level.
Settings For Choral Ensemble (12 To 15 Voices) With Piano
Start with a simple riser system and position the ensemble in their normal performance mode but against the upstage wall of the shell. Musicians seem to like the way their sound is blended in this position, but remember, conditions are different outside of rehearsal. Move them downstage in increments until an ideal location is found. The location is ideal when the chorus sounds bright and clear, when vocal diction is well-defined, and with a strong resonant component. A word of caution: A location too close to the audience may lose the vibrant support of the orchestra shell for the musicians.
Drapes should be settled into position after listening and consulting with the choral director and accompanist. Remember to set drapes at positions that may be slightly too reverberant with the anticipation that the hall will dry out with an audience.
Symphonic Orchestra
The ceiling angles of the shell should be fine-tuned based on extensive listening onstage with the musicians. Flattening the ceiling reflectors will improve onstage hearing but comes at the expense of sound projection to the audience. Overly loud brass and percussion can be tempered by flattening the ceilings or by raising the rear-most ceiling element, if there is one, to bleed more sound into the stage.
Lowering ceiling pieces often improves onstage hearing for musicians but also results in higher onstage volume levels that throw sound off balance. When the ceiling is too low, sound becomes harsh and brittle in loud passages.
Once again, begin with the musicians fully upstage and move them downstage in increments after listening to the rehearsal for thirty minutes or so. Musicians often prefer their own sound when in the far upstage position, but in many halls, this location lacks impact and vibrancy in the audience chamber and is visually unacceptable. Musicians voice the opinion that they want to be as close to the audience as possible, out on the lifts at the edge of the stage. This may ultimately become the preferred location, but it frequently presents issues with onstage hearing. Moving upstage about 10' (3m) from the stage edge often enables a beneficial early reflection off the stage floor. This is often the preferred performance location.
Acoustic banners and drapes are most likely in the fully-stored position for symphonic performances, but not always. I have found that leaving a rear balcony drape deployed is wise if the hall rarely fills to capacity during symphonic performances. Listening to rehearsals with the adjustable acoustic systems deployed is a diagnostic tool for hearing echoes, sound focusing off rear walls, early reflections and distribution of direct energy that are indistinct when the hall is fully reverberant. Dallas City Performance Hall has side wall acoustic banners partially deployed for chamber music concerts.
For rehearsals, a partially deployed drape and banner combination better approximates the audience absorption effect. This means that the change when the audience arrives is less drastic.
Symphonic Risers
I often take a non-traditional approach to orchestral risers. Our shell ceiling designs make the risers almost unnecessary for onstage hearing. The last few stands of the violins can be raised if they can’t hear well, and woodwinds and French horns can be placed on risers to help them hear and be more audible in the hall.
It is counterproductive to place brass and percussion on risers because they are the most powerful instruments in the orchestra in terms of raw sound power level (loudness), and they can easily overpower the strings. Why exacerbate balance issues by placing brass and percussion on risers?
Cello boxes, or resonant risers for each cello, can be useful when there is an apparent lack of cello energy in the hall. Bass risers can also add a few decibels to increase bass loudness in the hall.
Maestro Neal Gittleman, conductor of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra at the Schuster Center in Dayton, Ohio, confided that he had tried every possible combination of orchestral risers over many years to find the best sound. Ultimately, he reverted back to our tuned setting of all musicians flat on the floor.
Risers are called for when there is a demand for better visual impact of the orchestra. Modern audiences want to see the musicians clearly and risers facilitate this. However, risers must be accounted for in the tuning process because they will affect shell ceiling positioning.
Collaboration
A note on collaboration in tuning: I find working with artists and musicians to be thrilling and enlightening on a number of levels. This group listens in a way that is different from how engineers and consultants listen. They have vast experience listening to the direct sound of music but not necessarily to the hall alone or to its reverberation and reflections. Instead of open-ended questions like, “What do you think?” I prefer to ask if they could hear themselves well and what differences they noticed between different locations. After listening intently and considering their feedback, I found often that the musicians were right.
Journal Entry
Mark Holden Journal Entry - November 9, 2011
Tuning Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center at The University of Texas of the Permian Basin
I arrived in Texas with anticipation and regret. I was excited to finally hear the acoustics and work with live musicians and artists performing, rather than just balloon pops and hand claps. Regret knowing this may be the last time I’m here and because it is so remote that few will visit it and appreciate what is here.
The entire design team, contractor, and owners worked together in a partnership that allowed me, a kid from Hudson, Ohio, to look really good! Without great architects and builders and owners, this would never have happened, and this great building that will stand for 50 to 100 years would not exist, and I would not have had a chance to participate. I get all the credit, but I alone really can do little. Now, millions of audience members will have a chance to be transported, to be moved and escape or thrilled or just enjoy something very special. I’m an incredibly lucky guy!
The hall is a cleanly designed acoustic diagram, it’s simple and straightforward. The shell, lift, forestage, and drapes are tunable, while the rest of the walls, floors, ceilings, and balconies in the room—the vessel—are not tunable but made so that these elements mesh perfectly with our adjustable systems.
This hall is stripped down to just what is needed acoustically but no less. Losing any single acoustic element would be a tipping point, and the acoustics would fail. The elements that are here, such as the wall shaping, are optimized to best response but no more than is needed. The wall elements are shaped like oversized bricks and modulate in depth and size to provide mid-and high-frequency diffusion, but they end at the ceiling line. The ceiling was really a curtain of glowing LEDs that resemble a star field, and above that are flat masonry walls triple painted to seal the block. The ceiling structure, drape pockets, forestage grid, and large round return air ducts provide diffusion in this zone. Shifting from wall treatments below the ceiling to suspended-in-space diffusion elements above was a potent and cost-effective strategy.
Ceiling reflectors are another area where only the minimal ceiling was used; no surface was there simply for architectural form or conceit. In fact, the ceiling is a netting of LED lights that is acoustically transparent, hung from the catwalks. The only ceiling that is needed acoustically is the forestage array that ends at the edge of the stage extension and the ceiling below the catwalk over the balcony.
Mark Holden is chairman and lead acoustic designer at Jaffe Holden Acoustics, located in Norwalk, CT. He has collaborated on hundreds of diverse performance and exhibition space designs throughout the world. He thrives on the creative design processes that call on his unique skills as an engineer, physicist, communicator, and former jazz musician to create superior acoustic environments. Holden has authored numerous papers and columns for major trade publications. He lectures at universities across the United States, including Harvard and the University of Miami. He is a member of the National Council of Acoustical Consultants and elected fellow of the Acoustical Society of America.
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