LIVE SOUND RECORDING INSTALLATION A/V BROADCAST POSTPRODUCTION September–October 2016 MUSICAL MASTERPIECE ’s world-class performance venue

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT! Equipping OnGameNet’s INSIDE BLOCK 22 Seoul studios POSTPRODUCTION CCTV’S SURROUND AT OUHK STUDIOS

Singapore: MICA (P) 101/07/2016 PPS 1604/05/2013(022953) FEATURES: INSTALLATION

Setting the standard The city of Harbin has long been in need of a world-class performance venue. Simon Luckhurst discovers whether the HGT has truly made Harbin the City of Music

IF YOU’RE THE CITY OF MUSIC some problems with the simulations and the then you better be able to back up original structure design also had a very bad that claim. Fortunately, Harbin – in the LQÁXHQFHRQWKHDFRXVWLFV·KHUHFDOOV¶:H north of – has plenty to justify reported the situation to the design institute the nickname. Traditionally, the city and decoration company to revise the model. was the entry point for European music Performing such simulations at this early stage arriving in the country, and generations was vital, and allowed us to discover and avoid of musicians have since been raised many problems later on. Another challenging there, only serving to further cement its part was that there are many curved surfaces, heritage. Indeed, Harbin is the home which made the accurate positioning of the of the concert hall in China, yet up until HTXLSPHQWYHU\GLIÀFXOW:HKDGWRPDNH recently it was still lacking a truly world- many choices and trade-offs between the early class venue. This all changed a couple of design, installation and overhaul.’ years ago with the opening of the Harbin ‘Harbin Grand Theatre has a very large, Grand Theatre (HGT). complex audio system,’ furthers Mr Huang. The brainchild of architects, ‘At the very beginning of the design phase we MAD Studio, the building is simply were confronted with a number of challenges stunning. Like others the group has due to the curved wall surfaces and extremely worked on, the HGT is so futuristically- tricky acoustic architecture. For example, how designed it bears little resemblance WRLGHDOO\FRQWUROWKHFRYHUDJHKRZWRFRQÀJXUH WRDQ\WKLQJHOVHRILWVNLQG1DWXUDOOLJKWÀOOV (From top): A Salzbrenner Polaris WKHOLQHDUUD\V\VWHPVHWWLQJÀ[HGSRLQWVIRU WKHFDYHUQRXVLQWHULRUVSDFHVIRUWKHÀUVW Touch overlooks the theatre from the WKHKLGGHQLQVWDOODWLRQRIWKHÀOODQGVRXQG time in an opera theatre, providing direct rear control room; Sequenza arrays hang effects speakers, independent operation either side of the stage; A Cadac S-Type LOOXPLQDWLRQDQGH[SDQGLQJERWKLWVÁH[LELOLW\ is used as the backup console EHWZHHQWKHÀ[HGLQVWDOODQGSRUWDEOHV\VWHPV and environmental credentials. The engrossing in one theatre, and further, how to make a hot- interior also includes hallways and a viewing swappable backup for two systems at the same platform allowing tourists to view the area’s approach to tackling these issues, however, automatically. We believe that this down-to- time! All of this was tricky. As a result, we had natural wetland surroundings. In recognition of ultimately helped to secure the contract. ‘The earth manner when designing was the key to us WREHHYHQPRUHFDXWLRXVDQGVFLHQWLÀFZKHQ its unique design, it was this year named the architectural and electroacoustic design was winning the project.’ selecting the right speakers.’ ArchDaily Building of the Year in the Cultural led by Yang Zhigang from the Acoustic and This considered approach during the design German speaker manufacturer Kling & Architecture category. Theatre Design Laboratory of the East China phase also paid dividends later on, as the Freitag was the chosen brand for MYC and Set across 72,000 sq-m of land on the Architectural Design & Research Institute. MYC team was able to identify several issues the opera theatre is now home to more Songbei Culture Centre island, the entire Our task was to keep our feet on the ground related to the construction and feed them WKDQ. )FDELQHWVZLWKERWKÀ[HGDQG project encompasses a 1,600-seat opera when designing, using Rhino 3D to model back to the other involved parties. ‘The most SRUWDEOHFRQÀJXUDWLRQVRQKDQG$Q/&5 house and a smaller 400-seat theatre. Tasked and simulate the environment and EASE to interesting and challenging part of the project setup of 18 K&F Access T5 enclosures, eight with providing ‘top-class’ sound reinforcement calculate and optimise the system design,’ was probably the BIM (Building Information B10 subwoofers and a further four B5 subs throughout both recital spaces was ’s recalls Lang Jun, MYC’s technical director. Modelling) technology in the modern theatre,’ is permanently embedded into the theatre’s MYC Technology. In a classic case of form over ‘We also took sound quality and safety into muses Huang Rong, MYC’s project manager surround. However, to meet requirements of function, the elaborate interior of the theatre consideration and designed a backup system. If for HGT. ‘At the beginning of the project, all various types of performances, a portable in particular brought with it a hefty set of something goes wrong with the digital network, the teams involved used their own model system consisting of hangs of 12 per-side acoustic challenges. MYC’s ‘feet on the ground’ the system will switch to the analogue lines to simulate the implementation. We found Sequenza 10N line arrays and two per-side

110 PRO AUDIO ASIA September–October 2016 )($785(6,167$//$7,21

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