Meyer Sound Constellation provides acoustics to San Diego's Rady Shell

On the premises of the Rady Shell a system has been installed Meyer Sound Constellation, made up of 25 UPM-1XP speakers and 22 UPJunior-XP, with 12 UMS-1XP subwoofer.

The Rady Shell, in Jacobs Park, is a new and shocking addition to the city of San Diego (California). In its design it has opted for the most innovative sound technology based on Meyer Sound Constellation.

The size of your structure, located next to the bay, 17 meters high and 28 width, it allows to host great productions and that the musicians of the San Diego Symphony be heard and respond as they would in a concert hall.

To create an optimal acoustic environment, that can fit the different types of events, a system of Meyer Sound Constellation, brand that distributes RMS Proaudio, the first to be designed for an outdoor stage.

"The sound on stage is incredible," declares the musical director of the San Diego Symphony, Rafael Payare-. We hear each other wonderfully and you feel like you're in one of the best concert halls in the world.".

Equipping the structure with an active acoustics system for monitoring was recommended by Shawn Murphy, soundtrack mixer, Oscar winner and FOH engineer at outdoor orchestral events, who has acted as special advisor to the symphony.

Meyer Sound's Constellation team designed the system and the complementary physical acoustics were entrusted to Salter, acoustic and audiovisual consultant of the project.

Since many of the performances in the enclosure, especially those of pop or rock with amplified equipment, will not use the Constellation system, Salter's team received a double order: design a base acoustic to support Constellation and provide a good atmosphere when off.

"As for the acoustics inside the shell, it's quite similar to a big Hollywood stage," explains Jason Duty, vice president of Salter-. It has a mixture of diffuser and absorbent elements, but little reflection across the stage because that's what Constellation is in charge of. We didn't want it to be totally dry, because they wanted the stage to have a bit of life when the system was turned off".

For Duty, the size of the shell structure, its location and the variety of musical styles it was going to host made active acoustics the best solution. "Constellation is very useful in situations like this. The venue is right in the harbor and having control for the musicians to clearly hear their bandmates on the other side of the stage is beneficial.".

In this installation, the Constellation system consists of 25 Speakers UPM-1XP and 22 UPJunior-XP, with 12 subwoofer UMS-1XP to extend the reverb envelope to the lowest registers.

The DSP to control the system is supplied by a digital audio platform D-Mitri of eight modules, with two modules dedicated to housing the patented acoustic algorithm VRAS. Environmental sensing for regenerative reverb is provided by 20 Microphones Schoeps MK41 with preamps CMC6.

The system integrator of the project has been Solotech, AV company that has been in charge of the lighting infrastructure (that as already published Digital AV is based on Elation solutions), data distribution, audio and video.

The new venue plans to host more than one hundred concerts and events a year, both the symphony and other organizations and promoters. Although Constellation was installed primarily for the San Diego Symphony, will be available, with the approval of the symphony, for use by other classical or acoustic music ensembles.

Other articles on Meyer Sound, RMS Proaudio, Salter, Solotech, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. San Diego Symphony Orchestra