d&b Soundscape brings the sound experience of ‘Thursford Christmas Spectacular’

For Christmas performances and recordings in this English hall, 143 speakers covering the big stage, with the Soundscape system d&b audiotechnik highest resolution installed to date.

Located in the English town of Norfolk, The town of Thursford is known for its steam engines, musical organs and attractions, as well as for its spectacular theatrical shows. For this year's Christmas edition, Those responsible have wanted to offer a new and immersive sound experience.

Specifically, Thursford Christmas Spectacular has 143 speakers that cover a scenario of 40 meters wide and is, to date, he system d&b Soundscape highest resolution installed anywhere in the world, according to the project designed and integrated by Southby Productions.

“As our room is very wide and not very high, we have never been able to use online arrays, so we had a distributed point source system with more than fifty boxes -explains Mark Rogers, sound designer-, which meant that virtually all audience members heard most of the sound from the nearest speaker.".

As programs increased in complexity, the challenge of balance the sound it became a challenge, since it did not allow any location concept, a failure aggravated by the extreme width of the stage. After learning about the possibilities of Soundscape's immersive sound, Rogers was clear that it was the system that had to be installed.

Con Jack Page, of d&b audiotechnik, as design leader, and the Southby Productions team as integrators began working with Thursford's sound managers. The result, based on iterations of d&b ArrayCalc, includes of 360˚ Soundscape systems adjacent.

The system has seventeen Y10P point source speakers of d&b, along with eighteen 44S cabinets as front-fill, to cover the main stage. The first have been installed at intervals of 2,35 meters along the entire width of the stage, making it the highest resolution Soundscape system yet.

His two 360˚ surround fields include twenty-two cabinets T10 and three speakers 4S, along with a series of T10 and 44S delays. The subset consists of 10 V-Sub, plus four SL-Sub (in infra mode) in the center of the complex. Of the DS100 processors provide the power of the system d&b Soundscape.

A tracking package TiMax con 34 labels has been deployed among the enormous cast of this vast stage, with the consequent complexity managed by Atlas IED, a new interface solution Flamingo Software.

The master control is QLab and the program file contains more than nine hundred signs. Atlas also receives tracking data from TiMax and then sends the necessary OSC commands to the DS100s to control the positioning of objects., reverb sends In-Space and other settings.

In addition to the ability to In-Scene location of d&b Soundscape, Rogers also uses En-Space room emulation. “A highlight is when the cast move into the hallways to listen to traditional Christmas carols like those at Kings College, in cambridge. The En-Space stage is magnificent and has made the team and the audience cry. You forget you're in a farm shed!”.

The new system has also had a positive effect on the collaboration. “We work more closely than ever with the choreography,” Rogers emphasizes., and more with lighting to share tracking data for automated effects, as well as with the music team on issues such as realism versus illusion”.

Thursford's head of sound, Kieran Lowe, offers the point of view from the mix position. “The biggest difference I have noticed is that it is now a very realistic listening experience. It's almost like the AP isn't there at all: When we turn up the faders it's like the orchestra just gets louder, with sound emerging from its original sources: the instruments. The details have also improved greatly”.

As far as the public experience is concerned, “The new system gives us the opportunity to more fully engage our audience to tell stories in ways that enhance their experience.”, without technology distracting them”.