Metamorphosis
of Sydney Opera House |
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Webcasting, music on demand, simulcasting, reference recording, archiving, production complexities: when Sydney Opera House crystal balled their audio future it looked increasingly digital. For a totally analogue venue it was a pivotal moment. Four years later with digital mixing control surfaces in each of the main venues linked to a central recording studio, the house is seriously connected. Audio, vision and internal communication from any of Sydney Opera House’s six performance spaces are now fibre-linked to a central facility so that, potentially, any of the venues can become a recording studio. Thus the House now provides limitless recording and performance opportunities for the host of international and national performing arts companies and artists who use it, via CD/DVD recordings, interactive content and the internet. It’s all part of Sydney Opera House’s initiative to widen it’s exposure and re-invent itself as a proactive producer of emerging music and drama talent. ‘Sydney Opera House is no longer just a hall for hire,’ states Dr Norman Gillespie, Sydney Opera House CEO. ‘It has begun to commission and collaborate on a wide range of contemporary events under its own banner and this is just the start. The recording, broadcasting, marketing and distribution of Sydney Opera House events are all part of our vision for the 21st century.’
David Claringbold, Sydney Opera House Technical Manager Sound & AV has driven the technology metamorphosis. ‘We’re making a very conscious move to bring a wider range of people into Sydney Opera House, to experience it, be touched by it and enriched by it’ he commented. ‘We’re looking to open the roof of the building and expose something inside which is just as exciting as the sails and the image of the house.’ ‘In specific terms, the audio infrastructure we have put in place now gives us the capability to handle the performances in any of the six venues, each with their increasing complexity and demand for processing, as well as linking them as one complete system both venue to venue and to the Recording Studio.’ The first step in the metamorphosis occurred in January 2002 when a Euphonix System 5 was purchased for the Opera Theatre. David and his team started in the Opera Theatre first, as the needs of that venue were the most acute. With several different rehearsals and performances each day, the Opera Theatre required a console which stored set-ups and was able to rapidly reconfigure its settings such that productions possibly weeks or months apart could be quickly restaged. The System 5 was more than a match for this challenge and once it
had proved itself, Sydney Opera House was more than happy to add
two more Euphonix consoles early in 2004 -- a Max Air in the Drama
Theatre and a System 5 in the 2,600 seat Concert Hall.
The hub of the vision, the Recording Studio, received the green light in mid-2004. Again the Opera House selected a Euphonix System 5 and because this console takes feeds from the venues plus additional sources it is necessarily the largest of the group. It is a two core format with up to 156 DSP channels, 48 group busses, 24 mix busses, true parametric EQ, fully featured channel expander/gates, surround sound formats up to 7.1 and a control surface with 56 channel strips. Simultaneously the console can record up to 112 tracks across, for example, a combination of Protools, Pyramix and GENEX.
The Recording Studio System 5 receives its feed signals from remote mobile racks and a Euphonix 672 x 672 channel MADI router housed in the CCR (Central Control Room). All the venues can be connected to the CCR with the three major ones, the Opera Theatre, Concert Hall and Drama Theatre being permanently connected to the router via a Euphonix FC726 Format Converter and a set of FT730 FibreTran fibreoptic extenders. These units provide electrical and sample rate isolation from the CCR router and the other venues, plus conversion of MADI from COAX transmission to fibre and back again. Two 56 mic/line channel remote mobile input racks can be positioned in any SOH location, including the Forecourt, and transmit signal back to the recording studio via the fibre network. Recordings at 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz or 96 kHz are all available and fully independent of the 48 kHz audio being distributed by the facility router. Further mobile racks can be added at any time for increased capacity. The smaller SOH venues, like the Playhouse and Utzon Room, can also
be connected to the Router using a set of mobile Euphonix AM713 analogue
to MADI and MA703 MADI to analogue converters. For outside broadcasting
a truck docking area provides audio feeds from any venue, again by
fibre. Surround monitoring is all ATC with custom SCM50A’s soffit mounted left, centre, right in the bulkhead with remotely mounted amplifier packs, two SCM20A Pro’s cover rear surround and a SCM0.1/15Pro 15” powered sub provides more than adequate bass. A further LCR set of SCM20A Pro’s handle nearfield monitoring. ‘Obviously we weren’t about to make this level of technology and capability investment without being able to hear the end result’ commented David. ‘As a long term user of ATC we didn’t need a great deal of convincing that their ruthless accuracy was the way to go.’
The Euphonix consoles in the three main performance venues have made a huge difference to how audio is produced and increased the scope of what is possible. ‘Because of the volume of performances staged at the Opera House (2,300 last year), there are often morning rehearsals and different shows staged at night -- up to six every day.’ commented Severin Sieben, Opera Theatre Sound Supervisor. ‘The Euphonix consoles store set-ups which enables us to flick between shows, scenes, recall old shows etc all with the greatest of ease. It means we can guarantee a client that the same thing is going to happen at every show and that nothing will go wrong.’
‘The assignability and modularity of the Euphonix console design means that one person can literally carry the console master section into the stalls, roll out an Ethernet cable and mix the show! So now we can be sitting in the stalls with the producer and his creative and technical staff. We can make adjustments according to their comments and instructions. We’re all hearing the same thing, it’s easy and immediate and it just makes perfect sense. It’s obvious that this alone has had an enormous impact and made the set-up process so much simpler. When we’re done we slot the mixer section back into the desk to run the show and everyone knows that each preset is correct.’ This concept of removing sections of the console is a perfect example of how the Opera House sound team has pioneered usage of the Euphonix products in a live production environment. ‘Sydney Opera House has been keen to adapt our technology to their application and we’ve been only too happy to observe and respond to their input and requests,’ commented Euphonix CEO Jeff Chew. ‘As software driven products Euphonix is incorporating additional features and capabilities into the most recent versions of System 5 and Max Air software making them even more relevant to live production and upgrading the Opera House consoles along the way.’
In June 2004 Dr Gillespie and Euphonix CEO Jeff Chew signed a collaboration agreement which formalised the close working relationship which had developed between the two organizations. ‘Despite the disparity of our businesses, in many ways we share very similar goals, for example, ‘setting world standards’ and ‘exceeding our customers’ expectations’. At Euphonix our obsession with the ones and zeros of digital technology never overrides our passion for music and its production, and obviously we share that with Sydney Opera House as well,’ commented Mr Chew. ‘It’s a tremendous honour to be so closely involved with an organisation as prestigious as Sydney Opera House,’ he added. ‘And I’d like to include and pay tribute to our Australian distributors Technical Audio Group who fully share with us in this collaboration. Indeed I believe the success of both the relationship and the project it is in large part due to them.’ ‘Our commitment to the Recording Studio and the digital audio upgrade delivers a clear message to everyone from patrons to visitors from other performance venues around the world that ‘Sydney Opera House places the highest priority on sound quality,’ commented Dr Gillespie. ‘The quality of music, image and drama that we package and distribute will reflect this priority, which will play a very important role in the marketability of Sydney Opera House products.’ In 1957 architect Jørn Utzon envisiged an approach to Sydney
Opera House to be ‘…. a succession of visual and audio
stimuli which increase in intensity as you approach the building,
as you enter and finally sit down in the halls, culminating in the
performance.’ The implementation of digital audio technology
is now enhancing this experience and, in addition, beginning the
process of taking that intensity and excitement to a wider audience
both at ‘The House’ and, via new and traditional broadcast
media, to Australia and beyond. |
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The
new Recording Studio at Sydney Opera House – ahead of its time Opening Party - Sydney, Australia - Dec 8th 2004 |
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Today Sydney Opera House opened a new Recording Studio and - for the first time - performing arts companies and artists can record their on-stage performances at the House with world-class sound recording facilities. The new Recording Studio can record live performances in any of the six Sydney Opera House venues, including the Concert Hall and Opera Theatre, as well as outdoor concerts on the Forecourt. It can also produce the highest quality sound DVD and CD recordings ranging from opera and symphony to contemporary music and schools’ performances. It will also assist in the simulcast of audio content and in the future will be able to web-cast performances around the world. The Recording Studio uses ground-breaking, digital audio technology, designed by internationally renowned audio specialist Euphonix in collaboration with Sydney Opera House. It is linked to the venues via a fibre optic network.
Chief Executive, Norman Gillespie said: “Opening a Recording Studio places Sydney Opera House at the leading edge of performing arts venues around the world. We are expanding our own production capabilities and offer a valuable extra service for performers and artists. In addition to headline acts and our performance partners such as Opera Australia and the Sydney Symphony, new and emerging artists will have access to world class pre- and post-recording facilities. There will be endless possibilities for capturing their performances as well as producing educational, interactive and commercial content."Our first project, even before the Recording Studio was ready to ‘officially open’, was to work with Opera Australia to record a CD of their world premiere season of Madeline Lee. We are already talking about other opportunities with our partners and performers.”
He added, “Sydney Opera House is one of the busiest performing arts centre in the world. Every day we showcase performances of extraordinary quality which deserve to be captured for people who can’t be sitting in the actual venue. This is now possible through world-class digital audio consoles, used by technically expert staff. We are again at the forefront of engaging with audiences, improving the standard of our presentations and providing new opportunities for artists.
The Recording Studio is the latest installation of the whole-of house audio upgrade using Euphonix large format digital consoles that are designed for use in live theatre, concert production and recording. The Euphonix technology offers exceptional sound experiences for audiences and performers in the venues. The Euphonix consoles in the Concert Hall, Drama Theatre, Opera Theatre and now the Recording Studio are fully digital and totally recallable which has dramatically improved the programming capabilities for complex sound designs. Previously each analogue console would have to be set manually, which was labour intensive and limited the sound capability of a performance.
Sydney Opera House currently has over 2300 performances a year, with up to six performances and rehearsals in one day. This new technology and the Euphonix equipment enables a higher volume of shows and rehearsals to be set which means more performances can be held and bolder programming decisions can be made. Sydney Opera House’s David Claringbold (Technical Operations Manager, Sound and AV) said: “The audio upgrade keeps us one step ahead of demand. There is a very conscious move to bring a wider range of people into the Sydney Opera House, to experience it, and be touched by it.”
“We are now laying the technical foundation to achieve this in terms of recorded, broadcast and multimedia works. The audio infrastructure we are putting in place will give us the capability not only to handle the performances in any of the six venues and Forecourt, each with their increasing complexity and demand for processing, but also be linkable as one complete system both venue to venue and of course to the Recording Studio.” The next stage of the audio upgrade, expected to be completed in mid-2005 will be an extension of the Recording Studio to include a multi-media component. This will allow recording vision and operation of broadcast quality cameras via the optic fibre network and extend recording capacities even further.
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| TAG | |||||||||
These releases were authored by
TAG, Euphonix's Australia Distributor, & Sydney Opera House:
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Sydney Opera House Media Images Euphonix Live Sound Web Section Technical Audio Group Pty Ltd.
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