Page 22 - Lighting & Sound America (December 2019) Magazine

INDUSTRY NEWS

New Technologies for New Music:

Meyer Sound Partners with National Sawdust

Since it launched in 2015, Brooklyn’s blast off into the future. We are looking Using a longer reverberation, Theo
National Sawdust has been heralded at a revolution in how artists create their was able to work with his own voice to
as a world-leading incubator of new music and how patrons experience it.” create improvised harmonies during an
music talent as well as an intimate per- The Constellation system compris- a capella work. Then he added in
formance venue with excellent es 86 small, full-range loudspeakers microphones with signal processing,
acoustics. The venue recently entered plus 16 compact subwoofers, for and together we experimented with
a partnership with Meyer Sound, extending the reverberation envelope moving the evolving vocal phrases out
unveiling the company’s new LINA to the lowest bass frequencies. from the stage, into the audience and
direct reinforcement, Constellation Sixteen miniature microphones provide around the room. Prestini’s work,
active acoustics, and Spacemap ambient sensing, sending signals to a Silent Light, featured a small wood
dynamic spatial audio mixing systems. D-Mitri digital audio platform that and marble tower with microphone
The enhanced sonic resources of includes a dedicated DVRAS module pickup that was sent through a regen-
the intimate auditorium—a capacity of for providing the desired room erating delay. We used Spacemap with
about 200, seated—were showcased acoustic. Although the room has an both the original and delayed signals,
during September’s opening week cele- excellent, well-balanced physical incorporating a spiraling move on each
brations honoring the 200th anniversary acoustic, it is limited by the dimen-
of the birth of composer/pianist Clara sions and materials of the space. With
Schumann. Artists Timo Andres, Nico Constellation, the room’s baseline
Muhly, Claire Chase, Theo Bleckmann, RT60 of 0.6s can be extended and
and the Young People’s Chorus of New reshaped as desired. Twelve presets
York City made use of the room’s new are preprogrammed, ranging from
Meyer Sound technologies with per- “classroom” and “spoken word” to
formances of Schumann’s music in “large concert” and “cathedral.”
addition to leading female composers Selected acoustic presets may be tai-
such as Paola Prestini, Ellen Reid, lored to suit the aesthetic of each
Missy Mazzoli, Emma O’Halloran, and piece within a concert.
Meredith Monk. The Spacemap capability employs
“With Constellation and Spacemap, the same D-Mitri DSP platform and
National Sawdust now offers an almost 102 loudspeakers to offer dynamic
unlimited palette for sonic creativity, multichannel panning throughout the
experimentation, and inspiration,” says space, with 32 input channels freely
Prestini, co-founder and artistic director assignable to any or all of the discrete- sound but at different rates, so the
of National Sawdust. “Immersive ly addressable loudspeakers. sounds climbed up and down the
sound is profound for both performers Spacemap panning can be pre-pro- walls, overlapping each other. For the
and audiences, changing our sense of grammed or implemented on the fly Young People’s Chorus of New York
space and perception and making art using an iPad interface. City, who surrounded the audience,
more of an intimate and communal “National Sawdust is the first venue we extended the reverberation time to
experience. National Sawdust is thrilled where front-of-house engineers have 2.4 seconds, which was very effec-
to partner with Meyer Sound as a lab been trained from the outset to fully tive.”
for learning, discovery, and innovation integrate the live spatial mix capabili- Even a musician’s body movements
in performance.” ties of Constellation and Spacemap can be sonically transmuted, accord-
Playing a pivotal role in forging the while working with such a wide range ing to Ellison. “With Claire Chase, we
partnership was Garth MacAleavey, of musicians,” says Steve Ellison, used Spacemap with both the delay
technical director and chief audio engi- Meyer Sound director, spatial sound. returns from her flute as well as her
neer for National Sawdust. “The way “I’m excited to watch this extraordi- backing track. Her body movement
our programming has evolved in the nary sonic journey unfold.” informed the spatial mix of the flute
last few years has been very forward- Ellison highlights how the new delay, so it seemed she was ‘throwing’
thinking,” he notes, “and now that we Meyer systems were employed during her flute sound out into the room.”
have these modular acoustic and spa- the opening concerts: “With vocalist “With Constellation and Spacemap
tial audio tools readily at hand, it’s like Theo Bleckmann, we used the space you have this marvelous sonic toolkit,”
having the controls of a spaceship to as a lab to try out a few of his ideas. comments flutist Chase, “so anything

22 • December 2019 • Lighting& &Sound America