1480 461555 E-mail: a.brown@audiomedia.com

came from a combination of sources. One was
the need to make the system easily accessible to
current technology and therefore easily accessible
to contributing talent. Another was a reference
system that had already been installed,
with considerable success, into a Planetarium in
China – which meant that it might be a commercially
viable arrangement going into the future.
The concept was for eight channels in the lower
circle, and five in the upper circle (including
the height channel), making the system conceptually
8 + 5.1 – not an enormous stretch
for our new-fangled production technology.
However, it also needs to be noted that the system
is both incredibly flexible and can be configured
easily for anything from mono and stereo
to its 17.4 max. Indeed, the room is wired for
additional monitors that might be required in
the future, so the eight-channel main mix could
become 16.
The actual monitors, the Genelec 8260a
has fast become a flagship of the company's
mid-sized monitors. It's a three-way, ti-amped
system with a new coaxial mid/high driver and
the full complement of Genelec DSP for use
with the GLM loudspeaker management software.
Audiorama uses the GLM software, plus
the latest improvements in Pro Tools I/O setup
to configure and re-configure the system
quickly and easily.
Exploring Possibilities
As you can imagine, the team has been feeling
its way into the best ways to handle and set-up
the system, including best configurations for the
more standard channel allocations. More interesting
perhaps are the reactions from audiences
inside the space. One of the dilemmas is the
idea of a sweet spot and the need to make sure
more than 60 people get a worthwhile experience.
One attempt at an evening with a coffee bar
in the middle of the room had audience
members migrating to the very outer edges
of the space. Similarly, with ordinary seating
the focus of the audience is fixed, which
for many of the productions is not desirable.
The simple solution was to bring in
swivel chairs, so the audience can orientate themselves
however they wish during a performance.
Another is to do away with the chairs altogether so
the public can walk around inside the experience.
Drama is an aspect the team is very keen on,
as the audience can be amongst the action, and
the actors don't need to be three.
The team admits that they are still feeling
their way amongst the myriad of possibilities
that the space presents. To a large extend they
are looking to incoming talent to help define
things and evolve good practise. Recent experiments
with discretely panned sources counterpointed
against more ambient material have
been described as the difference between being
asleep and awake. The shades between these
extremes might, for example, be a new way
to control some kind of audience consciousness
– a technical process leading to many levels
of artistic opportunities. This is, after all,
what audio should endeavour to be, isn't it? ∫
www.audiorama.se
Audio Media would like to thank Genelec for
arranging the visit to Audiorama.
www.genelec.com
Welcome to the New Standard
in Recording Technology
Ultimate sound quality
Logic and Pro Tools compatibility
Total I/O flexibility
Raise Your Standards
audiorama
www.apogeedigital.com
AUDIO MEDIA JUNE 2011
49