To help performers get the best monitor mixes in a hall where the acoustics are quite reverberant, Pro Sound and Video, a Miami-based company that specialises in providing high quality, technology solutions for audio, video, theatre, club and broadcast projects, equipped the New World Centre with an Aviom Pro16 personal mixing system.
Early in the New World Centre's first season, Aviom's Personal Mixers played an important role on stage in performances by the New World Symphony and even more so during Pulse performances, when the concert hall transitioned into a nightclub and New World Symphony Fellows and a classically-trained DJ, Mason Bates, shared the stage.
"The intent behind the New World Centre was to create the most technically sophisticated concert hall in North America," says Brad Gallagher, managing director, Pro Sound and Video. "In a symphonic building, with such a long RT60, the sound that engineers hear from a reference monitor is going to be vastly different from what the musicians are hearing on stage. With so many elements taking place at once, the Aviom Personal Mixers are an absolutely ideal solution."
Since the hall was designed with a NC-15 noise criterion, there is a virtually pure environment for the natural acoustics of the room. Though beautiful to listeners, the acoustics do pose some issues when monitoring.
"The nominal reverb time of the room is 1.5 seconds, so when the Aviom A-16II Personal Mixers are used with headphones or in-ears, it allows us to totally eliminate any unnecessary stage volume, while keeping our options flexible for on-stage performances," says Alan Miller, New World Centre production technician and audio specialist.
(Jim Evans)
