The renovation of what is considered Japan's most spectacular castle, which is frequently known as Hakuro-jo (White Egret Castle) or Shirasagi-jo (White Heron Castle) because of its brilliant white exterior, began in October 2009. It involved returning the walls to 'the white egret' whilst repairing the kawara tiled roof, and the recreation of the symbolic Shachihoko (Japanese mythological animal) decorating its ridge.
The opening ceremony, held before an invited audience of 1000 people (including government officials and politicians), saw Martin Audio's MLA Compact Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array brought into play, alongside the acrobatic aeroplane team, The Blue Impulse.
Kobe International Stage Service (KISS) was in charge of sound duties at the event, and they immediately chose this award-winning system to reinforce this prestigious event.
There have been many shows produced in this park over the years, but it has been extremely difficult to deliver even coverage to more than 100m depth using conventional point source systems. "But after using MLA Compact, I never felt any stress on the system whatsoever," stated FOH sound engineer, Mr. Tsudawho.
Six MLA Compact enclosures per side were rigged in the tower, with two DSX subwoofers ground-stacked.
"The layout was decided to suit the efficiency of the staging although it was not ideal for sound engineers," the system tech, Mr. Katanami, explained.
"I changed the coverage area of the system using different optimisations and adopted the infill system for the relevant areas. I also zoned the system to give me greater control of the downfilll cabinet." He confirmed that the following week there was to be another stage at the same venue - and he had no hesitation in once again fielding the MLA Compact system. "Not only the intelligibility, but also the controllability of any sound leakage is remarkable," he said.
And even when the brass band played directly in front of the PA system the unique software control of MLA proved equal to the challenge.
The Himeji Castle site is surrounded by a zoo and many residential properties, and so careful management of the noise pollution problem had been essential. KISS reports that as a result of this event, the Himeji government are now fully aware of the unique control properties of MLA.
(Jim Evans)
