Music and sound design are key to creating the conservatory's atmosphere. For each display, sound designer Jason Rauhoff of Goes To Eleven assembles and masters a music programme, as well as sound effects. Original sound designer Jonathan Deans specified that primary audio chores be handled by a ring of 12 Meyer Sound M1D ultra-compact curvilinear array loudspeakers, driven by an LCS Series Matrix3 audio show control system. The self-powered nature of the M1D made for a clean installation by eliminating the need to run 12 loudspeaker cables to the rack room a couple of hundred feet away.
The M1D cabinets are mounted in the walls approximately 10 feet above head level and angled downwards to provide even coverage throughout the area. While the angle of the loudspeakers promotes smooth coverage, their orientation towards the centre of the room and tight pattern control help contain the sound to the conservatory and minimise spill into adjacent areas.
The system is multi-channel: each cabinet is driven from a separate Matrix3 output, enabling Rauhoff to create a full surround experience for guests. For example, in 2007's Chinese New Year display, Rauhoff sonically created the environment of an Asian garden. The ambience consists of numerous elements, but Rauhoff added life and variety with "spice elements" like programming a bird sound to fly around the room once or twice a minute. To keep the effect from feeling repetitive, Rauhoff used Matrix3's Space Map multi-channel panning to create a complex trajectory for the bird, so that it seems to be flitting about, rather than flying a simple path over and over.
Rauhoff uses Matrix3's programmable routing capabilities to create different surround playback schemes. His "standard" configuration alternates channels going around the room in an L/R/L/R/L/R arrangement. With the push of a button, he can reassign the channels to split the room into left and right sides, or in a front/back pattern.
Matrix3 is a client-server system that uses TCP/IP, enabling Rauhoff to make adjustments from a laptop computer with a wireless connection as he walks around the space. As well as helping him tune the sound design within the conservatory, wireless control also enables him to visit adjoining areas, and, while listening, adjust the system to minimize the amount of sound bleeding into those areas. Since the program information is stored in the Matrix3 and not the laptop, the system can be as readily controlled from any other computer equipped with the system's CueStation control software, and is immune to laptop crashes. The Matrix3 system itself has run for two years without crashing.
The Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens represents an excellent example of an architectural approach to multichannel sound in themed entertainment, both in its installation aspects and in the dynamic use of programme material.
(Chris Henry)
