Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier goes immersive
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In 1993 the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier became the second theatre for the Comédie Française. originally created in 1913 by Jacques Copeau. Threatened with closure, the theatre was bought by the French government in 1986, becoming the second Comédie Française hall in 1993.
In recent months, the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier has undergone an in-depth renovation of its stage infrastructure. The electro-acoustical system was also completely redesigned too, in close collaboration with the theatre's technical manager Philippe Lagrue, along with Dominique Bataille, a sound engineer, and composer, who has worked over the few last years at the venue.
The electro-acoustical system designed by Amadeus and Dominique Bataille is now built around a Holophonix spatial sound processor, developed by Amadeus, in collaboration with the STMS (Sciences et Technologies de la Musique et du Son), a laboratory founded in 1995 and hosted in the IRCAM premises, association of CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Ministère de la Culture and Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique.
The main sound system is designed according to a semi-spherical concept to get the best envelopment for spectators and adapted to the geometrical shape of the hall-a parallelepiped-and the technical and aesthetic constraints imposed by the hall. The system comprises 23 speakers made by Amadeus plus the Holophonix spatial sound processor.
Ten Amadeus PMX 8 MKII speakers - five on each side along the whole theatre floor,s depth - were seamlessly integrated into lateral 'arches' of the wooden frame evoking a boat's overturned hull. They are supplemented by eight Amadeus PMX 5 MKIV speakers that are integrated into the upper 'arches' in zenithal position.
The L/C/R front system is made of three new triaxial Amadeus C15 speakers, co-developed with the Théâtre National de Chaillot. The sub-bass reinforcement system is built around two slim ABB 15 speakers, which were initially developed for the Théâtre des Abbesses (hence the ABB acronym).
"Around 20 Amadeus MPB 200 B speakers - in place since the previous redesign in 1993 - are sometimes used as a punctual sound source, onstage, in the flies or under the stage, according to projects and creations, enabling spatial illusions we love to imagine and to offer to the theatre audience. The speakers are actually declared as bus 'virtual outputs' and processed by the Holophonix processor using various spatialization techniques,” explains Dominique Bataille.
(Jim Evans)
