The brief for the venue's LCR and multi-channel surround sound system was to immerse the audience with pre-recorded vocal, music and effects beds in Gershwin-style cabaret shows which would vary from day to day, with spectacular lighting and sound effects synchronized to song and dance troupes onstage. SMPTE timecode linked the Tascam to the console, TiMax and multi-format showcontrol system so that fully automated audio animation and other effects could be triggered simultaneously. The multipurpose venue can also be configured for more conventional artiste shows, and debut live performances on this voyage included the legendary Dionne Warwick.
On Brisbane's Gold Coast in Australia, the Conrad Jupiters Casino complex recently deployed TiMax with similar objectives, but this time the approach was slightly different. A 16 x 16 TiMax rack system was rented under Out Board's TiMax Production Support Program for the venue's new STORM cabaret residency by sound designer Hugh Covill, who used it to set up static and dynamic image localizations in the room and to record the TiMax outputs directly onto a Pro-Tools system prior to layback onto a Fostex hard disk playback machine.
By extensive pre-programming and mixing in the room using Pro-Tools, finishing up with a final multitrack mix of the TiMax matrix outputs, all the complex level/delay imaging relationships could be played back from the Fostex machine for the run of the show and still reproduce the correct imaging without the TiMax being present. The management's objectives of total audience envelopment with added 'wow-factor' had been accompanied by a strong desire to eliminate the hot-spots that they'd experienced before in other surround implementations, and both they and Covill felt this was ably achieved using TiMax.
(Lee Baldock)
