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Company Provides Extensive Sound System Plus Video and Lighting for "Salsa and Soul" at Capitol Theater
November 1, 2004 — New York
SIA Acoustics is very demanding when it comes to sound quality. When they were asked to design the sound system for "Salsa and Soul," a benefit concert held at the historic Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York, SIA relied on Scharff Weisberg to meet ambitious audio, video, and lighting requirements. Together the companies provided services for both a Show at the Capitol theatre and a full production rehearsal at New York's prestigious Hit Factory Studio 1.
The benefit for Open Door Family Medical Centers featured singer/songwriter and eight-time Grammy nominee Joan Osborne and award- winning salsa sensation and Grammy nominee India. "Salsa and Soul" was hosted by local radio personality Jimmy Fink of The Peak 107.1 FM. New
York based acoustical consulting firm SIA Acoustics, managed by partners Sam Berkow and Steve Sockey, and were brought in for technical direction and sound system design.
"There were real challenges to this show; it was not a straight ahead rock n' roll gig" saysSockey. "That's the reason why we wanted to work with Scharff Weisberg." "Salsa and Soul" consisted of separate sets by each artist and band but a finial combined set was planed where everyone played together. "It seemed like we were constantly changing our plans or the equipment order; the artists, musical director, producer, and their representatives - everyone had tons of changing needs to keep track of. Even so, Scharff Weisberg was always on top of it. Their whole order system is computerized" notes Sockey. "Scharff Weisberg is flexible and pays attention to the details."
The sound system was designed to overcome tough circumstances. There were severe rigging limitations on site complicated by an especially short load in schedule and a venue that hadn't hosted an event like this in years. The theatre itself suffers from several large surfaces that can cause strong reflections of sound back into the audience. "Ordinarily we use extensive acousticaltreatment, to control echoes or to reduce reverberation," explains Sockey. "But this time acoustic
treatment was not possible. We had to rely entirely on a well behaved sound system. We specified two highly directional Meyer line arrays"
The design process consisted of a site visit to the theater to obtain its actual dimensions and make a series of acoustical and measurements using the SIA- SMAART software package. That information was then used with Meyer Sound's "MAPP on line" prediction program to determine the exact type, quantity, location and configuration of loudspeakers needed.
To achieve the desired pattern control and consistency, Scharff Weisberg supplied 6 Meyer M2D and 14 M1D line array elements for each array, some angled by only one degree. "At their shop we were able to fly the PA and determine all the actual pin locations and rigging points needed," noted Sockey. "And we did make changes. The Meyer MAPP prediction program tells us the angles we need, but in actual practice you can not rely on the rigging hardware's silkscreen markings to yield the desired angles. There is just enough play in the rigging - exaggerated by a physically long array, and the plan to use very small angles, i.e. 1 degree – that we needed to make corrections to the actual set up so that it matched the angles specified in MAPP. This step was critical. We would never have been able to do corrections at the venue, and only Scharff Weisberg has the gear, space and expertise to accommodate us."
The audio package was highlighted by Scharff Weisberg's new Yamaha pm5D RH front-of-house console, a Midas Heritage 3000 and over 72 Meyer self powered loudspeakers. "SIA is all about the sound," commented Scott Schachter. "They don't just come in and try making people's ears bleed. It didn't matter where you were in the multi-level theater; the sound level was the same."
Video equipment supplied by Scharff Weisberg included two DVD players, two Barco R10 projectors and a 15 x 20 screen. The size and brightness of the screen was selected to allow a special presentation commissioned by Open Door to be shown, while hiding a band change over and work back stage.
Lighting equipment included Source 4 Lekos and Source 4 PARs with CXI scrollers all coming off an ETC 48-sensor dimmer rack and controlled by an ETC Express console.