PHOTO : BOBBY SINGH /@ FOHPHOTO
FOH MIXER JOHN ARRUDA AND PA ANNOUNCER TIM LANGTON IN THE CONTROL ROOM . NOTICE THE Q-SYS TOUCHPAD TO ARRUDA ’ S LEFT
System Tuning
“ It ’ s one of the biggest spaces in all of Canada in terms of just the sheer volume and capacity ,” Skudra says of the ballpark . “ It ’ s just massive , and you don ’ t appreciate that until you get in the room and you realize ‘ Wow , this is a pretty big place !’ And normally , you just go in and you ’ re focused on going to one set of seats to just sit there and watch the game . It ’ s a whole different matter when you go in and you have to actually commission the system .”
Skudra began by of course verifying that all of the components in the system were actually functioning as expected , and checking wiring and polarity to ensure the slate was clean for tuning , including dialing the DSP to factory recommended settings . “ Just one speaker out of polarity when you have a distributed system can make a very miserable experience for that section , especially for overlap areas . So , my first approach is to always make sure that everything ’ s coming , and at the same level , everything ’ s the same polarity , and there ’ s no craziness going on with any given loudspeaker ; it should be good to go .
“ Oftentimes , when you ’ re dealing with a system of this size , you just break it up into smaller chunks ; get everything sounding right in a given area , and then you just start moving your way around the bowl . So that was our first step . The next step was to get the system timed correctly ,” Skudra continues .
He then addresses the same acoustic considerations that Christiansen does in terms of the building ’ s geometry and acoustics , as optimizing the new system for such an environment was obviously crucial . “ What ’ s really peculiar about the Rogers Centre that a lot of people don ’ t realize is , it ’ s a stadium that ’ s in the round ; but , it ’ s actually slightly asymmetrical , especially the speaker mounting positions in the upper bowl . It was a couple of feet off
between some of the speakers there , and that ’ s enough to really throw things off . They ’ re not arriving at the seats at the same time , so that can open up a whole can of worms there .”
Skudra explains that due to the nature of the retractable , domed roof , the speakers are mounted inside the perimeter of the building , circling the audience , and aimed down at the seats . This introduced some unique considerations for delay timing . “ Whenever you ’ re dealing with a system that fires down on the seats from the edges of the bowl , you always start from the top down . This is where ‘ time zero ’ is ; a line for the rest of the system to match up with what ’ s coming from the upper roof structure . Because some of the speakers were located closer than others , you had to actually go to the lower lip of the upper bowl and time each speaker individually to match their arrival times at the front ,” he details .
In terms of this process itself , Skudra made use of a variety of wired and wireless measurement gear in order to cover the amount of ground necessary , employing Smaart v8 software as the primary engine , helped along as well by four Lectrosonics TM400 wireless measurement systems and a gamut of about 30 other measurement mics reaching Smaart via Dante . Two Neutrik NTi XL2 handheld analyzers were also used for system verification and level balancing , as well as Studio Six Digital AudioTools software .
“ We got all our wireless test mics , we had four of them in rotation , and quite literally as I was measuring everything in the control room , I was calling out delay times to the DSP programmer . And we had one person up there just constantly doing a rotation of the mics from one speaker to the next , and we were going all the way around the bowl setting the timing of that correct , so everything arrives to the front lip at the same time . Then you start working on the timing of the next bowl section and getting that working . With the way the distributed system worked , once you got one timing done , the rest of it came together quite nicely ,” Skudra says .
One of the other factors that Skudra notes is that of the retractable roof and its radical effects on the acoustic response of the building , as Covert mentions earlier . “ It ’ s a unique circumstance when you have acoustics vary that much because you ’ re so focused on making the system perform well with the roof closed , and that ’ s probably your worst-case scenario when it comes to acoustics .” However , he was able to strike a balance that was optimal .
Overall , Skudra is complimentary of his experience on the project at large , explaining , “ I was just very impressed with how well everything came together at the very end . Once we got everything timed together , everything else kind of fell into place , and it sounds phenomenal .”
Having had an opportunity to visit the ballpark to hear the system for myself back in August , I can certainly attest to it sounding phenomenal . During my tour , Christiansen and Deslauriers led me out of the left field tunnel into the empty stadium , as the dark , wistful acoustic intro of Chris Jones ’ “ Long After You ’ re Gone ” permeated through the air and across the field . It was a visceral experience quite like any other I ’ ve had personally , especially as a sports fan . But from a technical standpoint , the intelligibility was excellent , the system felt powerful without sounding harsh , and coverage was remarkable throughout the various sections of stands .
In Use
Finally , there ’ s gameday ; putting it all to use . In the control room mixing games is John Arruda , situated at a 32-channel Yamaha QL5 console with one of the networked system control tablets at his position ; PA announcer Tim Langton with his Electro-Voice RE20 and a QSC TouchMix-8 ; and DJ Jed Harper .
Langton ’ s TouchMix-8 , while not actually used as part of the system for the field , still makes use of the network to great effect . “ He mixes his own in-ears ,” Christiansen explains . “ So , he gets a mix-minus off the console , and then into that he also feeds his own mic direct out from the board , and his intercom listens , and then his announce console in front of him talks back to the intercom .
“ He has two separate groups that he talks to ; the producer , Stefanie Wright , and then the stats group . And the stats crew will help him with substitutions , pitchers coming into the game , who ’ s in the bullpen , and ‘ How do you pronounce this ?’ And Stefanie is obviously cueing and producing him through the show . So , he likes to have the ability to mix all of that as opposed to having a series of intercom inputs ; he mixes all of his in-ears from one TouchMix .”
30 PROFESSIONAL SOUND