Scott wrote:
Well, I have yet to hear a "sound reinforcement augmented" symphony
concert but I have seen classical chamber music concerts so augmented.
It's just not necessary. I've been to the Hollywood Bowl and heard
chamber music played on stage. The acoustics of the place made them
easily heard in the proverbial back row.
We must be talking about two entirely different Hollywood Bowls. The
one I know always uses sound reinforcement and is my sole exposure to
symphony orchestras that regularly play under such conditions. I think
chamber music at the bowl would hardly be heard in the front row
without sound reinforcement much less the "proverbial" back row. I
would guess the "proverbial" back row is no where near as far from the
stage as the "actual" back row at the bowl.
The Hollywood Bowl seats something like 18,000 people! I don't know
about the "proverbial" back row but the "actual" back row at the bowl
is probably close to 1,000 feet away from the stage. If not it sure
seems like it. The place is huge! this web page should give anyone an
idea of just how big the bowl really is.
http://www.answers.com/topic/hollywood-bowl
Looking at high-resolution satellite imagery of the Hollywood
bowl, the distance from the edge of the stage to the current
last row is about 320 feet. Even to the last row of what appears
to be the legacy seats is on the order of 150 feet.
Notice that the orchestra pit is NOT under the shell, thus
does not benefit from the directional reinforcement of the shell.
While it's not 1,000 feet, 320 feet is WAY far away. Best case
you're going to get from the cheel is on the order of 6 dB or
so of gain. The "natural ampitheater" better suits visual sighting
than the acoustics. Remember that the ancient Greek ampitheaters
with there legended acoustics were TINY compared to the Hollywood
Bowl. Recall that Wayne Newton is not quite THAT old to require a
large venue 2300 years ago. Also recall that "legended" is not the
same as "actual."
What's interesting is that from 150 miles in altitude, the number
of sound towers and speakers is, well, humbling.
--
+--------------------------------+
+ Dick Pierce |
+ Professional Audio Development |
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