The Apollo Theater, Harlem, New York City
Acoustics and Sound System
"Since opening its doors in 1914 and introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo has played a major role in the emergence of jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, and soul — all quintessentially American music genres. Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis Jr., James Brown, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and countless others began their road to stardom on the Apollo stage. Today, the Apollo is a respected not-for-profit, presenting concerts, theatrical and dance performances, film screenings, education and community outreach programs.
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""It can be a difficult venue," explained Metallica's long time sound engineer 'Big' Mick Hughes. "With a raked stalls as well, from the mix position, when the crowd stand up, you're lucky if you can see the band's head and shoulders on stage." Fortunately for Hughes, an engineer with the looks of a grizzly bear yet possessed of truly Machiavellian skills capable of whipping a performance out of a rusty tin can, the Apollo had just been treated to a new sound system. "But you know what? It was absolutely fine, and the house audio team couldn’t have been nicer."
What was Hughes using? Therein lies a tale. Tom Clark of Acme Professional Inc was first contacted by the theater in early 2013. Joe Levy explains, "The existing house sound system was dated technology and occupied a lot of real estate. Many artists would opt to hang their own system and that's a situation I wanted to fix. I wanted a PA that could deliver the best in twenty first century sound."
Clark identified a d&b audiotechnik V-Series coupled with Midas desks as an ideal solution, "In terms of size, power and quality of delivery the V-Series hit all of the Apollo's criteria. The Theater is an old vaudeville era house with two balconies, the mid level presents a very narrow slot to the stage as 'Big' Mick described, and although the sightlines are good, getting sound from the stage to the seats is limited by the slot. For that reason we have the arrays rigged low, the bottom cabinet is just seven feet above the stage deck.
That points loudspeakers directly to the back. Because the V-Series is such a narrow box the visual impact is perfectly acceptable; also we at Acme are conducting something of a crusade to have reinforced sound emerge from the same physical location as where it originates on the stage. Reducing the delta in time between the array and the performers makes for a more natural listening experience. The Apollo confines gave us the perfect excuse to do that." - d&b audiotechnik - https://lnkd.in/eqZW9Q-F
