Amadeus and HOLOPHONIX were chosen to design and install a new sound system for the Amphitheater d’O, part of the Domaine d’O – a multidisciplinary arts and entertainment complex in Montpellier, South of France.
Because the open-air theatre accommodates up to 1,800 people in a semi-circle of nearly 180 degrees, this presented an electroacoustic challenge for audience coverage and directivity control.
All of the venue’s past sound systems were line source-based, arranged in stereo or L/C/R configurations, and rented during the festival season. As a result, only a few people sitting in the ‘sweet spot’ could hear in stereo during live performances. More than 90% of the audience – especially in this Greek-style theatre – hears mono and comb filtering.
Realising that there was definitely no way to accurately locate sound sources unless the listeners were sitting in the centre of the venue, the sound team began to take an interest in sound spatialisation systems.
Texen, a long-time supplier of technical resources at the Domaine d’O, asked Amadeus and HOLOPHONIX to find a way to solve this audio problem and provide the best possible experience for the audience.
The Domaine d’O spatial sound reinforcement system designed and installed by Amadeus and HOLOPHONIX is composed of a nearly 20 m custom-designed sound-ramp of speaker modules – each measuring 1460 mm – integrated into the front of the stage, with a line of eighteen-point source C 15 speakers placed above it.
These speakers are complemented with subwoofers made of four cardioid stacks of DIVA M? SUB NEO bass complements and two stacks of MAESTRO I infra-subwoofers.
The HOLOPHONIX Ultra processor controls all the Amadeus speakers.
Nicolas Minssen, Technical Director at the Domaine d’O, explains his wishes for the new system, “We wanted the sound to come from the stage as much as possible. We wanted the sound system to ‘disappear’ in terms of perception and location.”
“The main advantages of the new Amadeus solution installed at the Domaine d’O are the precision of the sound, the perfect coherence of the sound image for all the spectators, and the aesthetic discretion of the system,” adds Nicolas Minssen, noting how the new sound system is visually integrated with the theatre.
Loic Lambert, Mixing Engineer at the Domaine d’O, offers, “Wherever you are in the amphitheatre, the sound is coming from the stage. It’s a very pleasant sensation, you completely forget about the amplification.”
Commenting on how the new Amadeus sound system works for the performing arts companies visiting the Domaine d’O theatre, Lambert continued, “The shows we host have not been created using immersive technology, and festival set-up and rehearsal schedules don’t allow any extra time for sound pre-production. It has to work straight away. We ensure ‘backward compatibility’. We are always able to broadcast classic console outputs such as the L/R and/or the central cluster simulated in a WFS bus, for example.”
“We also work with each show’s operator to prepare the sources pre-routed and pre-positioned in HOLOPHONIX, as well as the console configuration, so that the switch from stereo to object mixing can be made with two clicks as soon as the operator is ready without wasting any time. We can easily go from a stereo configuration to an immersive or hybrid configuration. Some people have gone fully immersive from the start, so the console workflow remains the same.”
Antoine Lenfantin, Technical Manager at Texen, said that the Amadeus speakers, combined with the HOLOPHONIX solution, “gave the feeling of hearing the sound coming from the stage – which can’t be obtained using traditional L/R or L/C/R overhung systems.”
Lenfantin continued: “Compared to previous solutions, the physical implementation of the Amadeus system required some adjustments and technical research. These challenges were effectively resolved thanks to close collaboration between the Domaine d’O, Amadeus, and Texen teams. Despite a tight schedule, the training of the Domaine d’O and Texen teams went smoothly, enabling them to quickly adopt the HOLOPHONIX technology.”
Adrien Zanni, PhD Lead Developer at HOLOPHONIX, also offered his overview of the installation: “The flexibility of HOLOPHONIX helped us to set up the ‘arc’ management of the DIVA M? NEO subwoofer line dynamically and quickly. There are two ways to manage ‘arc’ subwoofer setups. The subwoofers can be physically positioned at regular intervals in an arc with a fixed radius. In many venues, including at the Domaine d’O, it is difficult or impossible to physically place the subs on a radius.”
The Director and Co-Owner at Texen, Nicolas Bellino, summed up the Domain d’O project, “We have finally succeeded in offering the entire audience an accurate and high-flying listening experience. This has been achieved after fifteen years of work in this magnificent venue. I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone involved in this ambitious project.”
