A top academic high school in Hangzhou welcomes d&b Soundscape to its performing arts venue.
Located in the heart of Zhejiang Province in eastern China is Hangzhou No. 2 High School, which hosts 2,800 students and ranks as one of the top three academic high schools in the city. Underscoring its commitment to high standards, the school recently installed a d&b audiotechnik Soundscape system to create a more authentic and immersive experience for students and visitors in its performing arts venue.
Found in the city’s QiangJiang New Town area, the school has at the epicenter of its arts scene a multi-purpose Concert Hall, home to numerous events, theatrical performances, and concerts, all composed by the students. Indeed, with so many different productions staged at the venue, school officials began looking for a versatile sound system that could adapt to the various performance requirements.
Achieving an optimal audio experience – for both the 524 seats on the main-level seating and 175 more on the balcony area - regardless of performance type, was imperative. Whether dealing with spoken word, pop music, classical, orchestral, or a theatrical stage play, the new system had to keep the audience captivated with complete acoustic immersion.
After extensive research and an in-depth demonstration for school board members, audio experts and invited guests, school leaders selected d&b audiotechnik’s Soundscape system, including both the En-Scene object-based mixing and En-Space room emulation software tools.
With object-based mixing, Soundscape enables the listener to hear and experience the sound reinforcement with unprecedented realism. Each sound source, whether voice, instrument or effect, is perceived to emanate from the expected point on the stage, or in the wider space. Powered by the DS100 Signal Engine, the powerful processor based on a Dante-enabled 64x64 signal matrix, d&b Soundscape provides unparalleled creativity through its En-Scene and En-Space software modules.
Using the d&b En-Scene software module, 64 sound objects can be individually placed and moved to accurately represent stage scenarios, so that each sound object corresponds visually and acoustically. “This ensures that the audience's ears and eyes can be 'aligned,’ allowing them to perceive the depth of the instruments and performers on the stage for the ultimate immersive audio experience,” adds Zhou.
As an in-line room emulation tool, d&b En-Space creates and modifies reverberation signatures in any space. The reverberation signatures are emulations derived from acoustic measurements of nine internationally renowned performance venues that are stored within the audio processor. On any given day, the system can be configured as a concert hall, recital hall, or chamber, emulating one of multiple environments.
“The system is easy to use and we are very honored to have installed the first d&b Soundscape in a high-end academy in China,” says Zhang. “We are looking forward to fully utilizing all of the system's features in the future to meet the requirements of various performances.”
d&b Soundscape has endless creative potential and is certainly not bound to just performance venues. More and more academic venues are starting their “beyond immersive” journey with d&b, to provide an industry-leading sound system standard and education. The goal will always be to create a more intimate experience, one that personally connects performer and audience.
