Szigliget Theatre, located in Hungary’s central city of Szolnok, has recently opted for TiMax SoundHub spatialisation with TiMax TrackerD4 precision stagetracking to dynamically enhance the audio experience for the audience at every seat in the house.
Hungarian TiMax specialists Votec recommended the solution to achieve vocal clarity across the entire auditorium where previously up to a third of the audience had struggled to hear clearly.
As well as providing full saturation audio immersion through a small number of unobtrusive loudspeaker positions, the versatile TiMax SoundHub spatialisation platform also provides playback and adds 3D sound effects capabilities.
TiMax TrackerD4 actor tracking enables the individual voices on stage to be not only heard clearly but perceived from exact positioning on the stage, which confers a deeper level of context to the audience. The theatre opted for a package of twelve TTd4 Tags, so that groups of singers and soloists can be ‘tracked’ and spatialised by TiMax SoundHub to match the performance, along with static spatial imaging for the orchestra.
Distributed above the stage and around the auditorium, a network of five TiMax TrackerD4 Sensors with inherent overlap redundancy provides reliable and responsive 3D tracking of the miniature TTd4 Tags easily secreted in the actors’ costumes.
As part of a wider audio upgrade carried out by Votec, an Allen & Heath desk also triggers cues in TiMax which in turn outputs to a total of twelve Powersoft amplifiers controlling loudspeakers from Votec’s proprietary ESAudio range. The traditional proscenium stage has speakers positioned LCR across the arch and front fills positioned on the ground floor as well as delay positions on the theatre’s box seating areas and the dress circle balcony, all independently driven from TiMax for optimal spatial control.
The decision to include TiMax SoundHub spatialisation and TiMax TrackerD4 stagetracking was a simple one for the theatre’s board members. In a prior year, at the Szegedi Szabadtéri Játékok Open Air Festival of Szeged, where the event’s audio is managed by Votec, the theatre board had witnessed the complete sonic transformation of a lavish production of Aida, achieved via the auspices TiMax SoundHub spatial reinforcement controlled by TiMax TrackerD4. Votec created for the first time, a new level of vocal and orchestral immersion for the audience of 8000 over two nights.
Votec’s international business manager, Otari Tsereteli, added: “TiMax renews the sound quality of any venue. In the Szigliget Theatre, it now feels as if there is no sound system which is the highest compliment.”
Out Board director, Dave Haydon, said: “As both rental operators and designers of their own ribbon-loaded loudspeaker products, Votec and ESAudio Ltd are incredibly focussed on coherence and clarity in sound reinforcement, and we are very fortunate to partner with them for the addition of TiMax spatialisation in the Hungarian marketplace.”
