Inaugurated in December last year, the new Beijing Performing Arts Centre (BPAC) in China that will host 300 performances annually and an equal number of art-related activities, includes three performance spaces with permanently installed L-ISA configurations using L-Acoustics A Series loudspeakers: the 1,760-seat Opera House, the 500-seat Multi-Function Theatre and the extensive Outdoor Theatre, while the indoor Concert Hall has a stereo system.
To inaugurate the space, BPAC opened its winter season with a new immersive audio production of The Canal Ballad, the centuries-old story of the local Grand Canal. “This new way of sound reinforcement completely immerses and surrounds the audience. The sound was so natural that it felt like it was not coming from any visible speakers. In my opinion, L-ISA is leading the way for the future of immersive audio experiences,” says Hang Hongzhi, vice chairman of the China Institute of Stage Design.
The NCPA had previously delivered immersive audio experiences for two national operas, Minning Town and Daughter of the Party. For The Canal Ballad production, in the acoustically treated interior architecture of the theatre, the natural sound of the orchestra in the pit was combined with spatial audio mixing of reinforced speech and vocals.
The opera uses a range of styles from classical Chinese to modern American. When it was first performed 12 years ago, the production positioned artists precisely on stage to achieve natural-sounding clarity without sound reinforcement. Over a decade later, the NCPA production team welcomed the opportunity to present the opera in L-ISA immersive.
“An immersive audio experience must be presented in three key aspects, artistic expression, creative positioning in the mix, and 3D spatial audio immersion. The audience would then feel all vocal deliveries in the opera clearly with well-defined localization. We felt that The Canal Ballad opera would be enhanced through the power of L-ISA,” says Wang Lei, NCPA sound engineer.
L-Acoustics Certified Provider Distributor Rightway Audio Consultants (RAC) designed and permanently installed the L-ISA configuration which envelops the Opera House using almost 150 L-Acoustics loudspeakers, all of which are hidden in the décor. The main 7.1 Scene System has seven hangs of A Series, the five central hangs using three A15 Focus and two A15 Wide, while the outer extension hangs use three A15 Focus atop one A15 Wide. Two center-flown hangs of three KS28 subwoofers provide low-end definition.
Thirteen compact 5XT boxes are in the stage lip for spatial front fill, and 10 further 5XT provide monitoring to the orchestra pit. Fifty X8 loudspeakers are placed around the sides of the walls on two levels to provide surround sound to the main floor and two balcony levels, while six ceiling-mounted X15 provide overhead sound. Performers relied on X12 and X15 HiQ monitors and a hidden Syva in each wing for on-stage monitoring. The system is driven by 12 LA12X, 25 LA4X and four LA2Xi amplified controllers.
The team at RAC leaned on the L-Acoustics P1 processor and M1 software measurement tools to optimize the immersive audio speaker installation. For The Canal Ballad, each of the dozens of performers were equipped with a BlackTrax tracking sensor which allowed the L-ISA Controller to automatically localize them in the 3D mix.
Hang Hongzhi, Vice Chairman of the China Institute of Stage Design, concludes, “Everything was perfect in the show. The actors, performers and stage design, backed by the sound of L-ISA immersive technology created a refreshing rendition of The Canal Ballad.”
