I wonder if anyone would please be able to share their thoughts on something. Next month I have a fairly large performance at the Hall of Memories in Wellington, New Zealand which is a gigantic space made of sandstone and granite.
I’ve got about a full day before the event to get in the space and EQ and master the performance but I’d like to be as prepared as possible before getting there to try and alleviate any problems or at least be able to foresee issues.
The performance will be a 60-minute composition of mine with live instrumentation over the top to, for lack of a better word, ‘jam’ along with. It’s the pre-recorded part that I’d like to get prepared for the space.
Obviously reverb times are going to be ridiculous and there might be some sympathetic frequency ranges that I have to wrestle with but does anyone have some sage advice that might help? Has anyone performed in a similar place before?
I’ll include a picture of the space, thank you for reading!
Good luck, bet that will be amazing! Not much info I’m afraid, I don’t think you really “Master” a space, as much as just setup up a final EQ on your output that somewhat helps to tame any annoying resonances. But space will sound totally different when empty and with people in it, so I say just go for it and don’t worry too much about circumstances or sounds that are completely out of your control.
That’s a tough one. I would go in blind and adjust until happy. Start clean without EQ and work up to the point everything sounds the way you want it. And take a picture of the settings incase someone messes with your board.
No tips from me (sorry) but I’m interested in what the sound system is — ideally you’d want lots of lower-powered speakers around the room rather than a few high powered speakers at one end… I think that putting a lot of energy into a space from one place would be to invite problems (and you’d end up fighting the room). Depends on the audience too of course; as has already been mentioned the room will sound completely different with people in!
Thank you for the replies yes it’ll be a tough one, I’m trying hard to not make the composition too sonically thick and will EQ it once I get into the space. It’ll be a great show for sure! I’ll be using 4 speakers dotted around the space so that will definitely help to separate the sound a bit!
Thank you once again all, I am nervous but optimistic!
Hi Sean! The event is a live performance of 3D photogrammetry projection with accompanying sound by myself. The two artists I work regularly with have been busy scanning Wellington and the surrounding areas to create an interactive model of the city that we will present at the Hall of Memories.
