Know-how

Conquering the Stage Bit by Bit

Planning

In 1997, Stadttheater Bern decided to replace its old sound system. From the outset, it was clear that only an all-digital solution would be able to meet all the theater management's requirements. Furthermore, it turned out that the running costs of a digital system were actually lower than those of an analog system.

Sound quality and operational convenience were only two of the criteria. Even more important was the ability to alternate between rehearsal and show settings in no time.

For this reason, the CANTUS/NEXUS solution suggested by SAAVS Friedrich Salzbrenner GmbH appeared to be the only viable option, so it was unanimously decided to go with Stage Tec products. That's a first in the Swiss theater world.

Stadttheater Bern opted for a CANTUS with three fixed and two mobile NEXUS base devices for a total of 100 microphone inputs with 28-bit A/D converters, 48 line inputs, 88 line outputs, and 24 AES/EBU inputs as well as an eight-channel TDIF unit. This allows for connecting all sources and routers directly to the NEXUS busses. Analog patch bays proved totally unnecessary – a big plus for those concerned about quality and reliability.

Old & New

The main problem with historic buildings lies in reconciling a period setting with the latest technical achievements. This was even more awkward at Stadttheater Bern because redundant lines had been specified for reasons of reliability. Providing this sort of redundancy using thick multicore cables is almost impossible without affecting the interior. With the CANTUS/NEXUS optical cable network, however, it proved to be a breeze.

Redundancy insures against the sound engineer's worst nightmare: total breakdown due to the failure of just one line is now impossible.

Stability and reliability were principal concerns during the planning stage of the installation. The new system even checks the speaker system and microphone ports, and immediately reports problems in case of failure, whilst any issues inside the CANTUS system can be solved thanks to diagnostic software that immediately flags hardware problems. This allows the operator to replace a defective board – even while the system is running! If the problem is not just a matter of replacing boards, a Stage Tec engineer in Berlin can be 'virtually' called onto the scene: an ISDN connection actually allows him to remotely analyze all the functions of the CANTUS console and the NEXUS units from Germany and to correct them where necessary.

About the Project

Built in 1899, Stadttheater Bern's multidisciplinary approach serves a large cultural audience. Apart from opera, operetta, theater performances, and children matinees, musicals are becoming increasingly popular. The sound department's requirements and tasks are correspondingly diverse, especially since only four people have to cover this vast program. In 1984, during a complete refurbishment, a new sound system was installed. Fourteen years later, it began to come apart at the seams, resulting in increasingly frequent system failures. The city of Bern therefore decided to make a financial grant for the renewal of the sound system and commissioned a detailed project from the company Scopein Research.

Backstage

The theater management voiced yet another requirement that only CANTUS was able to meet. The Bern venue also boasts a choir hall that is often used for adding live audio to the main production. CANTUS and NEXUS proved to be a system whose latency was low enough to allow for live additions via the network whilst simultaneously monitoring in the choir hall what is going on the main hall.

The Stage Tec system in Bern even provides for independent productions in the connected recording studio during theater performances. The Bern sound engineers were delighted when they learned about the flexibility of the system.

Digital Reality

Plug & Play

The installation operation proper probably set a new record. Only two breaks – a total of about six weeks – were required for SAAVS Friedrich Salzbrenner GmbH to renew the theater's entire wiring despite of massive grounding problems of the old cable network and customized speaker control: Thanks to a graphic representation of all speakers in the hall, the special speaker-routing matrix designed and built by Salzbrenner allows for intuitive control of all 32 surround speakers.

After several months of successful operation, no sound engineer at Stadttheater Bern can even begin to imagine how they ever got by without this system. And that, by the way, is not only thanks to operational ease and excellent sound quality but also thanks to the new creative options that CANTUS and NEXUS provide. The system has been running full throttle from day one with no problems whatsoever. So the Digital Sound System for Stadttheater Bern project can be said to be a success in all respects.