I’m currently in the middle of the tech process for Texas Ballet Theater’s Cinderella ballet at the Eisemann Center in Richardson Texas.
The sound system consists of:
(16) Meyer Sound Melodie (8 per side)
Meyer Sound – Melodie
(4) Meyer Sound 700HP subs (2 per side)
Meyer Sound – 700HP
(6) Meyer Sound M2D (3 per side aimed at balcony)
Meyer Sound – M2D
(5) Meyer Sound M1D (front fills)
Meyer Sound – M1D
DSP duties is being covered by a Meyer Sound Gallileo (6×16).
Meyer Sound – Gallileo

For those of you who are rusty on your line array theory, here is a helpful article:
Meyer Sound – Line Array Theory

There are remnants of the original system still in place and for this ballet I will be using the original Renkus Heinz front fills built into the pit face instead of the Meyer M1D that are placed on the front edge of the stage because they would block the feet.

The house tech has provided me with direct feeds to the L/R, subs & front fills via the house Soundcraft Vi6. I don’t have access to individual zones of the main line arrays or the balcony line arrays as they are fed by the L/R outputs. Relevant questions. Who designed the system? Who installed it? Who aimed it and tuned it? Did they know what they were doing? Has that design been maintained or lost over the years? Even though my ability to affect the sound system is limited to what can be accomplished via the Vi6 console, I can still measure the system AS IS and use that data to guide my decisions about what to do with the console processing. Fortunately the house tech has been a willing participant and has muted and unmuted the various sub systems of the sound system. This has allowed me to measure all three zones of the HL main array individually and together.

On the first day it was noted that the main line arrays aren’t aimed the same. The HL main array has lost it’s aim due to a slacked steering point. Should it be re aimed to match the other one? Were they aimed optimally in the first place? How would one know? The logical answer is to use Meyer’s MAPP prediction software to figure it out. To do so, I would need some dimensions of the venue which I will take tomorrow. Without MAPP, how would one aim and verify optimal steering?

What better person than Bob McCarthy to answer the question so I wrote Bob and asked the question. Here is his response.

“2 mics – set them at middepth – one is at last seat on the side – other is center
seat at same depth. compare – angle mains to make them match

6o6”

Seems simple enough.

Using Smaart 7, I’ve got (7) mics placed all over the venue. Even if I can’t make any adjustments, I can certainly capture a lot of data that will be interesting to share here. Stay tuned…