Overview

 

Situated in the heart of Sweden's capital, Stockholms Stadsteater (Stockholm City Theater) is a major center for the country's performing arts. The statistics of Stadsteatern make impressive reading. The complex has eight separate performance spaces — seven in-house and another a short distance away. It puts on around 40 performances per week to a yearly audience of half a million. It also stages an average of 35 new productions per year and employs over a dozen full-time sound engineers, plus several multi-skilled engineers who work with the sound department.

Stadsteater productions range from dramas to musicals, Shakespeare, dance productions, puppet theater, short plays and shows designed specifically for audiences eating at the theater's cafe in their lunch break (dubbed "soup theater") and even "Babydrama" for infants between 6 and 12 months old.

With such a wide diversity and large turnover, Stadsteater needs a sound reinforcement system that is extremely versatile. It's no wonder that Yamaha audio equipment was chosen as the ideal solution.

Web site:

http://www.stadsteatern.stockholm.se 

Installed Products

Mixers:

DM2000, DM1000, 02R96

Processors:

DME64N, DME24N

Power Amplifiers:

PC9501N, PC4801N

Details

Increasing Integration of Yamaha Digital Audio

Since 2001, the facility has seen the seven "in house" venues progressively outfitted with fourteen Yamaha DME32 digital mixing engines, thirty-six PC4800N amplifiers, thirty PC4801N amplifiers, sixteen PC9500N amplifiers, eleven PC9501N amplifiers, and seven Yamaha mixing consoles (two DM2000 consoles, four DM1000 consoles, and one 02R96 console). In 2005 the "satellite" hall at Skärholmen, 10 minutes from the city center, was opened and the opportunity was taken to equip the hall with Yamaha equipment and also upgrade parts of the existing installation. Thus three DME24N and two DME64N digital mixing engines have been added to the systems.

Ola Hellmark, manager of the Stadsteater sound & video department, explains why Yamaha equipment has become so integral to the complex:

"Yamaha offered a combination of high level service, long guarantees and excellent sound quality," he says. "We also considered electrical & mechanical stability, CMRR, sound levels from equipment fans, and the possibilities of remote monitoring/controlling when we tested amplifier candidates. Yamaha's pricing was also very competitive."

DME Performance and Versatility are Essential

The Digital Mixing Engines are absolutely essential to the Stadsteater systems. Ola explains more about their use:

"The large number of outputs is an enormous benefit," he says. "First, we need the same output options as a regular PA for live applications — multiple FOH outputs, monitor outputs for musicians/actors/singers, etc. On top of that requirement, we use various speakers on stage for directivity dependent sound effects and sounds that literally have to come from a distance. Finally, the surround system in the largest halls isn't about 5.1 or 6.1. There are many speakers, either fed individually or paired. If you want to give the audience the convincing audible illusion of a plane flying across the hall, it requires a high quality mixing engine, lots of speakers, time for programming and a qualified sound engineer. The DME processor is versatile, reliable and surprisingly easy to program."

He continues: "The DME processors have what we call ‘Kinder egg characteristics’ — they are a patch, a powerful DSP tool, and a speaker processor all at the same time. They are installed in all our halls, which makes it easier for the sound engineers to work in the different locations. It also gives the opportunity to have spare devices ‘on the shelf’ that suit all halls." Here he pauses, adding with a grin: "That's a typical expression from the country which produced IKEA!"

One of the unique characteristics of Stadsteater is that, based on a show's success and popularity, it might be moved from one hall to another. The Yamaha DMEs allow data to be easily transferred from one hall to another and even productions with a complex surround audio setup can be moved with surprisingly little effort.

The Merits of an All-Yamaha Approach

As well as the benefits of the DMEs, Ola recognizes the value of having an integrated system of products from the same manufacturer.

"A great advantage with a Yamaha family comprising mixing consoles and DME processors is the common mini-YGDAI slots on the rear panels," he says. "This means that a system can easily be scaled up or down and it makes it so much easier to move equipment between locations without, for example, worrying about whether you need AES/EBU or ADAT connectors. We also use the Aviom Pro16 Monitor Mixing System, and it's really simple to connect it, thanks to the slot system. We use the DM2000, DM1000 and 02R96 and they all perform superbly."

A Great Relationship — for Now and the Future

There are a number of features that Ola would like to see in future releases of the DME technology (a bigger screen, for example) but he is at pains to stress his appreciation of the technology. This is aided by an excellent relationship with Yamaha Scandinavia.

"Yamaha Scandinavia has taken great pains to affiliate with the best service engineers in Stockholm, first class suppliers and they always try to help out when we have urgent requirements," he says, adding with a grin: "Yes, we have done the not highly recommended ‘pour-a-cup-of-coffee-into-the-console’ experiment. They have also paid attention to how we use our equipment and what features we need. Sales Director Tomas Nylén often comes by to see that everything is fine. All this is very appreciated — and essential — for us. Overall support is far better than I'm accustomed to and the DME architecture is very powerful and reliable," Ola concludes. "In a venue with multiple halls with varying needs, it's hard to imagine a better solution."

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