Historic Malmö Opera Theatre Relies on d&b Soundscape for Accurate Performance Quality, Coverage and Control

	Malmö Opera in Sweden

Inaugurated in 1944 in the midst of a world war, Malmö Opera is a beautiful, classic performance center with one of Europe's largest stages and seating for 1,510. Malmö is traditionally an opera house, but their programming has become more diverse over the years, accommodating a range of musical productions, operas, dance, and classical performances. When new management took over Malmö, they once again turned to d&b audiotechnik to elevate the venue to new heights.

In keeping with the theatre's goal of being a truly unique performance center, a new Malmö Opera management team brought with it a new vision for the Opera House, one in which it would offer technical excellence in the form of an immersive sound experience for audiences.

Malmö Opera brought in project manager Paul Suchanek and a team from ARVA to design and install the system. Arva Trading is a renowned supplier of professional pro audio equipment and systems, with offices in Stockholm and Malmo. The company provides advanced audio system design, installation, and service to the studio, broadcast, and live performance markets in Sweden.

"The theatre had a clear objective; they wanted to make sure every single seat in the house received excellent sound. They were very persistent in this matter," says Suchanek. "Seats with 80% of the sound was not acceptable; they required better than 95% coverage for every seat, including those way in the back and on all sides -- this was our challenge."

In addition to the demanding audience coverage requirements, Suchanek explains that there were significant challenges in adequately covering the orchestra pit and the stage itself. The orchestra pit and stage are designed in a semicircle configuration, with the pit being several meters below the stage. It is also absolutely essential that the performers and orchestra hear each other as accurately as possible.

"Our challenge was that there are loudspeakers above the stage, and with different performances, the position of the performers and even the orchestra can change," says Suchanek. "And instead of the speakers being in a straight line, they fan out in a semicircle, making the control of the sound even more difficult. The front fills are critical, and we needed a system that would allow us to optimize sound coverage and also change configurations without physically moving the loudspeakers."

For Arva, as well as the team at Malmö Opera, the excellent quality and directional control offered by d&b Soundscape combined with A-Series loudspeakers provided a solution to many of these challenges, the company says. Earlier in the year, the team from the Malmö Opera had the opportunity to experience a d&b Soundscape system at a Bjork Cornucopia tour performance and from then on knew it would fit with their renewed vision for the venue.

With Soundscape an immersive audio experience can be created, where the listener perceives sounds as coming from any number of points all around a room, elevating the realism and the experience. For live music and stage performances, the possibilities move far beyond stereo and L/C/R loudspeakers, delivering amazing dimensional audio imaging, sound clarity, and control.

For the Malmö Opera audience, the team achieved optimum coverage by splitting the front fills into five separate sections; with no traditional center channel in the system.

"Before the mixture of Soundscape and A-Series, there were always concerns about the sound and specific instruments could get lost in the mix. Now with these systems, everybody says it's fantastic, they can hear everything -- every word that is sung or spoken, all the instruments, it's a wonderful experience," says Suchanek. "They even see what are traditionally all-acoustic performances that now want to use the sound system; it sounds that good."

Suchanek explains that this was not a project about replacing loudspeakers. It was about delivering on the new management team's technical vision for the venue. "It is truly incredible the difference this new system has made to the Opera House," comments Bengt Frienholt, head of sound at Malmö Opera. "The system lifts every musical element in a production and so far, has amazed audiences. For the first time we are hearing how musical arrangements are meant to sound."

With Soundscape and the En-Scene and En-Space applications, the team can control and manage every loudspeaker independently for optimum performance. The system is amplified and processed with a set of d&b D80, 30D and 10D amps, four DS10, two DS100 processors, AL60, 24C/E, 24C, 8S, E5, 4S, Y-SUB, SL-SUB and Q10 delays. The old Q system, that was the main PA before to upgrade, is now used as a 22 single channel fold back above the stage.

"The ability to accurately reproduce the instruments and voices exactly in the position where they sit or act, that's the main thing of Soundscape at Malmö Opera," says Suchanek. "I was a little concerned about how quickly the house engineers would adapt to the new system, but they jumped right in and have had no problems. They have actually seen a reduction in how much time it takes to tweak and reset for performances, their work is easier, faster, and more efficient, and they deliver a great sound."

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the theatre closed in April of 2020. After the upgrade and installation, the team actually commissioned the system over Zoom. The theatre held a grand opening and premiere in early September for a 50-person, in-house audience and a live online audience, with great success. They have continued streaming content throughout the pandemic.

"As far as we know, this is the largest Soundscape theater installation to date," says Suchanek. "This is the strength of d&b, we can use almost any components, and I know that the sound quality will be outstanding, and their support and service are excellent."