Meyer Sound Constellation provides acoustics at San Diego's Rady Shell

In the grounds of Rady Shell a system has been installed Meyer Sound Constellation, composed of 25 UPM-1XP speakers and 22 UPJunior-XP, con 12 subgraves UMS-1XP.

The Rady Shell, a Jacobs Park, is a stunning new addition to the city of San Diego (California). In its design, it has opted for the most innovative sound technology based on Meyer Sound Constellation..

The size of your structure, located next to the bay, 17 meters high and 28 wide, allows us to host large productions and for the musicians of the San Diego Symphony listen and respond as they would in a concert hall.

To create an optimal acoustic environment, that can be adjusted to different types of events, a system has been installed Meyer Sound Constellation, brand that distributes RMS Proaudio, the first to be designed for an outdoor setting.

“The sound on stage is incredible,” declares the music director of the San Diego Symphony, Rafael Payare-. We hear each other wonderfully and you feel like you are in one of the best concert halls in the world”.

Equipping the structure with an active acoustics system for monitoring was recommended by Shawn Murphy, soundtrack mixer, Oscar winner and FOH engineer at outdoor orchestral events, who has acted as special advisor to the symphony.

Meyer Sound's Constellation team designed the system and the complementary physical acoustics were entrusted to Salter, acoustic and audiovisual consultant for the project.

Since many of the performances at the venue, especially pop or rock ones with amplified equipment, They are not going to use the Constellation system, Salter's team received a double assignment: design a base acoustic that would support Constellation and provide a good environment when it was turned off.

“As for the acoustics inside the shell, It's quite similar to that of a big Hollywood set - explains Jason Duty, Salter's vice-president. It has a mixture of diffuser and absorbent elements, but little reflection through the stage because that's what Constellation takes care of. We didn't want it to be totally dry., since they wanted the stage to have a little life when the system was off”.

For Duty, the size of the shell structure, Its location and the variety of musical styles it was going to accommodate made active acoustics the best solution.. “Constellation is very useful in situations like this. The venue is right on the port and having control so that the musicians can clearly hear their colleagues on the other side of the stage is beneficial”.

In this installation, The Constellation system consists of 25 speakers UPM-1XP y 22 UPJunior-XP, con 12 subgraves UMS-1XP to extend the reverb envelope to the lower registers.

DSP to control the system is supplied by a digital audio platform D-Mitri eight modules, with two modules dedicated to housing the patented VRAS acoustic algorithm. Ambience detection for regenerative reverb is provided by 20 microphones Schoeps MK41 with preamplifiers CMC6.

The project's systems integrator has been Solotech, AV company that has been in charge of the lighting infrastructure (that as already published Digital AV is based on Elation solutions), data distribution, audio and video.

The new venue plans to host more than one hundred concerts and events a year, both from the symphony and from other organizations and promoters. Although Constellation was primarily installed for the San Diego Symphony, will be available, with the approval of the symphony, for use by other classical or acoustic music ensembles.