Among the most famous kabuki theatres in Japan, the Hakataza Theatre has been renovated in order to meet the acoustical demands of musicals and theatrical shows.
Situated in Hakata city in the Fukuoka Prefecture, the theatre explored a number of premium systems over a nearly five-year period before Martin Audio’s MLA family won its approval. Subsequently, 11 MLA Compact elements have been hung left and right of the proscenium along with DSX sub, and eight MLA Mini have been installed as an LCR centre cluster. To cover the remaining areas including under-balcony, a further 73 Martin Audio DD6 boxes have also been installed.
‘Our top priority is delivering perfect sound to the entire audience,’ says Music Reserve Inc sound engineer Mr Noguchi. ‘In the Hakataza theatre, we have to cater for many kinds of programme and, in the past, we have experienced shortcomings in the sound with some productions and presentations. The MLA family has overcome that and given me an innovative way to deliver consistent sound throughout the auditorium.’
The MLA Compact has been aligned to deliver sound evenly into the three tiers of the theatre, using special optimisation. With the elements in groups (to cover top to bottom tiers), presets have been set up to adapt the system to different types of production. ‘The distributed DD6s then help not only to cover the audience area but also maintain the character of sound. The Differential Dispersion horn on the DD6 delivers high clarity from the front to back seats, and therefore this is no compromise whatsoever in this new system.’
A second engineer, Mr Tsubone., also lends his endorsement to the MLA system: ‘It is essential that every audience, no mater what the performance, receives consistency and clarity from the stage performers. This was our key priority when choosing the system. MLA achieves this perfectly – even when the voice is whispering through micro-microphones, it not only delivers consistent frequency response but also has a capability to control the non-audience area. This is helpful for the engineer operating microphones to ensure the important dialogue is delivered audibly to the audience during the show. MLA is unique in this respect – in my opinion no other brand can do this.
‘The choice of this system was extremely important for us – it means we now have the ability to control the sound pressure level for whole audience area, suited to every type of programme. No matter where each member of the audience is seated, consistent sound will be delivered. I have never experienced anything like this degree of functionality ever before – It is overwhelming.’
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