The Round

Like a Phoenix…  A community theatre reborn with a professional setup

Nestled in behind the Whitehorse Civic Centre in Nunawading, Victoria, sits ‘The Round’ – a new arts and cultural centre opened in September 2023. It features a 637-seat main theatre with fly tower and a 203-seat black box studio with a retractable door. This venue replaces an earlier performing arts centre that council found was no longer fit for purpose.

CX talked to theatre technician Cameron Canobie about the choice of d&b audiotechnik speakers, processing, and amplifiers as PA for the performance spaces.

Having worked with the Council for a long time, he came on permanently about six months before opening the new venue and was consulted closely about system design and configuration. The venue looked at all the major players but, for Cameron: “I chose the d&b system. Obviously, it’s very rider friendly, with d&b probably being the most common brand to go on any rider.” It also stacked up “in terms of price to performance as well as capability and being the appropriate size for the venue.”

The main theatre system is centred around d&b Y-Series line arrays with 40D amps. Each array consists of 4 x Y8s, 2 x Y12s and 2 x Y-SUB cardioid subs. There are also 6 x 44S boxes for fill around the motorised orchestra pit. They opted not to go with a centre cluster.

Cameron found it “unnecessary, because the coverage is incredibly even.” He’s “done some measurements in the space, and there’s actually only about a half a dB difference from the centre of the auditorium to my next position at the rear of the auditorium.” As he points out: “honestly, it’s exceptional.”

Because the orchestra pit can be reconfigured to orchestra height, auditorium height, extended stage or extra seating, they required great flexibility in how audio reinforcement was handled for that zone. The genius in their design is using the 44S boxes permanently installed in two layers “one in the front edge of the stage proper, and then when the orchestra pit comes up, there’s another layer in that front edge of the pit.” With the press of a Q-SYS button, they can “turn off the one in the front edge of the stage and turn on the one in the front edge of the pit.” This macro also recalls appropriate DSP settings so that each configuration is optimised for each stage scenario. Not having to rerig boxes between shows is “absolutely fantastic. It’s so good” for Cameron and the other tech staff.

Foldback Without Feedback

Regardless of configuration or style, most acts require foldback on stage. The Round theatre has two rows of Quest HP125 monitors permanently flown overhead for discrete reinforcement. When hirers require it, this is supplemented with 8 x d&b MAX2 monitors. Cameron is a great fan of these boxes. “They’re absolutely fantastic. They’re super transparent and they get loud without getting harsh. They are some of the best wedges I’ve used in terms of just getting gain before feedback, because they’re super flat. They are not getting resonances at weird frequencies.”

This frequency response is similar to the FoH arrays. Cameron finds the d&b rig response extremely flat. “I remember the first day that I walked out front with a wireless handheld mic and started tuning it. I walked directly underneath and directly in front of the array, and it didn’t feed back. The fact that it is so flat and so transparent means that it can just adapt to whatever the source is.” This is extremely important in a venue that caters to such a wide variety of user types. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s rock and roll, whether it’s theatre, or whether it’s doing doof doof dance music, it doesn’t have those resonances and spikes that create problematic frequencies.”

Venue clients range from community groups right through to professional touring acts. “At one end of the spectrum are the schools and musical theatre, at the other end we’ve had Daryl Braithwaite and Marcia Hines. We’ve hosted acts from the Wharf Revue, Opera Australia with La Boheme, and the MSO.” The rig has to cater to all of their needs and remain powerful but useable.

Front of House

One crucial factor in these requirements is the choice of FoH console. The Round went with dLive (S7000 with DM64 MixRack) from Allen & Heath. Cameron has been a “big fan for a long time. We had an iLive in the old theatre, and the dLive here now in both spaces.” He finds them “super quick to work on, but also super customisable.” It is easy to configure for a touring act but has plenty of power to accommodate cued theatre shows. “We program it like a lighting show now, and they have recently added functionality where you can add point queues in between queues and things like that. When you need to go through and make updates, you can just go back and record it straight in as an intermediate scene.” This flexibility is very much appreciated by venue and users alike. As Cameron says, “there’s the freedom of workflows and the power of the desk is really important to us.” It also adds a layer of redundancy if the operator is sick or unavailable for a cued show. “Having programmed a show in this fashion, as long as the next operator that comes in can read off a script, and all they have to do is hit Next. Anyone can do that.”

Major gear decisions were also made to accommodate common rider requests. It is so much easier to stage a production if the equipment is what the incoming operator is requesting (or familiar with). d&b (or equivalent) is a very common industry rider request. Consoles are a little different with Cameron finding “DiGiCo being the main rider spec. But, as soon as they find out that there’s a dLive there they go: ‘That’s fine. Don’t worry about getting us the DiGiCo.’”

Control and Routing

To keep the system powerful yet flexible, Q-SYS has been added in to control configuration and routing of audio around the building. Audio can be picked up and routed where it is needed with a couple of button pushes. “All of our relays to back of house, and all that routing is controlled from Q-SYS. So whether we use relay marks or take a split directly off the front of house sends, it can be sent to pretty well anywhere in the building.” This includes dressing rooms, performance spaces and even the foyer area.

This was setup and programmed by installer CI (Corporate Initiatives) who just happen to have their office directly across the road on Maroondah Highway. d&b distributor NAS Solutions also sent their system expert Max Hedrich in to commission the arrays and DSP, ensuring optimal performance and reliability.

The new fitout includes an extensive fly system for drapes, scenery and lighting. 43 lines (plus four panorama lines) offer great flexibility for productions. Dedicated stage management facilities are included with paging, stage monitoring, house light cueing, and comms all run from an SM desk located on the prompt side corner.

Lighting and AV

LSC Gen VI dimmers (x 30) provide power for the extensive range of PROLiGHTS lighting fixtures. 32 x EclProfile CT PLUS are complemented with a variety of lenses and gobo options. 14 x EclCyclorama 050 cyc washes are available to light up sets and 14 x R3 Wash from ShowPRO form the moving components. Robert Juliat followspots round out the package. These are all controlled through an MA Lighting Grand MA3 Light CRV console.

Video and other AV requirements are well catered for with 4K matrix switchers and a Mac Mini running QLab5 to feed a Panasonic PT- RQ25KE, 3-Chip DLP, 4K Laser projector.

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Audio

Primary Mixer

• Allen & Heath dLive S7000, dual redundant MPS16 power supply, dLive DM64 MixRack,
• GX4846 audio expander (floating)

Amplifiers

• 4 x d&b audiotechnik 40D amplifier 1 x d&b audiotechnik 5D installation amplifier
• 2 x d&b audiotechnik D20 quad channel amplifier
• 2 x Quest QA1004 EQ: A&H dLive S7000 FX: A&H dLive S7000
• Compression / Limiter: A&H dLive S7000

Speakers

• FOH speakers (left and right):
• 8 x d&b audiotechnik Y8 4 x d&b audiotechnik Y12 Front-Fill/In-Fill:
• 6 x d&b audiotechnik 44s
• Subs (left and right):
• 4 x d&b audiotechnik Y-SUB
• Foldback speakers:
• 4 x Quest HP 125 overhead monitors on line 4
• 4 x Quest HP 125 overhead monitors on line 26
• 8 x d&b audiotechnik MAX2

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Lighting

• Total Dimmers (30): LSC Gen VI 12 channel x 10amp
• House Lights
• Independent control by Dali
• Profiles
• 32 x Prolights EclProfile CT PLUS
• 6 x Prolights Zoom EclProfile Lens 15°-30° 9 x Prolights Zoom EclProfile Lens 25°-50° 7 x Prolights EclProfile Lens 19°
• 10 x Prolights EclProfile Lens 26° 6 x Selecon SL 15°/32°
• Gobo holders B size
• Cyc Wash
• 14 x Prolights EclCyclorama 050
• Movers
• 14 x ShowPRO R3 Wash
• Follow Spots
• 2 x Robert Juliat OZ LED GT 4000R stand
• Production Desk
• MA Lighting Grand MA3 Light CRV

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Studio Space

The smaller Studio space also features audio gear from d&b, a dLive S5000 console and PROLiGHTS luminaires. Lighting control is via an MA Lighting Grand MA3 Compact. This theatre includes a dedicated control room and multiple catwalks for rigging or access.

Both spaces also offer an extensive range of mic solutions using industry standards and favourites from Shure, Sennheiser, Rode, AKG and others.

In the Round

All of the design decisions and gear selections were made with both performance and rider- friendliness in mind. This is one of the reasons that the venue is already fully booked well into next year. Cameron summarises well: “A lot of that is due to the fact that we are now fit for purpose, to be able to provide for everyone from entry level community groups all the way through to Pro level touring acts. We’re able to meet that spec and provide opportunities for all of those events.”

Studio Equipment

Audio

• Primary Mixer
• Allen & Heath dLive S5000, dual redundant MPS16 power supply, dLive DM64 MixRack,
• GX4846 audio expander (floating – shared with Proscenium Theatre)
• Amplifiers
• 1 x d&b audiotechnik 30D amplifier
• EQ: A&H dLive S5000
• FX: A&H dLive S5000
• Compression / Limiter: A&H dLive S5000
• Speakers
• FOH Speakers (left and right)
• 2 x d&b audiotechnik E12
• 2 x d&b audiotechnik E12-D
• Subs – 2 x d&b audiotechnik E15X-SUB

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Lighting

• Total Dimmers (10): LSC Gen VI 12 channel x 10amp
• Profiles
• 12 x Prolights EclProfile CT PLUS
• 8 x Prolights Zoom EclProfile Lens 15°-30° 8 x Prolights Zoom EclProfile Lens 25°-50°
• Movers
• 14 x ShowPRO R3 Wash
• Production Desk
• MA Lighting Grand MA3 Compact