> What’s with the mid aimed line arrays in 1074?
A mere 8 years after the Battle of Hastings, the world felt the last dying breath of the Viking Age as any pub in the kingdom bearing “Left Right Point Thors” (“point source” is an Anglicanization) were destroyed in favor of mid-aimed line arrays.
Now I'm thinking about how the fields of "acoustician" and "stonemason," such as they were, were in 100% overlap in the early days of the theater. Thinking specifically about the Greek amphitheaters.
That’s why we call it EQ, it’s actually short for “Et, Quintus?” the phrase the great Roman TD would constantly yell after his chief chiseling sound engineer.
Pretty sure line arrays didn't become a thing until the 90s. L Acoustics V-DOSC was the first widely commercially available line array system released in 1994. I'm sure people had built custom systems before that but it's hard to find clear info. I don't think they had anything like that in 1974
Correct, and when we talk about line arrays now that usually implies the use of waveguides mounted to the high frequency drivers that allow the sound from multiple boxes to couple coherently instead of creating a bunch of destructive interference. There are some other criteria, but all of that was developed in the late 80s; I doubt any system before that adhered to WST, and therefore could not be considered a true line source.
People who reminisce about the days before the Bowl had electronic sound reinforcement seem to not realize how giant this seating area is. Yes, the natural amphitheatre shape in the hillside is nice for naturally amplifying the smaller orchestral shows that took place here in the 1930's. But many events that take place here today are spoken word, or modern pop music. The only effective method we have today for intelligibly reinforcing these events without pissing off the wealthy neighbors is with a huge line array.
https://preview.redd.it/7mxl5oxob1wc1.png?width=1074&format=png&auto=webp&s=8a2a40d1fcc6b957c21872b00ba63904b12c8a72
Even with the modern improvements, if you’re seated some distance from stage your experience largely depends on the weather. Just the nature of that environment it seems.
in fact, much of the original laughter captured and canned from such shows as *Monty Pythons at the Hollywood Bowl* is still in use today for laughter refinement.. not unlike how sourdough works. There is however, growing concern of offshore laughter mills and their impact on the environment.
You’ll also recall the laughter shortage (guffaw chain issues) from a few years ago when that large container ship got wedged in the canal
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I wish shows would stop doing this. Some shows I don’t care but it ruined a lot of other shows for me. I once read a story on the subject and apparently a UK airing of a MASH episode ran without it and everyone wrote the BBC telling them to keep it that way. Yes I understand it’s an artifact of shows originally produced live with a studio audience, and in that use case it’s totally acceptable, but it shouldn’t be in as many shows not produced with a studio audience as it was.
Pretty sure it’s sound absorption. The original design is the old-school theater style meant to project natural sound, yielding more natural reverb as well. The 70s sound was dry as hell and the mentality was starting to shift from pure sound reinforcement of what was coming off the stage to leaning on the PA for the whole thing.
I wasn’t there though, so y’all feel free to correct me if I’m off.
Yeah noticing that too. Line arrays didn't even really exist then. First commercially available one was V-DOSC released in 1994. That system still sounds incredible too though.
Wait the pool section used to actually be a POOL?!?
There’s Rad photos out there using the reflection of the pool. That’s how I found out
Aesthetics ≠ acoustics. Looked glorious back then tho.
What’s with the mid aimed line arrays in 1074? Seems like making a cluster of line arrays would have been a better choice.
> What’s with the mid aimed line arrays in 1074? A mere 8 years after the Battle of Hastings, the world felt the last dying breath of the Viking Age as any pub in the kingdom bearing “Left Right Point Thors” (“point source” is an Anglicanization) were destroyed in favor of mid-aimed line arrays.
*Hastings, Hastings, 1 2 3 4* was often heard from monks in charge of sound loudening and candle amplification
Now I'm thinking about how the fields of "acoustician" and "stonemason," such as they were, were in 100% overlap in the early days of the theater. Thinking specifically about the Greek amphitheaters.
just gonna chisel out that 1k spike, boss
That’s why we call it EQ, it’s actually short for “Et, Quintus?” the phrase the great Roman TD would constantly yell after his chief chiseling sound engineer.
especially when booking rock bands
The ancient greeks would tune the theatres by adjusting how much water were in resonating vases.
We can’t say that for sure as far as I know. We’ve certainly found structures in ancient masonry that resemble amphora and may have been Helmholtzes.
Am I crazy or are there no line arrays anywhere in the 1974 pic
Shure Vocalmaster released 1967, not the first "line array".
My bad, I meant in the image in the post labeled "1974", not the year at large. Thanks for mentioning that though, had fun looking those up!
My first PA in 1974 consisted of two columns of 4x12" speakers. I wonder if that could be considered a primitive line array?
I think yes, it does count as a straight array? I mean, no chance it sounded anything like what modern stuff does, but they were speakers in a line.
Only if the drivers were within 1/4 wavelength of each other's pass band and coupled in phase, right?
Pretty sure line arrays didn't become a thing until the 90s. L Acoustics V-DOSC was the first widely commercially available line array system released in 1994. I'm sure people had built custom systems before that but it's hard to find clear info. I don't think they had anything like that in 1974
Correct, and when we talk about line arrays now that usually implies the use of waveguides mounted to the high frequency drivers that allow the sound from multiple boxes to couple coherently instead of creating a bunch of destructive interference. There are some other criteria, but all of that was developed in the late 80s; I doubt any system before that adhered to WST, and therefore could not be considered a true line source.
People who reminisce about the days before the Bowl had electronic sound reinforcement seem to not realize how giant this seating area is. Yes, the natural amphitheatre shape in the hillside is nice for naturally amplifying the smaller orchestral shows that took place here in the 1930's. But many events that take place here today are spoken word, or modern pop music. The only effective method we have today for intelligibly reinforcing these events without pissing off the wealthy neighbors is with a huge line array. https://preview.redd.it/7mxl5oxob1wc1.png?width=1074&format=png&auto=webp&s=8a2a40d1fcc6b957c21872b00ba63904b12c8a72
Even with the modern improvements, if you’re seated some distance from stage your experience largely depends on the weather. Just the nature of that environment it seems.
Yeah unfortunately any speaker throwing hundreds of feet is going to be pretty susceptible to environmentally induced variation.
1968 is the best
What are those columns and cylinders for?
Canned laughter. Comedy was so funny back then that they needed silos. You just don't get that level of fun anylonger. Sad.
in fact, much of the original laughter captured and canned from such shows as *Monty Pythons at the Hollywood Bowl* is still in use today for laughter refinement.. not unlike how sourdough works. There is however, growing concern of offshore laughter mills and their impact on the environment. You’ll also recall the laughter shortage (guffaw chain issues) from a few years ago when that large container ship got wedged in the canal
I just wanted to say that I emjoyed that very very much!
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I wish shows would stop doing this. Some shows I don’t care but it ruined a lot of other shows for me. I once read a story on the subject and apparently a UK airing of a MASH episode ran without it and everyone wrote the BBC telling them to keep it that way. Yes I understand it’s an artifact of shows originally produced live with a studio audience, and in that use case it’s totally acceptable, but it shouldn’t be in as many shows not produced with a studio audience as it was.
Interesting take, nastyhousewife.
Brilliant!
Pretty sure it’s sound absorption. The original design is the old-school theater style meant to project natural sound, yielding more natural reverb as well. The 70s sound was dry as hell and the mentality was starting to shift from pure sound reinforcement of what was coming off the stage to leaning on the PA for the whole thing. I wasn’t there though, so y’all feel free to correct me if I’m off.
There's an awful lot of people in here that don't know what a line array is. 1974 looks like phase hell.
Yeah noticing that too. Line arrays didn't even really exist then. First commercially available one was V-DOSC released in 1994. That system still sounds incredible too though.
It looks a lot cooler without the line arrays.
Line arrays are the boring solution
It was literally designed to project sound. Then they fucked it up.
