Well Jess my AD and I blocked some more shots for Figaro. Act 3 which is the longest of all the Acts - 75 minutes - has all the principles and chorus singing all together at one time or another. I don't want to bore you with more blocking techniques so I decided to speak to the sound engineer who sets up the speaker arrays and mixes the sound at AT&T Park for the SF Opera Simulcasts.
This is the 9th simulcast at AT&T and Nat Koren has been in charge at the Ball Park 8 of the 9 times. He also helped setup the first simulcast in 2006 at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco.
Nat tells me that it has gotten to be a routine setup and of course it is planned well in advance. Two months prior to the simulcast the Sound Department, headed by Doug Mitchell, who is also in charge of HD pulls out the plans with Nat and starts getting ready. A day before the broadcast a 24 foot truck pulls up to AT&T's loading dock and it is packed with sound gear. The tallest setup is the Meyer Sound Milo speaker arrays. These two main arrays stand approximately 32 feet tall and are positioned in left center field and right center facing home plate. Nat's crew also sets up front fills for the outfield audience. At the same time they strategically place sub woofers on the warning track in center field. In the past we have had productions that have featured operas by Verdi, Puccini Rossini and Mozart. These had larger orchestras as compared to this Mozart opera which features a smaller Baroque Orchestra. Nat is taking this into consideration for his final speaker/fill/subwoofer placement.
Tomorrow I will continue this discussion with Nat and include a few photos of those first simulcasts.
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