Designated a National Historic Site of Canada on June 15, 1981, Massey Hall, Canada’s premier venue for concerts and lectures, has long attracted renowned celebrities and top-tier talent from around the world including the likes of Justin Bieber, Bob Marley, Harry Styles, Jerry Seinfeld and even Sir Winston Churchill.
Opened in 1894, it was refurbished in 2022 with the addition of an eight-story tower, the Allied Music Centre. Included in the new tower are a number of new venues, and perched at the top of the AMC is the Deane Cameron Recording Studio, a sophisticated recording facility on the seventh floor, which is connected to all of the venues in the facility — ideal for capturing performances and mixing live performances for archival or broadcast.
The studio features a Solid State Logic System T for Music recording console, offering the latest music production workflows, including Dolby Atmos with up to 9.1.6 monitoring, and real-time digital audio processing across up to 800 audio channels with full SSL dynamics, EQ and 3D panning, plus a comprehensive Effects Rack.
A recent addition to the studio’s arsenal is a CEDAR Audio DNS 8D multi-channel dialog noise suppressor, which — while originally designed for high-end post production — is equally suited in the live performance environment to control eight channels of noise and bleed in concert applications. With near-zero latency and high-resolution processing, it’s the product of choice when sound engineers need to reduce background noise, reduce bleed and suppress excess reverb in live performances or live studio broadcasts.
We reached out to Doug McKendrick, Massey Hall’s VP of production and technology, to learn more about how they use the DNS 8D to achieve pristine audio quality.
The Challenge… and The Solution
In the live concert business, sound engineers face various challenges including high latency, synchronization issues, acoustic variability, and balancing levels. So McKendrick and his team needed a reliable solution to deliver the best for their audiences. When asked about the challenges, he explained, “It’s the classic problem that everyone in live sound, broadcast, and recording faces when using vocal mics — keeping the vocals loud and present while ducking things such as hi-hats, cymbals and other bleeds. We often have to cope with shows that are recorded or broadcast live without rehearsal, so our engineers are mixing on the fly, where we don’t necessarily know who does what or when.”
McKendrick added, “there are other tools out there to deal with these problems, but the CEDAR DNS 8D is on a whole other level. I heard about it from an amazing engineer that we work with, Mark Vreeken, who had been using it with an artist he was touring with. Following that, Dave Dysart from YSL Pro and Tim Condon at Long & McQuade were raving about it as well, so I was very intrigued. We tested a demo unit and promptly purchased it.”
He continued, “Our studio is based around Dante, so we were up and running almost instantly. We insert it onto channels of our SSL System T for live work (primarily on live vocals to get rid of bleed and clean up mixes) or directly into our DAW if we are using it in post. Sometimes you wonder if it’s doing anything because it’s so transparent.”
McKendrick also highlighted the DNS 8D’s user-friendly design and quick setup as some of its standout features. “It’s super simple to use and it just works. It’s generally a set-and-forget situation. We can get engineers up and running on it very quickly, and it cleans things up on the live, broadcast or streaming side very efficiently. When we use it in post, again, it speeds up the process significantly and requires virtually zero learning curve. The hardest part for me was finding a free power outlet in our rack. With its integrated Dante interface, we were up and running right away. It couldn’t have been easier.”
The highlight of the interview was when Doug expressed his desire to have the DNS 8D available for every job he works on. “Sometimes you wonder if it’s doing anything because it’s so transparent. But if you punch it out, it becomes extremely obvious that it’s doing a tremendous amount. It’s one of those tools that I really miss when I’m somewhere else. It really is night and day.”
When asked to describe the CEDAR DNS 8D in one word, Doug chose “magic. We are thrilled with the DNS 8D. It’s a tool with endless applications and has significantly improved the quality of our mixes and the work coming out of our studio. Once you’ve tried it, it’s hard to live without. It’s as close to magic as I have experienced.”
The Refurb — Massey Hall Transformed
If Toronto was the capital of the U.K., then Massey Hall might reasonably be named its Royal Albert Hall. This is no fanciful comparison. Both are iconic venues for their respective cities and share a common era, being built within just a few years of each other in the late 19th century.
But in terms of acoustics, both are bedeviled by what (in polite circles) might be called an “idiosyncratic” character. Venue management opted to address these quirks by embarking on phase one of a $135 million (Canadian) revitalization project, begun in 2018; completed in 2022. And using technologies that didn’t exist a century ago, they improved the listening experience for contemporary — and future — audiences. We thought we’d take a quick look back at the P.A. system install, which today in 2025, is still going strong.
“My ambition as a sound guy was to see Massey have a system of its own,” says Martin Van Dijk of Toronto-based consultants Engineering Harmonics, noting his long association with Massey Hall. “I’ve known this venue as a user and consultant for decades.”
Acoustic Challenges
McKendrick credits Van Dijk for his work on the venue’s behalf since at least 2003. Having designed its original fill system, Van Dijk’s knowledge of the venue’s unique acoustic character, McKendrick adds, made all the difference for the venue’s design and installation of its d&b audiotechnik system.
“Since the early days of amplified performance, touring acts that visited had typical systems; left/right mains, and in the last couple of decades maybe a bit of frontfill,” McKendrick explains. “But nothing that could address the unique acoustics of the venue.”
At Massey Hall, McKendrick notes, “sound radiates off the stage via the barrel-vaulted roof into the back of the balcony and the peripheral seats. A loud monitor system on stage could stray into the room and ruin the sound in the upper gallery. As a venue, you do get stray reflections, and at Massey, more than many. So over time, we designed a fill system and center hang that could support such touring systems.”
Selecting the System
The selection process was rigorous. “We did a lot of research,” says McKendrick. “Massey doesn’t have the ability to hang another system, so if a touring production doesn’t want to use the house P.A., we have to pull ours out, and that’s not an easy option. We wanted to make sure the new system was as universally acceptable as possible. The most consistent choice was J-Series.”
A former touring engineer, McKendrick followed the tide of opinion. “Selecting d&b was a decision I was comfortable with. I’d used J, V and even the older Q-Series and C4 point source systems, so I knew the d&b approach. I liked the consistency of their equipment.”
To help implement Van Dijk’s design — and meet stringent time constraints, McKendrick turned to Trevor Nash (then of d&b Canada) and Mark Radu of Solotech. “With Solotech’s long association with the venue, engaging them in the process made sense. The installation would be an extremely accelerated process. We had about one month from beginning to end McKendrick says.”
A Complex, but Successful, Setup
Mains are left/right hangs of J8, with three J12 at the bottom. The center array is an inversion of the mains — a hang of J12, with three J8s at the bottom. The system is powered with d&b’s 30D, D80 and 10D amplifiers, which offer onboard DSP and networked control/monitoring. LF punch comes from 12 d&b V-SUBs and four J-SUBs; all are cardioid.
The proscenium wall has a single point-source Yi7P at three levels each side: orchestra, gallery and balcony. Lower sides of the balcony have a pair of E8s either side, and Yi7Ps do the same job as the E8s but for the sides of the gallery. There are also 10S-Ds, one at each corner of the balcony and gallery. Under-balcony fill uses E6s and stage lip frontfills are Yi7Ps and the top center section of the gallery employs Vi12s as delay fill.
Ready for the Future
Radu offered his perspective on the outcome. “Between us, Martin and Doug, we have maybe 50 years of Massey Hall experience. We all have a good understanding of what does and doesn’t work in that venue. I think we really nailed it — the new system sounds absolutely amazing.”
Inside the Massey Hall
- Opened: July 1894; refurb 2022
- Capacity: Approx. 2,750
- Key Components: House: d&b audiotechnik J8, J12; Studio: SSL System T for Music; CEDAR Audio DNS 8D
- Consultants: Engineering Harmonics
- Designers: Martin Van Dijk, Doug McKendrick, Trevor Nash, Mark Radu
- Integrator: Solotech
