MADISON, WI – The Overture Center for the Arts complex here includes seven performance facilities and four art galleries. The complex’s Capitol Theater venue, which dates back to 1928, is teh complex’s oldest (and second-largest) performance space. Although the venue underwent a major renovation eight years ago that cut the historic vaudeville house’s capacity in half, to approximately 1,100 seats, the Capitol’s sound reinforcement system hadn’t been updated for nearly two decades. The Capitol now has a new system that centers on L-Acoustics gear.
More details from L-Acoustics (www.l-acoustics.com):
Complex’s oldest and second-largest venue now home to a KARA system
According to Capitol Theater Technician Brian Anderson, the new system design is comprised of 10 KARA enclosures per side, each complemented by an additional hang of six SB15m subs creating an ultra-compact and lightweight flown three-way system. The KARA arrays are covering both balcony and orchestra level seating areas thus eliminating the need for underbalcony speakers. Following a directive from the venue’s primary benefactor that no speakers be visible, arrays are housed in towering boxed frames on the far sides of the stage and hidden behind acoustically transparent scrims.
For fold back, a dozen coaxial 12XT wedges can be positioned onstage as needed, with four more 12XT on hand for deck-fill use. A front-fill system of six tiny 5XT is inset into the front of the stage lip, while two SB28 subs per side are located below to supply augmented low-frequency impact. A combined total of 11 LA8 amplified controllers monitor, process and drive both the FOH and monitoring systems. Clearwing Productions of Milwaukee supplied all of the gear, which was installed by the theater’s own seasoned audio production team.
“The Capitol Theater hosts nearly 250 performances a year, and those productions span quite a variety – everything from theatre to rock, classical and opera concerts – so we needed a system that could be very versatile,” Anderson describes. “After inviting five of what we considered to be the most production rider-friendly manufacturers to individually come in and demo their most appropriate systems here in the space, we unanimously chose to install KARA.”
“Since the system went in this past August, we’ve done a bunch of shows and we’re thrilled beyond belief,” he adds. “What I particularly love is that I can sit in the far corner of the upper balcony’s very last row and I don’t feel that I’m getting a different representation from when I’m sitting front and center. The evenness of coverage is spectacular; much better than I would have thought possible. And the system’s detail, articulation and clarity are frighteningly good. It’s very honest, revealing every little nuance of both a performance and mix.”
Although the new audio system is largely invisible to patrons, Anderson notes that the dramatic sonic improvement has been clearly noticed by all. “One of the very first groups to use our KARA rig was the Indigo Girls, who have performed here literally dozens of times over the years. I can honestly say that we’ve never had so many people come up to us after a show and tell us that it was the best sounding concert they had ever heard.”
Other performers of note to utilize the new L-ACOUSTICS system have included Cyndi Lauper, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Tommy Emmanuel, Mayer Hawthorne, Mike Super, The Wiggles, Kinsey Sicks and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Other recent productions have included Madison Ballet’s “steampunk” interpretation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Children’s Theater Madison’s production of Peter Pan. For more information on the Capitol Theater at Overture Center for the Arts, visit www.overturecenter.com.
