Meyer Sound TIGRA Debuts at Eastman School of Music

The University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music in New York has upgraded Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre with Meyer Sound TIGRA line array loudspeakers. The new system is among the first TIGRA installations in the U.S.

Built by George Eastman as a home for the school and a cultural center for the city, Kodak Hall is a richly decorated Italian Renaissance and Neo-Classical performance space, finished with ornamental plasterwork, ornate murals, and a 2.5-ton crystal chandelier. It opened in 1922 as a silent film and concert theater, a room shaped around live accompaniment as much as around the screen.

The room originally held 3,352 seats and now holds 2,326, following a historically sensitive, two-phase renovation that was completed in 2009. Meyer Sound loudspeakers have been part of Kodak Hall since that renovation.

As the primary stage for the school’s orchestras, wind ensembles, jazz ensembles, chorale, and fully staged Eastman Opera Theatre productions, the hall is in constant demand. The school presents more than 1,000 concerts a year across its three venues; guest performers have ranged from Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff to Stan Getz, Yo-Yo Ma, and Eastman alumna Renée Fleming.

“With these advancements, we can ensure that the space is equipped to accommodate a wide variety of performances by Eastman students and faculty, guest artists, and community partners like the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra,” says Eastman School of Music Joan and Martin Messinger Dean Kate Sheeran.

Working With the Hall’s Renowned Acoustics

For the system upgrade team, the starting point was restraint. “When you come into a venue like this that is so well known for its acoustics, you have to take a step back and say, what is this hall really going to do?” says Sound Associates Executive Vice President Domonic Sack. “We don’t want to change the hall, because this is one of the best acoustic halls in the country.”

Meyer Sound Director of System Optimization Bob McCarthy designed and tuned the system, with Sound Associates handling the installation. The new system comprises hangs of 12 TIGRA loudspeakers per side, supported by two ULTRA‑X80 point source loudspeakers and one ULTRA‑X82 point source loudspeaker as orchestra in fills, six ULTRA‑X20 point source loudspeakers providing front fills, and eight UP‑4slim loudspeakers serving as mezzanine under-balcony delays. Four 2100‑LFC low-frequency control elements extend low-frequency response, and two Galileo GALAXY 816 Network Platforms provide system drive and optimization.

A System Scaled to the Room

“You never want to see your product go in where it’s overspec’ed or underspec’ed,” says McCarthy. “This is very appropriately scaled. The system will thrive in this space.”

“Bob’s literally written the book on setting up speakers and tuning them, and it showed us the level of importance that Meyer Sound puts on this, as well as Sound Associates, so that they were getting the best possible sound out of the product,” says Eastman School of Music Director of Technology and Media Production Mark Wazowicz.

Kodak Hall is a teaching room as much as a concert venue. “There are all sorts of young musicians who are growing up here, and I want them to be able to feel like they can play their instrument and that they don’t have to fight with the room or with the sound system,” says McCarthy. “And for the audience, I want them to not even think about the sound system, but just think about the music and the experience.”

The system carries speech and amplified music to every seat while leaving the hall’s natural response to the orchestra unchanged. “The biggest difference that the patrons will realize is not just the sound quality and how crisp and clean the sound is now in the hall, but just how level it is throughout the entire theater,” says Wazowicz. “The sound is consistent through the entire room, and there’s not a bad seat in the house.”