Situated in Hakata city, the Hakataza Theatre in the Fukuoka Prefecture — one of
the most famous musical theatres in Japan — has been renovated after 16 years in
order to meet complex acoustical demands for events such as Kabuki, Musicals and
Theatrical shows.
Several premium systems were trialled over a nearly five-year period before Martin
Audio’s MLA family was given approval. As a result, 11 elements of MLA Compact
are hung left and right of the proscenium along with DSX sub, and eight MLA Mini
have been deployed as an L/C/R centre cluster.
To cover the remaining areas (including under-balcony) a further 73 Martin Audio
DD6 have been specified.
The sound engineer, Mr Noguchi from Music Reserve inc, stated, “Our top priority is
delivering perfect sound to the entire audience. In Hakataza Theatre we have to
cater for many kinds of programme and in the past we have experienced
shortcomings in the sound with some productions and presentations. The MLA family
has overcome that and given me an innovative way to deliver consistent sound
throughout the auditorium.’
MLA Compact has been designed to fire sound evenly into the three tiers of the
theatre, using special optimisations. With the elements optimised in groups — to
cover top to bottom tiers — Mr. Noguchi stated that the Pre-set function was very
useful when changing the optimisations depending on the production. “The
distributed DD6s then help not only to cover the audience area but also maintain the
character of sound. The Differential Dispersion horn on the DD6 delivers high clarity
from the front to back seats, and therefore this is no compromise whatsoever in
this new system.’
A second engineer, Mr Tsubone also added his endorsement to the MLA system. “It
is essential that every audience, no matter what the performance, receives
consistency and clarity from the stage performers. This was our key priority when
choosing the system. MLA achieves this perfectly — even when the voice is
whispering through micro-microphones, it not only delivers consistent frequency
response but also has a capability to control the non-audience area. This is helpful
for the engineer operating microphones to ensure the important dialogue is
delivered audibly to the audience during the show.
“MLA is unique in this respect — in my opinion no other brand can do this.’
Summing up, he said, “The choice of this system was extremely important for us —
it means we now have the ability to control the sound pressure level for whole
audience area, suited to every type of programme. No matter where each member
of the audience is seated, consistent sound will be delivered. I have never
experienced anything like this degree of functionality ever before — It is
overwhelming.’
