Well-designed installed systems can position additional loudspeakers to well-cover regions like upper balconies that hanging arrays sometimes can’t get to.
An arena show my company worked in supplying backline serves as an example. The upper seating level was higher than the rigging height of the PA, and not a single cabinet was pointed at this region. The attitude was basically “that’s what you get in the cheap seats.” Installed systems, on the other hand, are usually configured to take these seats into account.
Under balcony regions frequently found in performance venues are another challenge for portable/touring system providers. The main arrays typically can’t “shoot” coverage below the overhead obstructions to these areas, while the installed system takes them into account, in addition to delivering program to areas not even addressed by the main PA like the lobby and concourses.
Venue-specific permanent systems should also be able to deliver enhanced intelligibility with reduced reverb and reflections. Loudspeakers can be chosen for specific coverage patterns and located in optimum locations, even if additional infrastructure needs to be added, to better focus output directly on the audience while minimizing sound hitting the walls as well as regions of the structure where it can reflect back into the crowd and onstage.
To me, the biggest advantage of installed systems is that the designers can usually take appropriate time in getting coverage and tone correct. Systems can often be tweaked for weeks at a time, loudspeakers re-aimed or even relocated if need be.
Further, a variety of testing methods can be employed and various sets of ears can be asked for input. System components can be changed and/or reconfigured. Meanwhile, touring professionals are lucky to get a couple of hours to optimize (and usually less), while starting with a system that’s not specifically designed for each venue.
A Way Forward
One solution, at least in some cases, is to take advantage of the best of both worlds. Tours can bring in a basic rig as normal and then tie into house systems to better serve the “nose-bleed” areas, seating that is shadowed by structure, and perhaps even lobby and concourse areas.
Installed systems can also be augmented with additional subwoofers as needed, adding the dynamic low-end impact that many fixed systems do not have.
Further, removing a few moving lights from a tour would likely cover the costs of having the touring audio designer be able to advance every show with every venue, confirming that the installed system is in working order as well as identifying how to interface with it to maximum advantage. Even if this type of advance work isn’t feasible, either logistically or financially, it can still be handled (or at least furthered) via communication.
This was my preferred method of operation when handling musical theater tours. The majority of the venues were theaters and symphony halls with adequate installed systems. I would call the A1 at each venue before we hit the road, discussing the house system in depth and how to best integrate our gear together to ensure the audience would receive the best possible sonic experience. (Unfortunately, they also got to hear my mixing ability – or more precisely, my lack thereof – but that’s another story.)
