Acoustic Enhancement for Orchestra Players

During the last years, the number of venues which are using electroacoustic enhancement systems to improve their acoustic conditions in general, or for special purposes, has been increasing considerably. The reason for this is that for a number of years the average quality of these installations has reached a certain standard that typically provides a good acceptance among musicians, which has been a severe issue in the early days of such systems. Based on experiences with the electroacoustic enhancement system Vivace, this paper explains the fundamental principles and the special usage of such systems to support orchestra players on stage or in an orchestra pit. A number of example installations are presented in detail. During the tuning process of these installations and the corresponding discussions with the musicians, interesting aspects of the perception and acoustical needs of the various groups inside a classical orchestra could be discovered which also can be a valuable support when designing natural acoustics for stages or orchestra rehearsal rooms. Especially for orchestra rehearsal rooms, an elaborated combination of room acoustical treatment and a specialized enhancement support might be a chance for achieving solutions that seemed to be impossible up to now.