International. "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" This is the phrase that has identified for more than 40 years one of the most famous comedy programs on world television: Saturday Night Live (SNL). The iconic show has been immortalized in a major exhibition that documents both its history and its place in media culture.
With an area of 3,810m2, Saturday Night Live: The Exhibition presents objects, memorabilia and even some of the most representative sets of the program. During the first half of 2016, he performed for the first time in New York and very soon he will begin a tour that will visit different North American cities.
From the writing process, which begins to take shape on Mondays, and culminates with the live broadcast on Saturdays, the exhibition illustrates the way in which a week of production is lived in SNL, through original scripts, scenography, props, costumes, makeup and interactive elements. In collaboration with Broadway Video Enterprises, Saturday Night Live: The Exhibition conveys SNL's comedic sensibility, history and tradition to visitors to the exhibition.
An element that distinguishes the SNL show is its impeccable sound, with emphasis, both on the intelligibility of the dialogues, necessary to understand every word of the sketches and jokes, and on the sharpness of its famous musical segments, some of them legendary for the magnitude of the guest artists. Saturday Night Live: The Exhibition is no slouch and pays special attention to audio quality, using a wide range of speakers, amplifiers, digital signal processors and acoustic modelling technology from Bose Professional.
A total of 37 Bose RoomMatch® and RoomMatch Utility® speakers are used to musically sound the front and center of the exhibit. The precise recreation of the sounds of the legendary 8 H studio, from a pre-recorded introduction by Tina Fey to the SNL Band, are heard in great detail thanks to the RoomMatch Utility RMU208, RMU206 and RMU105 speakers, and the asymmetrical arrangement of RoomMatch speakers, which cover the entire space in which the SNL studio is recreated. The system is complemented by three modular Bose Panaray® MB4 bass speakers and one MB 12 III modular bass speaker.
This range of speakers is powered by a dozen Bose PowerMatch® 8500N, 8250N and 4250N network amplifiers. These connect to the same Dante™ network on which the Bose ControlSpace® ES-00 DSP digital signal processing systems work. These powerful DSP platforms are the brains behind managing Bose speakers throughout the facility.
"Bose technology and speakers are key to the success of the exhibition," said Khalil Williams, General Manager of Design Electronics, the AV system design company chosen for the exhibition system integration. Williams noted that the entire facility is comprised of 24 discrete audio zones, with multiple zones in a single space in some cases.
"Bose speakers offer a homogeneous volume level, even in every seat in the studio, which is important for every visitor to experience the same great sound experience, as well as providing the realism needed to simulate a live experience. And with a room that has all sorts of acoustic challenges, due to its shape and everything that happens inside, Bose Modeler's® software allowed us to accurately predict where we would find the biggest challenges, which ControlSpace helped us face and solve. In fact, the Modeler system saved us an enormous amount of time by doing a lot of the sound design work upfront, making sure that what was installed fit perfectly for every gallery and space," added Khalil Williams.
Mark Lach, Vice President of Design and Creativity at Premier Exhibitions, and designer of the exhibition, added, "The exhibition is a very lively, very energetic experience, not only does it travel through the memory lane, but it also takes you through the daily process and the weekly sum of making the SNL show. It is an act of celebration for the more than 40 years of SNL. It was necessary that the audio quality be equated with an experience of such a level, and the Bose system has fully complied with that."
He added that sound pressure, bass and audio distribution in the theater are things I'm satisfied with. When there is a great sound it is very easy to recognize it, you know it is there. The way it is heard within the space, how it fits into what we need for the exhibition, is extraordinary, and we couldn't be happier.
Through its online site www.snltheexhibition.com Saturday Night Live: The Exhibition, it will inform about the following cities that will receive the exhibition.
