Mexico. The staging of the play Novecento, which was presented at the Teatro Milán, in Mexico City, was distinguished by the elegant simplicity of its scenery and lighting, elements that served as a framework to highlight the performance of the Mexican Benny Ibarra, who was accompanied by an ingenious audio design, which reached the ears of the public through a speaker system S1 Pro and F1 Model 812 of Bose Profesional.
Novecento is a work by the Italian Alessandro Baricco, written in 1994, which has been mounted dozens of times and was even taken to the cinema by the director Giuseppe Tornatore. It is a monologue, set in the first decades of the twentieth century, which narrates the life of a fascinating and magnetic character, the pianist Dany Boodman T.D Lemon Novecento, who was born aboard an ocean liner, has never set foot on dry land and lives dedicated to his music.
The theater director, Mauricio García Lozano is the one who invites Benny Ibarra to participate in Novecento, a play produced by the company Tercera Llamada. They had worked together on the play "The Man of La Mancha", so communication between the two flowed immediately. The multifaceted Benny Ibarra, who is also a singer, lyricist and music producer, commented that, during a rehearsal, he shared with Mauricio the idea of developing a concept of surround sound for some work. "I would like the theater to become a space in which sounds emerge naturally, from all sides, just as they do in real life," Benny recalled.
Their collaboration in Novecento gave them that opportunity, because during their preparation stage they gave free rein to creativity and explored different ideas to use audio as a resource that would help them tell the story and make the audience use their imagination to incorporate the elements that are mentioned, but are not seen on stage.
"We saw the opportunity to make Novecento a very interesting listening experience, which was a hybrid between realistic sounds, such as a storm or the sound of the dock, and a loving nod to the world of radio soap operas, when television did not hook us yet and people listened to the stories that were told on the radio with live sound effects. We brought this concept to the theatre and the result has been extremely exciting," explains Benny.
To create the sonic concept of Novecento, Mauricio and Benny, they incorporated the musician and producer Vico Gutiérrez, who helped them define the sound sequences for each scene. The process included research in audio libraries to find the sounds most attached to the time in which the story develops, recording effects and even the production of the music that is heard during the work. The musical pieces were performed by the musicians of the Atlantic Jazz Band, an ephemeral group, led by drummer Pepe Damián.
The level of production of the sonic concept of Novecento is such that, throughout the work, eight audio channels were used and in some scenes up to 48 tracks are used simultaneously, just to generate a specific atmosphere.
To achieve that feeling of surround sound it was necessary to design a configuration of speakers that allowed the ideal coverage and quality necessary for all the audience to hear the same atmospheric experience. The Teatro Milán, a venue with capacity for 260 people, has its own sound system, but does not offer the versatility that The creatives of Novecento required. So the solution came through Bose Professional, which after listening to Benny's ideas, proposed to use a combination of portable systems S1 Pro and F1 Model 812 to meet the technical requirements of the work.
For coverage purposes, the theatre was divided into three sections. In the front section, on each side of the stage an F1 Model 812 flexible array speaker system is used in conjunction with an F1 Subwoofer, while a third F1 Model 812 is suspended in the upper center. The coverage of this section is complemented by four compact S1 Pro systems, two of them installed on the roof above the seats. On the other hand, both in the back of the lower part, and in the mezzanine, in the upper section of the theater, another eight S1 Pro speakers were integrated, four in each.
In addition, the production of Novecento, required to easily transport the speakers to other theaters in different cities of the country, because during the first two months of the season, the work alternated functions in Mexico City, from Tuesday to Thursday, and went on tour from Friday to Sunday.
The operation of this entire audio system was the responsibility of the experienced engineer Santiago Álvarez, with whom Benny had already worked in theater and during his recent concert tours. The engineer was in charge of programming in software all the sequences of sounds for the eight channels and of configuring the audio equipment, microphones, console, computers and interfaces that ensure that all the sounds will be reproduced at the exact moment when the story requires it.
In each performance of Novecento, the work of Santiago Álvarez was like that of a second actor who does not appear on stage, but whose interventions, when "shooting" the multiple sound sequences, must flow at the same pace as the interpretation of the protagonist. "The task is to immerse the audience in the fantasy of the story. Surprise him with a different experience and enjoy it fully, "says Santiago.
"This whole process was a lot of fun. We were like little children, imagining how we could tell this story even with our eyes closed, that only our ears guide you and help you understand everything that happens around you," added Benny Ibarra.
