VUE Brings Concert Clarity to Historic Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco

	Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco, California. Photo: Sound Image

The old vaudeville theatre opened in 1922 and became a Cinerama movie theater in the 1960s. Today it is owned by SHN where they have proudly presented Broadway productions at the Golden Gate Theatre including, Chicago, Hairspray, Mamma Mia! and Rent. With a capacity of 2,297 it is also a popular destination for touring plays, operas, and live music.

Recently, Daryl Hall and Todd Rundgren performed at the Golden Gate Theatre. Sound Image Productions were tasked with providing a full system for both bands. Rundgren is no stranger to VUE. He toured with al-8 arrays in 2018 and obtained VUE hm-112 and hm-212 monitors with VUEdrive amps for his 2019 tour. For the Golden Gate Theatre, Sound Image provided 18 al-12 acoustic linearity line array elements -- arrays of 9 al-12s flown each side of the stage. The orchestra pit held 8 hs-221 subs.

The theatre wasn't without its acoustic challenges. Computer modeling, drawings and measurements are essential for predicting coverage, but sometimes the real-world implementation presents greater challenges. That was the case with the Golden Gate Theatre's upper balcony. Sound Image staff engineer and system tech on the show, Winston Damme, explains. "Upper balcony areas did not match the model created from drawings/measurements, so al-12 array angles were adjusted to reach the uppermost seating." When asked why Sound Image deployed a VUE system, Damme replied "for the clarity and ease of rigging."

Having two co-headlining acts can present challenges when tuning a system to ensure both artists have consistent sound. Damme comments, "I'm impressed with how good the al-12's sound right out of the box, the presets for the total number of say, al-12's, works and that the rig continues to sound good even when push hard...The hs-221 subs are equally amazing. The software seems more intuitive and easier to operate than some other manufacturers software."

Sound Image San Francisco continues to deploy their VUE systems for outdoor festivals and venues. More to come on other VUE deployments from Summer 2022.