Hall Sounds Discordant Note on Segerstrom Acoustics

Chorale director William Hall’s opinion of the acoustics in Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center is not flattering.

“I compare the sound in the hall to a CD (compact disk), not to an analogue recording,” he said. “There is no ambiance. It is straightforward but has no color, and sound without color is not acceptable.”

To make matters worse, Hall added, “people can’t hear in certain areas on the stage. The singers and the orchestra have difficulty hearing each other. String basses and celli also cannot hear each other. Certain lows, the way the shell is built, don’t project into the house. The sound just goes straight up. Even if they play louder, the quality isn’t enhanced.

“The problem is that when they found that that stage was too small (to accommodate the several hundred singers needed for the opening night performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9), they built an addition, opening doors between two major structural supports. That puts the chorus in a parking lot compared to where the orchestra is. It’s a major problem with combined performances.”

Hall noted that different organizations have experimented with various seating patterns and use of risers to tune the acoustics. For his own Christmas concert with the Master Chorale of Orange County, Hall reconfigured the ensemble, placing the women at either side and the men in the middle.

“It had nothing to do with (individual) voices,” Hall said. “It had everything to do with (collective) voices--because (Segerstrom Hall) is so bad.”

A big “problem is how much time we have in the hall to experiment,” Hall added.

“Because of the expense of (renting the hall for) another rehearsal, we have a dress rehearsal on the same day as the concert, which is unacceptable. It’s too hard on both instrumentalists and singers.”

Center officials, who consistently have maintained that the quality of sound in the hall is high, were unavailable for comment.