Hamer Hall Performance Analysis

Hamer Hall is the largest venue in the Melbourne Arts Centre complex and is home to a wide range of different types and styles of performances, these include musicals, contemporary shows, stand up comedy and orchestras. Therefore Hamer Hall needs to be able to accommodate all these different types of shows in all the forms they may take. Each show is different and requires a different set up therefore Hamer Hall has certain requirements when it comes to functionality and technical requirements. They also have to consider how they are going to deploy the sound throughout the environment of the Auditorium. This all costs a lot of money so they need to make sure all the equipment is maintained and make sure that if anything goes wrong during a

So it is crucial that Hamer Hall has an excellent maintenance plan to keep the gear in running order. To make sure everything is up and running, the entire sound system is checked every day that it is used so that if something is not working they are able to repair it so that it is working or replace it before the show begins. They also do yearly tests on all the speakers checking for things like rattles as well as any other problems that may come about. There is only one full-time maintenance worker onsite that is employed by Hamer Hall’s sound/vision department, although if needed other crew members can be onsite as well with this number commonly varying between one to eight members at a time depending on what is required for that day. Although crew for the sound/vision department vary’s there is always a bunch of building maintenance electricians onsite that are able to help with an electrical issues that may occur but are not able to help when it comes to things like environmental considerations. The acoustics in Hamer Hall are really important as the host a number of acoustic performances that are not ran through the P.A. at all with the exception in Orchestral performances where there will be a microphone on stage in case the conductor wishes to speak to the audience. Due to these acoustic performances at Hamer

Well, simply they have a list of what they would like to upgrade in the not to distance future such as some microphones and a portable recording device that can run up to 128 channels of MADI so that they can record in smaller theatres as a training device. But they are mainly short-term as there is currently not a long-term upgrade plan in place although with the recent refurbishment they tried to create hanging/rigging points that could be used for future upgrades to the system. All of this costs money though and even though Hamer Hall gets funding from the government, not all of it is able to go to the sound/vision department, as there are many different departments within Hamer Hall and none of them take priority. A lot of the gear and equipment that they currently have there now was gain through the recent redevelopment in 2010 which had a budget of 128.5 million dollars. Although some gear was obtained over time through the general way that the budget works at Hamer Hall, which is that they have a prioritised list of items they wish to replace or upgrade and that is then added to the list for a lll of the departments and they then hope that they are able to get some funding for what they want, although