Historic St. Mary’s is visually striking: a white, brilliant facade against the backdrop of the blue Indian River sky. But looks aren’t everything—and while our venue is gorgeous, where it really excels is its sound. Peter Gallant, sound engineer at Indian River Festival for over 10 years, knows a thing or two about that. We’ve told you time and time again about the amazing acoustics at St. Mary’s, but now it’s time to pass it over to someone who really knows what he’s talking about. Keep reading to hear all about the man who brings music to our ears, (literally).
St. Mary’s is an incredible venue. Can you explain a bit about what makes it so special from the perspective of a sound engineer?
Space! What a space! The volume of air that can be pushed around in St. Mary’s by waves of musical sounds including the human voice is quite special. One feature alone, the ribbed and vaulted ceiling, enables sound to move through the church as though it were designed like the inside of a violin—smooth and uninterrupted. What makes this environment special to an audio engineer during shows that require microphones and speakers, is that we end up “assisting” the room as opposed to being totally responsible for everything that the audience hears from the stage. The room itself delivers incredible “reverberant” sound to our ears. This means that we hear the source of the sound—like a voice or instrument—plus the reflections and delays of these reflections off the wooden ceiling, walls and floors. This extraordinary quality makes St. Mary’s unique as a performance venue compared to others on PEI and around the world. The actual delay time was calculated several years back when a decision was made to install a permanent sound system for the summer festival. The approximate delay time of a sound originating from centre stage is 3.89 seconds down the centre aisle and 2.7 seconds down the side aisles. More modern concert halls and theatres are in the 1.5 – 1.75 range. As a result, the sound engineer must respect these times, work with them and encourage artists to do the same for maximum enjoyment by our audiences.
Could you tell us about the amazing custom sound system at St. Mary’s?
The new EAW sound system, funded by the Confederation Bridge, was installed over two years ago by Points East Audio/Visual with professional design and placement assistance from Marc St-Jacques, acoustic design specialist of SFM in Quebec. The main speakers hanging on either side of the stage are carefully aimed and tilted to deliver clean, articulate sound to all the seats on the main floor. There are 2 massive subwoofers stationed on the floor directly below the main speakers. This high-end system is “tuned” to the church space to deliver pristine audio that compliments the natural acoustics of the room. Care must be taken to allow the natural room to speak and tenderly weave the sound system’s voice into the space for all to enjoy.
What is your favourite IRF memory?
Tough question, as there are many! Virtually any time The Once and David Myles Trio have performed as both groups use the space and “play to the room” extraordinarily well. Same goes with J.P. Cormier and Dave Gunning – total pros that know how to use a room like St. Mary’s and squeeze all of the acoustic juices out of it. Then again, the night that lightning struck a pole less than a kilometer away and knocked out our lights and sound system during a Rankin, Church and Crowe performance and again in the middle of a Ten Strings and A Goat Skin spectacular. With a full house of a paying audience and mother nature interrupts the show and you’re responsible for getting things back up and running….stressful but certainly memorable! Mixing Lennie Gallant‘s album launch show, “Time Travel” will always be one of my favorite experiences. Amazing! However, I balance all of those with the evening we couldn’t find Valdy 10 minutes before he was to take the stage only to discover that he was in the men’s washroom repairing an overflowing toilet at the request of an audience member who thought he was an IRF employee!
You’ve been with us for a long time. How has the festival changed over the years?
Yes, it’s been just over 10 years. One thing that has developed over time has been a deliberate inclusion of high quality Island artists. There were not that many in the early days but it’s wonderful to see more and more of these amazing performers in the IRF lineup. The variety of styles presented during the festival, I think, has changed over time and is appealing to a wider audience. I’ve mixed everyone from a cappella group Black Umfolosi to the Natalie MacMaster Quartet to Fred Penner to Michael Kaeshammer Trio to Matt Andersen to Measha Brueggergosman to The Men of The Deeps. Wonderful opportunity for a sound engineer and to do it in St. Mary’s! Doesn’t get much better than that. Also, more and more people from the audience are stopping at FOH (Front of House) where my sound board and I reside during the shows, and chat, ask questions and complement the venue and staff. IRF patrons are the best and I’ve gotten to know so many of them over the years.
How do you think community concerts and festivals like IRF will change given the current circumstances?
Great question! I do believe, given the circumstances, that more thought will have to go into every aspect of concert presentations everywhere. The fact that IRF presents in an historic and stunning venue will bode well for future decisions on what people go to see each summer. Not only because Covid-19 has resulted in a great deal of introspection for the concert goer, but more so because people will be more apt to spend quality time doing quality things more often. And what could be better than a show in St. Mary’s.
What are you most looking forward to when IRF returns in 2021?
Live music! Live breathing musicians! The awesome load-in and sound check times where one gets to see the artists as they really are and chat about things important to them. Feeling the energy leading up to the show and finally hearing those words again, “ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome to the IRF stage. . . “
Us too, Peter. Us too. Until then, thank you for all the years making us sound great.
Written by: Dani MacDonald
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