How to set the sound

The audience at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall may not realize the acoustic choices that tonmeister Eileen Jeanette makes before each show — but without her handiwork, the experience would be different for spectators and performers alike. Here is how Jeanette would handle four scenarios at the hall, assuming that each one drew an audience of 1,500 people:

Solo organ recital: “The canopies would be set as high as they are able. All doors would be open wide and we would not have any fabric in the reverberation chambers.”

Symphony: “The canopies would be mid-range level. Doors would be partially open and the banners inside the reverberation chambers would be exposed to a small degree.”

Solo acoustic guitar with voice: “The canopies would be lowered more. Doors would be partially open and the banners inside the reverberation chambers would be exposed to a medium degree. If this scenario was without voice, I would have less banner fabric exposed in the chambers, but because there is voice, we have to have more fabric to help the intelligibility of the voice.”

Pacific Symphony Pops with a rock band: “The canopies would be quite high (not quite as high as the organ recital settings). Most doors would be open wide and the banners inside the reverberation chambers would be exposed to a large degree. In addition, the travelers would be pulled in front of most of the doors and across the back walls of the concert hall.”