With miniature microphones wrapped around his ears, a digital recorder in his lap, and a keen sense of what to listen for, Ed McCue isn't here just for the music. He listens while the hall is filling up. Ed McCue is an acoustician. He helped design the Great Hall and has spent several days tuning and fine tuning the acoustics of the facility and inspecting its workmanship. The kind of acoustics I do, there's no book, no text book.
Acoustics differ from space to space.
Our work is just to find out what's going to make the people happiest when they use the space. From the looks of the children squirming in their seats with tapping toes and waving arms, they are very happy. This staged concert is just the Great Hall's first acoustic test. McCue returns to the hall in the evening for tests that require a backdrop of silence. These elements are only part of what makes the Great Hall a pleasant place for musical or theatrical performances.