When we presented the first nine years of the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival in the Grand Hall of the Haines Junction Convention Centre, we struggled every year to get the acoustic sound right. We experimented with different speaker configurations, microphones, monitors, sound engineers, and even tried relocating engineers in the theatre. In the end, we never really got it right, realizing the acoustics were problems we could not solve.
I attended the 15th Annual Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival a few weeks ago and was amazed at the quality of sound in the Grand Hall courtesy of the Junction Arts and Music Society (JAM), the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, the Community Development Fund, and the Village of Haines Junction. The Grand Hall underwent extensive redesigns in the past years to improve sound quality, led by Dieter Gade of JAM who coordinated the funding applications and oversaw all the renovations. The theatre now has sound baffles on the walls and ceiling, new sound equipment, and a redesigned control room. These renovations have produced a top quality soundscape in the theatre.
Thanks to Dieter Gade for his vision, and for making it all happen. Haines Junction should be very proud of their world-class theatre. Thanks to the Yukon Bluegrass Music Society for presenting a top-shelf festival, and Jim Holland who produced the excellent front-of-house sound. My ears were smiling the whole weekend.
Bob Hayes
Whitehorse