Raise the stage for optimal sound quality

One of the nation’s foremost pannists and professional pan tuner, Veron Henry, has suggested that the platform for the panorama competition needs to be a bit higher.
Noting that the platform “is currently one-foot-high”, Henry explained “that’s kind of buried between the audience, and the bodies of the people in the audience soak up a lot of the sound. If it was three or four feet high then the sound would have been a lot better.”
Henry stressed, “The platform should have been a bit higher,”in an interview yesterday on OBSERVER AM.
The captain of the Hells Gate Steel Orchestra added that the sound was actually better than it had been in previous years and the recordings of the various renditions would prove this, he said.
Khan Cordice, noted pan arranger and two-time panorama champion arranger, appeared on the same radio programme, agreed with Henry.
Cordice said that he listened to the various orchestras on the night of the competition [Saturday, August 4] and he experienced the muffled sound at the back of the crowd on the grounds but by just going up a few steps he was able to hear more clearly. He said it was like coming up out of water.
Cordice went on to say that if the grounds were set up like an amphitheatre where the lowest seats were at the front then poor sound quality would not be a problem for those sitting in the back. He added that the roof is really an issue that affects the sound quality but he is optimistic that the pan fraternity and the carnival organising bodies will continue to dialogue to make the product better.
Henry added that this was a successful year for pan and revealed that he tuned pans for four of the orchestras that took part in this year’s competition. He said that he received all positive feedback about the sound of those bands he worked with.
Pointing out that initially he was only supposed to have worked with three bands, Henry disclosed that the fourth came on at the last minute, so he had to stretch himself out to cater to all four bands during their practices. He said that he experienced many late nights as he had to sometimes attend two separate practices on any given night.
The 2018 FLOW Panorama Competition ended in a tie between the Hells Gate Steel Orchestra and the Panache Steel Orchestra. The Halcyon Steel Orchestra secured the third-place position.
Zahra Lake – first female arranger to win – was the arranger for Panache which did a rendition of Good Time by Tian Winter while Khan Cordice led Hells Gate to its 20th win with a rendition of Queen Thalia’s – Steel Band War.
The Halcyon Steel Orchestra boasted the youngest arranger in this year’s competition, Diondre Teague, 16.