I was graciously granted a tour of Utah State University’s Chase Fine Arts Building & the Manon Caine Russell/Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall. These two women are among North Utah's most treasured benefactors. The older FA Building contains Kent Concert Hall & a huge theater. Both buildings are under the Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences Dept.
The one + year old Caine Performance Hall is state of the art, designed by Sasaki Associates (estimated 1000 awards listed at their website), makes SF’s Davies Symphony Hall sound like da bomb (in the bad sense), isolated HVAC, 18" thick concrete walls all 'round, a blissful calm blankets you & your blood pressure drops upon entering, 6 dB noise floor, 420 seats, gorgeous pine stage floor engineered as a soundboard (sealed only, otherwise unfinished), apparently cedar full-height interior walls (ceiling estimated 35'), electrically operated acoustic drapes for all vertical walls + manual acoustic dampers filled apparently w/ OC703, gorgeous decor, crystal clear audibility of someone on the opposite side speaking at normal conversational level, $250k Fazioli grand & the fanatic music dept is now choosing between two different Steinways (NY & Hamburg, now on the stage) as alternatives to the Fazoli (which did sound bright when played off-stage). Was told Fazioli personally built the huge grand on-site.
Regarding the 6 dB noise floor: the Technical Director has made quiet operation a priority for future audio equipment acquisitions; he said pro audio equipment rated to meet a 16 dB test are considered dead quiet, meaning none are rated to be below this threshold. From that point of view this Performance Hall requires a new standard for quiet pro audio operation!
http://www.sasaki.com/what/portfolio.cgi?fid=373&project_type=13&page=5"...Octagonal main space is conceived as a 'second universe'..." (Sasaki website)
Origami metal/ceramic sculpture will soon cover the lobby wall, North Utah skies are lit like this around 10:05pm this time of year:
Lobby pictured below is interconnected but completely seperate building from the hall for isolation: lobby glass on the right/18" of good ole concrete on the left, nothing spared in the design (sculpture to cover lobby wall on the left)
This hall must be the finest local manmade treasure & I can’t wait to hear a performance in it. Auditioned were live piano & extensive playback of the custom 3-ways & subs playing music recorded in the hall, sourced by the original master hard-drive through the house Allen & Heath board. From that admitedly incomplete audition, a thorough walk-through & conversing in it, I feel confident labeling it the finest acoustic environment I've experienced. It would be worth paying a fee to simply walk into the space & experience it aurally & its eye-popping visual beauty. If I’m allowed to take pics I’ll post after my next visit. I rode my bike this time & did not bring the camera.
I’m hoping to be granted the rare opportunity to assist w/ some engineering chores in the future at this great hall. Would also like to assist w/ the installation of multi-channel digital recording equipment in the future.
USU's resident string quartet records in IsoMic at University of UT in Salt Lake City (where Ray Kimber records). If you have not heard IsoMic recordings, especially played back in 4-ch as recorded (speakers in each corner of playback room), you have arguably not heard the absolute state of the art in modern recording techniques. Ray’s IsoMic seems to capture more of the essence & acoustic of live performance than anything else. Paul & Brian Weitzel of TRL fame may be a close second, much of the essence & detail but lacking the utmost in acoustic space as per Kimber. Kimber's dynamic range is unmatched IMO. Scary...be wary of the unwelcome aroma of fried voice coils &/or the sound of amplifier clipping.
In addition to Brandon Lee, the best 20 year old pianist in the USA (competition winner) heard/seen Saturday night for free, I'm seeing guitarist John Danley
http://www.johndanley.com/about.html 
about 50 maximum seats, $10 this Saturday (last show at this great venue had free coffee/deserts). Later in September I'll be listening for free to a world-class opera singer who has sung by invitation at the Vatican & the White House...life's tough here.
