PANJIM: Roger Drego, the Sound Man of India, on Wednesday said that the sound system installed in the renovated Kala Academy is old and not proper.
Addressing a press conference at Institute Menezes Braganza (IMB) hall in the city, he said, “The sound system they have put is not something that is normally used in an auditorium. Boss is a company which is famous for home and car audience but they are not into doing sound for auditorium or theatre.”
“If you look at VOQ, this is also not known. Tannoy again is not a company which does sound for auditorium or theatre. This is where the thing went wrong first. The sound mixer installed is an eight-year-old model. This also should have been upgraded to something much newer,” he said.
He said while taking a round of the auditorium, he found that the system is not good for the last four rows.
“There will be a problem for the audience sitting there. When you are upgrading and putting a new sound system, you should use a brand which is popular. Nobody puts Bose anywhere now. Nowhere have I seen it in any theatre,” he said.
“In Amphitheatre, they have suggested to put up F1 system which is a nine-year-old model. It was launched in 2015. Why to buy something which is so old?. They have not consulted the actual people who will use them. There are artistes in Goa and musicians they are actually going to use Kala Academy and have been using Kala Academy. They should have been taken into confidence and ask what is their opinion,” he said.
Drego said the lighting has the same problem.
“With those lights, view is not proper. They have put blinders above the place where artistes perform. The light is of 150 watt which is used in a small club. It is wrong,” he said.
Drego, who had installed the systems in the iconic building in 2003, was present when Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao along with artistes inspected the Kala Academy building and had demanded that the government issue a white paper on the shoddy repair works of the iconic building carried out by the Public Works Department (PWD) on Tuesday.