Italian tenor
Andreas Bocelli has completed
an arena tour of New Zealand and Australia
with an L-ACOUSTICS
KUDO line source
array system provided by Norwest Productions.
The tour included a show at the Sydney
Acer Arena, the largest in the southern
hemisphere, where Bocelli broke his previous
world box office arena record, putting
$AU3.273 million through the registers.
The concerts featured a 76-piece orchestra
and a 60-piece choir together with baritone
Gianfranco Montresor, soprano Paola
Sanguinetti and guest star Tina
Arena accompanying
Bocelli.
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“As each orchestra member
is playing towards the conductor, the orchestra
itself can be considered a point source,” says
sound designer Andrea Taglia, whose priority
for the main system was to preserve the orchestra’s
sound image, retaining a sharp correlation between
the visual of the musicians playing live and
the sound system reinforcing it."
“I designed
a full mono system with a centre cluster of between
12 and 15 KUDO cabinets, depending on the venue,
to cover the floor. There was a left and right
hang, again of between 12
and 15 KUDOs per side,
to cover side balconies; left and right side
hangs of eight KUDOs per side to cover audience
seated at the sides of the stage; delays of one
or two clusters of six
to eight KUDOs for covering
the front of the balcony and an arc delay subwoofer
system of 12 SB218 subs on the ground in front
of stage.”
KUDO was chosen because its variable horizontal
directivity kept the focus on the audience, avoiding
reflections. On the side balconies, an asymmetrical
configuration of 55°/25° gave smooth
dispersion of SPL and frequency for those close
to the 55° angled loudspeakers, while those
further away enjoyed good high frequency penetration
and SPL thanks to the 25° angles. Fully
open KUDO cabinets with 110° angles, often rigged
at around 15m from the floor, helped cover the
front rows without much image shift, while those
closed to 50° gave a good focus for the audience
further back. “In Melbourne we didn’t
use delays as the rigging points didn’t
allow this, and with a centre cluster of 15
KUDOs we could easily cover the floor and centre balcony
up to an amazing distance of 76m from front of
the stage!” says Taglia.
Another benefit of KUDO was that its small footprint
preserved sightlines, while its easy captive
rigging system allowed the full system to be
rigged in a few hours, leaving plenty of time
to focus, trim, align and EQ the day before the
show. This meant that show days were relaxed
and focused on mixing.
Taglia used L-ACOUSTICS’ Soundvision prediction
software in conjunction with seating plans and
rigging points for the different venues. “As
both the Soundvision predictions and venue databases
were very exact, we only needed to trim the system
using an inclinometer and laser pointers mounted
on top of KUDO bumpers,” he says. “KUDO is a true line source array so a cluster of even
15 cabinets will be heard as a single huge loudspeaker
with perfect fusion of all components. With a
little tuning the sound image and frequency response
will be enjoyable for any audience member.
“Soundvision helped define what was needed
months in advance, allowing us to plan the tour
budget accurately and give the crew a printout
of the system report. This software is highly
reliable, with amazing precision that can solve
any problems and glitches.” It wasn’t
just the sound crew who appreciated the
KUDO system. “The promoter, local venues and
audiences were amazed that the sound system was
virtually invisible, giving the illusion that
the sound was coming directly from the orchestra
on stage,” concludes Taglia. “This
was noted in the press by several journalists
who appreciated the natural and clear sound reinforcement,
regardless of the venue or the seat.”
More information on : www.norwestproductions.com
More information on : www.randomaudio.com.au (L-ACOUSTICS
Distributor in Australia & New-Zealand)