d&b audiotechnik ArrayProcessing Brings Harmony to the Amphitheatre

The ancient Roman amphitheatre in Verona was the magnificent setting for Intimissimi on Ice, a sumptuous evening of music and dance on a vast iced stage that covered nearly half the arena floor. Designed in the classical amphitheatre style, the two thousand year old stone structure is elliptical in shape, with the outer walls standing about 17m in height. The audience was seated in the remaining half of the arena floor and on seating built into the steeply tiered bleachers of the original structure. Beautiful and atmospheric certainly, yet presenting quite a challenge for sound reinforcement.

Davide Carlotti, education and application support at d&b audiotechnik Italia explains why d&b ArrayProcessing was deployed. "To begin with, ArrayProcessing was chosen for its help with performances in this sort of environment. It was the first time for our partner, Musical Box Rent, at a big event such as this, with so many challenges to find solutions for. The main L/R arrays, comprised of J-Series loudspeakers, had to be located a full 63m apart and 30m beyond and behind the edge of the stage to accommodate the necessary sight lines."

"The restrictions on where we could locate the main arrays, along with the size and shape of the stage, also dictated that the stalls area had to be covered by T-Series as frontfills and Y-SUBs; there were J-SUBs ground stacked below the left and right arrays. We also deployed several Y7Ps as infills for the stalls and outfills to cover the outer seating very close to the stage. Of course d&b ArrayCalc gave us the opportunity to predetermine the ideal locations for all the loudspeakers, within the specified parameters, but then using ArrayProcessing on the main J-Series array allowed us to deliver a perfect audio experience to each and every member of the audience."

Jonas "Jones" Wagner, education and application support at d&b, arrived the day after the initial load in. "Musical Box Rent had done a great job in rigging the system: the Romans never designed these amphitheatres for 21st century shows. With the two arrays rigged so far apart, and with all the variables of the tiered seating and stonework, we were all eager to hear just what a difference ArrayProcessing could make here. We were not disappointed. With ArrayProcessing, each loudspeaker within the array is processed individually, which achieves a consistent sound everywhere throughout the listening area, optimizing the audio experience for each individual in the audience. As Davide said, some Y7P loudspeakers were used as fill speakers here and there while the T10 loudspeakers on the stage lip brought back the imaging for the first rows towards the ice skating area."

The event consisted of a wide variety of musical genres, from some of the most famous opera arias to a short set from Ellie Goulding, accompanied by a choir and an orchestra, while the iced stage area provided the perfect setting for performances by world dance skating champions. The task of mixing front-of-house for all these different acts fell to Arturo Pellegrini. "This was a really prestigious show, set in the most atmospheric of venues. The coverage, for both level and frequency response, was smooth and consistent for the entire area and, if I had to find a word to describe the sound, it would be 'velvety'." Pellegrini concludes: "I was quite concerned that the combination of the distances, the dynamics of the musical program. and the elliptical shape of the venue would prove insurmountable, but I was proved wrong on all counts."