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SYDNEY — During their recent sevenstop
Australian tour, the two-piece Brit
band Goldfrapp stopped at the famous
Sydney Opera House for a side show. In
the grand setting of the Sydney Opera
House, Goldfrapp emerged as a six-piece
band dressed entirely in white, and were
fittingly accompanied by a 14-piece string
section including two harps on a stage set
consisting of bunting and a maypole. Sydney’s
own Norwest productions provided
the PA system for the stop, as well as for
Parklife Sydney and Parklife Brisbane Festivals.
Sydney gig’s sound design was executed
by the multi-tasking System Tech
Justin Arthur, using Adamson’s latest version
of Adamson Shooter software (2.7.0),
which allows accurate predictions of all
Adamson line array systems set-up in any
venue. Arthur’s design placed a flown ste-
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International News
Paul McCartney Delivers Historic Concert in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV, Israel — Paul McCartney delivered
a historic performance in the Israeli city
of Tel Aviv, nearly 43 years after the Israeli government
banned The Beatles’ show in 1965 for
being too subversive. The highly anticipated
occasion was held at the city’s Hayarkon Park,
the site of concerts by Michael Jackson, U2
and Elton John. Slovenia-based Festival Novo
Mesto and Israel’s Kilim Electronics provided
a Meyer Sound system for the event.
The main system comprises two hangs of
14 MILO line array loudspeakers each, augmented
by two sidefill arrays of 10 more MILO
boxes each and several UPA-1P loudspeakers
for frontfill. Forty-eight 700-HP subwoofers
cover the low frequency, and two towers of
10 MICA line array loudspeakers each serve
as delays. “Paul’s very much a live rock ‘n’ roll
player, and he approaches
the songs from a very
straightforward, old-school
perspective,” explains Mc-
Cartney’s longtime FOH
engineer Paul “Pab” Boothroyd.
“People have an
attachment to these songs,
and it’s my job to reproduce
it faithfully, with the
vocals and the hooks as
they expect to hear them.
The MILO array does a
great job of delivering that
degree of accuracy, with a
focus that will cover every
seat in the house. And the MILO handles the
full dynamic range, from the intimacy of Paul
Sydney Opera House
Brings Goldfrapp to Light
Goldfrapp performing at
the Sydney Opera House
reo mains system, each array with 12 Y10s,
a single SpekTrix with a 15° SpekTrix W
(Wide Angle Vertical Enclosure) as an under-hang,
to highlight the first few rows of
the audience.
Two sets of side-fills had six Y10 and
five Y10 enclosures hung per side, covering
the multiple balconies off to the sides
of the stage. Another six SpekTrix enclosures
were places on stage as front fills,
with a four stack of T21 Subs aside. A total
of 48 Lab.gruppen FP6400 powered the
system and processing was handled by
five Dolby Lake 4-12s.
At FOH, a Digidesign Profile provided
ample mixing room for both FOH engineer
Ben Findlay and Arthur, who stood in
for the opening act, the Australian songstress
Bertie Blackman. As the 4th show of
the seven Australian dates, Findlay commented
that it had been the best sounding
show on the tour thus far. For Arthur,
the venue was perfect. “If one had to find a
‘problem’ (with the Opera House), the only
thing that comes to mind is that the room
is so live, but that cleans up as soon as the
room is filled with punters.”
At monitors, gear consisted of a Yamaha
PM1D, 14 Sennheiser G2 systems and a
single EAW KF850 with a SB850 per side,
processed with EAW UX8800s and powered
by three Lab.gruppen FP+10000Qs.
ROJO Rocks in Peru
PERU — Allen & Heath’s iLive digital mixing
system recently made its debut in Peru when it
was employed in Lima’s Exhibition Park amphitheatre
for the concert of Christian pop/rock
band ROJO.
Comprising the iDR10 mix rack loaded with
48 inputs and 16 outputs and an iLive-144 control
surface, the system managed FOH and Monitor
sound for the four-piece band. Hailing from
Mexico, ROJO is popular in Hispanic-speaking
communities and regularly performs at venues
across South, Central and North America.
“The iLive digital mixer was easy to use, intuitive
and provided direct and quick access to
all functions, which makes it a great system for
live use,” comments FOH operator, Christian Jesus
Montenegro Giraldo. “The PA company offered
us various EQ and compressor units, but
iLive already has dynamics processors built in,
which is a huge advantage.
In addition to the main mix, in-ear and
wedge monitor mixes were controlled from
FOH and iLive was complemented by EAW
speaker systems and Crest Audio amplification.
FOH mixer Christian Jesus Montenegro Giraldo mixing
the ROJO concert
Paul McCartney performing in Tel Aviv 43 years after the Israeli government banned
The Beatles’ from performing.
NOVEMBER 2008 www.fohonline.com
playing solo with an acoustic guitar to the
whole band rocking full on.”
Maroon 5
Goes Mobile on
World Tour
Maroon 5’s FOH mixer Jim Ebdon
ENGLAND — These days, archiving
nightly shows on tour is standard fare, with
many A-list bands spending upwards of
$50,000 at the drop of a hat to build a touring
recording rig. But as Jim Ebdon found
on the current world tour with Maroon 5, he
was able to turn his DiGiCo D5 and Apple
Mac PowerBook into a mobile workstation
with RME’s HDSPe MADIface 128-Channel
192 kHz MADI PCI ExpressCard.
“With this setup, I’m able to have a fully
functioning recording studio on the road,”
Ebdon explains. “The MADIface card takes
up virtually no space and I can get it in my
computer bag. With that, along with the
D5’s fantastic functionality and very small
footprint — I’ve got one small rack at FOH
and one on stage with one thin cable linking
it all — I can get great results.”
Ebdon continues, “The MADIface is basically
two cables and I can record and play
back up to 56 straight, pre-EQ, pre-compressors,
pre-mute, straight-from-the-mic
pre -amp right into the computer. I’m using
Apple Logic, but there are half a dozen
other programs you can use just as a recording
platform. And it’s rock solid. Out
of the box, with the plug-ins it comes with
for $499, it’s a fantastic program. It was so
easy to set up for the first time, and the
recordings sound great. We also have 6-7
cameras shooting the show every night on
this tour, so we can easily sync up to the
video, too.”
Ebdon’s been able to get most of what
he needs from the DiGiCo D5’s onboard
sound palette, and is carrying only a handful
of additional external effects for this
tour including a Focusrite Producer Pack,
a TC6000 for extra and different-sounding
reverbs and a De-Esser for Adam Levine’s
lead vocals.
First OmniLine
Micro-Line Array
Installed in Ireland
BELFAST, Ireland — Magheralin
Parish Church, located 20 miles south
of Belfast, is the first installation
in Ireland with Martin Audio’s new
OmniLine micro-line array system.
As with many rural areas in Ireland,
large churches sprang up in the late
19th century during the Ulster revival
period; and although originally built
in 699 AD, Magheralin was rebuilt in
1891.
The Parish Church first approached
Rea Sound in December
2007 to discuss the possibility of installing
a new PA and visual system.
After numerous meetings, site visits
and a tender process, Rea Sound was
awarded the contract.
The original sound specification
was for the Martin Audio Blackline
Series as the preferred speaker system
— but it soon became clear that
the new OmniLine was the better way
forward. Rea Sound were also aware
that this would be the first OmniLine
install in a church anywhere in the UK
or Ireland — and possibly Europe.
Following a full sound study using
the OmniLine software, the optimum
position was calculated. The
furniture was designed, agreed to
and built locally, then subsequently
fitted in early August, allowing Rea
Sound to begin the installation. Getting
the proper setup was challenging
in terms of positioning the OmniLine
— but due to the flexibility of
the speakers, they were able to adjust
the height of install and the angles of
the arrays to gain secure fixings.
Powered from a single Martin Audio
MA1400 power amp and a DX1
system controller, the OmniLine provides
sound quality throughout the
church. The Chancel is provided for
by way of two AQ5s for infills. Like
many churches today, Magheralin is
using more and more live praise instruments,
necessitating an Allen &
Heath GL2400 32-channel desk located
in the rear left hand side of the
church, situated in the newly created
technical area, to provide main PA
mixing.
Martin Omniline Micro-Line Array in the Magheralin
Parish Church in Ireland