Top left: EartH was originally
an abandoned cinema
Above: The FOH consoles are
two DiGiCo SD12 units
Right: Five hangs of seven
Kara line sources are
positioned above the stage
38 AUDITORIA 2019 VOLUME ONE
were heavily involved in the specification and
installation of L-ISA – run the system and
provide support for visiting engineers utilizing it.
A steady stream of visiting engineers have
already taken advantage of the new immersive
system, including Johnny Marr’s FOH engineer,
Russ Miller. “I was blown away by it,” he
comments. “The separation is unbelievable,
without it feeling like there are separate sources.
At sound check our backline techs were amazed;
we had people just walking around the venue
listening and it sounded the same from front to
back and from side to side. Switching to L-ISA
and not having to jump through hoops to get the
separation was amazing. With L-ISA, if you put
the vocal in the center, it’s in the center and not
a phantom center.”
New dimensions
In addition to placing sound objects to reflect
their physical location on stage, Miller decided to
make full use of L-ISA’s three-dimensional
processing for a psychedelic moment in the Marr
set. “Johnny has a song on the new album called
New Dominions,” he says. “It has a breakdown
section in the middle that comes down to just
bass and drums, and then Johnny comes in and
there are delay throws where I change the delay
time so that it creates a pitch change. It’s an old
trick, but it works for this.”
At EartH, Miller took the stereo delay output
and sent it to the house console where they could
play the L-ISA pan, width, depth and elevation
parameters. “I said, ‘Let’s go crazy and throw
it around – send it over people, to the back,
all around’,” says Miller. “Johnny always said
it should be trippy and psychedelic. It worked
incredibly well.”
“After only about four minutes of putting stuff
through the PA I realized that this system is a
solution to a very old problem,” Miller concludes.
“It’s a big move into bringing down sound levels
so you’re not smashing people in the face, but
you’re still producing something that excites
and intoxicates the audience. This technology
is amazing, it’s not going away, and it can only
become more popular.” n
www.l-acoustics.com
L-ISA technology uses spatial audio
processing to position up to 96 sound objects in
three dimensions inside a performance space.
The L-ISA configuration at EartH comprises
five hangs of seven Kara variable curvature line
sources spaced evenly above the stage and a
central sub system of four flown KS28 units in
end-fire configuration in front and above the
central Kara hang. In addition, 10 X8 coaxial
enclosures are positioned along the stage lip for
front fill. The surround system comprises 12 Syva
colinear sources – four per side, mounted along
the left, right and rear walls. An overhead system
of eight ceiling-mounted X8 coaxial enclosures
completes the installation.
The front-of-house (FOH) consoles are two
DiGiCo SD12 units selected for their onboard
integration with the L-ISA technology via the
L-ISA Desk Link, plus their power, flexibility and
popularity. Audio from these runs via MADI to
the L-ISA processor, which outputs on MADI.
The signals are then converted to AVB and
distributed to one LA12X and 18 LA4X amplified
controllers, which drive the system.
Well I wonder
Adlib project manager Rob Crossland comments
that when he saw and heard the L-ISA system
demonstrated at the Prolight+Sound show in
Frankfurt, Germany, he knew it would be a
game-changer. “We’re only really scratching the
surface of the system while we learn more about
its scope and depth,” he says. “As mix engineers
start exploring the possibilities, I think we’ll hear
some spectacular results that just couldn’t have
been achieved with a conventional approach”.
Day to day, EartH’s house audio team –
Luca Romani and Alessandro Melchior, who
Maria Zhytnikova
Luke Hayes
Maria Zhytnikova
ACOUSTICS
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