44 l June 2012 livereport
An Italian PA system was used for the first time at the event
15
www.prosoundnewseurope.com
GTOs were flown each side of the stage
Audio veteran Andrea Taglia
GTOdoes the job on Workers’ Day
ITALY
FOH engineers at huge concert in the Italian capital give Mike Clark their feedback on Outline’s GTO large-format line array
THROUGH THE years, Rome’s May Day concerts have featured JBL, Clair Bros and d&b sound systems, but this was the first with an Italian brand; production contractor Limelite fielded Outline’s GTO large- format line array to cover a reported crowd of over 750,000 in Piazza San Giovanni in the centre of the Eternal City. ‘The music of desire. Hope, passion, future’ was the title of the 23rd edition of the concert, organised by Italy’s three major trade unions (CGIL, CISL and UIL), produced by Anyway Srl and broadcast nationwide on TV by Rai 3. The show featured some of Italy’s top indie bands
and emerging names, a resident band and the 58-piece Roma Sinfonietta orchestra. The huge set included three mobile stages: one for the orchestra and two on which bands alternated. Limelite’s Emilio Esposti was
in charge of the event’s audio, while the three FOH engineers at the PM1D (orchestra) and two PM5D (bands) consoles were Andrea Taglia, Massimo Barbieri and Davide Lombardi (also system engineer). Lombardi explained the set- up: “The main system featured 15 GTO and three GTO-LOW per side with eight GTO-SUBs flown alongside. We ground- installed 12 Lab21 HS infra-sub
enclosures, two-up in arc delay configuration, with six Butterfly frontfill speakers on top. We also had three delay towers, between 80m and 90m from the stage. One covered a very wide area, with 12 Outline Butterfly and six Subtech 218 subs in cardioid configuration, another had eight Butterfly and four subs (again with a cardioid layout) and the third was the same, with the addition of a separate hang of six Outline Mantas to cover an even wider area, thanks to their 120º dispersion.” Lombardi appreciated the fact
that, in spite of its size, the rig was not at all complicated:
“With very little time to equalise and align the system, due to traffic having access to the square up until the morning of the show, it was almost a case of plug and play.” Lombardi who, among others,
mixed sound for saxophone ace Stefano Di Battista’s version of the national anthem and headliner Caparezza, who ended the marathon at midnight, opined: “I was also astonished by the fact that at over 100m from the stage, the sound was still ‘in your face’ – not just the mids, but the entire frequency range, very full at the bottom end, clean and precise.” Barbieri has worked on both studio and live events with top Italian pop names and TV shows, such as the last Italian edition of X Factor, but was on his first May Day concert outing. He enthused: “Apart from the enormous SPL, very steady and clear with good horizontal low-frequency diffusion – thanks also to the excellent job done by Davide on installation and tuning – I found the GTO really versatile, passing from being very smooth, almost hi-fi, with acoustic or classical music, even at high volumes, to showing its claws when the music got heavier, without becoming harsh.”
is a well-known face on the international concert scene for his work as FOH engineer for tenor Andrea Bocelli, but he too was at his first Rome May Day concert. On the orchestra stage, he mixed 10 classic rock hits, each performed by a different artist, seven of whom were accompanied by the Roma Sinfonietta, directed by Mauro Pagani (original violinist with Italian prog rock band PFM). “I must say that overall the GTO really astonished me – it was the first time I’d heard a rig that was better than L-Acoustics’ K1, which I considered unique: it has well-controlled low frequencies and was well defined and enormously powerful, even after eight hours’ work at high volumes. Mids were well heard, but never brash, the well-defined top end was never shrill, but powerful and with great headroom. Over long distances, the four 3” drivers per enclosure showed that they were able to provide definition where not even the K1, which I had always believed to be the system with the best sound projection, managed to achieve in the past on numerous shows with Bocelli. Plus, the sub provided an enormous punch when pushed to the max, such as with Caparezza, Subsonica and Almamegretta, amazing everyone with the wavefront they unleashed even at the lowest frequencies. In short, the PA really was the most pleasant surprise at my first May Day concert!” Esposti added: “An Italian
PA was finally used in Piazza San Giovanni! I think ‘powerful’ and ‘brilliant’ are the adjectives most suited to describing the sound provided by the GTO and delay towers, and the formations alternating on the three stages enabled us to appreciate PA response with different genres – from ‘symphonic’ to pop and rock.” Outline’s system supervisor at
the event, Francesco Ferretti, concluded: “It was a great satisfaction to see such a huge crowd responding to artists’ performances – hands in the air, singing and dancing along with the songs. That meant they understood exactly what they were listening to, at a good sound level (over 100dB), and enjoyed themselves – no easy job with a crowd that size, but we succeeded!
www.outlinearray.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68