The thriving Kings Place arts venue in London’s Kings Cross has launched its Sound Unwrapped season of performances for 2023, in partnership with d&b audiotechnik and using the Soundscape immersive audio system.
‘Even a spotless stereo mix is almost like a still image,’ says Kings Place Music Foundation Audio & Recording Manager, Gerardo Marrone. ‘It can’t unexpectedly call for your attention from far away or right behind your head, jumping from one side to the other of your body, trespassing your idea of three-dimensional. d&b Soundscape brings a new, immense canvas that artists are called to fill by adapting their existing shows to sound like a completely new experience.
‘d&b Soundscape aims to cover every single member of the audience and welcome them into the artists’ world, from pure sound design to hybrid performances.’
The partnership with d&b will see Kings Place use the Soundscape system as an integral part of its Sound Unwrapped arts programme. The performances will work with the Soundscape to explore spatial dimensions in live performance, and new creative possibilities in sound and space, through music from innovative, pioneering artists and composers.
At a basic level, Soundscape gives artists and composers the ability to precisely ‘place’ sounds within a space. It enables the audience to pinpoint each source, allowing sound to be perceived to emanate exactly from a singer or an instrument at a point on the stage.
Sounds can also moved and manipulated as effects to build and enhance the listening experience. Soundscape also has the power to change a room’s acoustic signature – opening a greater range of possibilities for the presentation of musical art, and to an audience’s experience of live performance.
The relationship between d&b audiotechnik and Kings Place goes back several years. ‘Kings Place has trusted d&b to deliver across all its venues and spaces for a wide range of musical genres, corporate clients, art and A/V,’ says Wayne Powell, Artist Relations at d&b audiotechnik. ‘Being attentive to the audience experience as well as the programme, this feels like a natural progression for them. We are very positive about what we’ve achieved together with Soundscape and its potential for the Sound Unwrapped series.’
Powell has been supporting the Kings Place team, initiating talks with artists, composers, record labels and management, and organising workshops and studio time to help them explore the possibilities of immersive audio. ‘It’s very much about recognising their creative ideas and articulating them using Soundscape: creativity always sets the trajectory, our technology is there to make it happen,’ he says.
‘I truly believe d&b Soundscape represents a huge opportunity for audience members to be part of something they don’t even believe is possible from a large-scale live PA system,’ Marrone concludes. ‘It creates a much more intimate and inclusive space.’
Sound Unwrapped at Kings Place runs through 2023.
More: www.dbaudio.com
