Performing with the City of Cork Symphony Orchestra at the Independent Park (previously Musgrave Park) rugby stadium, José Carreras and Katherine Jenkins were supported by EQ Audio & Events with an Outline GTO sound reinforcement system.
The rig comprised 12 Outline GTO C-12 boxes per side for the main LR hangs, chosen for their transparent sound and even coverage. Outline Butterfly CDH-483 cabinets were fielded for fills – out fill comprised ten CDH-483s per side, with more of the same enclosures behind the FOH platform. All the CDH-483s were powered by Outline T7 amplifiers, and the GTO C-12s were powered by Powersoft’snew X8 amplifiers for the first time.
According to Production Manager Shay Hannon, the drawing-board stage planning included making provision for the proximity of residential properties using Outline’s OpenArray 3D software package. Acoustic challenges inside the actual venue were caused by the reflective nature of the grandstand and the varying height at which the audience was seated.
Carreras’ FOH engineer, Peter Schneekloth, has worked with the world-famous tenor for 14 years, and praised the GTO’s performance and HF throw, commenting that the system delivered a very good sound and only required some phase-alignment and fine EQ tuning. When Jenkins’ FOH engineer Steven Carr arrived on the morning of the show, he made some EQ and level adjustments using a combination of ears and measurement software.
As well as the positive feedback on sonic quality and coverage, the production team’s riggers gave GTO’s rigging system the thumbs-up for the speed with which the boxes can be flown and their compact dimensions, which also reduces set-up times and transport costs considerably.
In spite of the venue being ‘asymmetric’, with grandstand seating on one side only, Schneekloth found coverage very even: ‘Apart from a few changes with the out fills for the grandstand, everything worked very well from the outset,’ he says. ‘It was a great help to work with the engineers and technicians from EQ Audio staff and Outline’s Francesco Ferretti.’
‘The benefits of the Outline system were good sound quality, efficiency and plenty of headroom,’ Carr adds.
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