The Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s recent of Amadeus Live performance at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall and Edinburgh’s Usher Hall saw Warehouse Sound Services and local sound provider A&R Martin collaborate over the sound reinforcement system, with an Adamson S10 line array delivering the goods.
Winner of eight Academy Awards, four BAFTAs and four Golden Globes, the film – with Tom Hulce as Mozart and an Oscar-winning performance from F Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri – Amadeus is a period drama that loans its soundtrack from Beethoven’s classical catalogue. For the Usher Hall and Royal Concert Hall screenings, this was provided live by the full Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) and RSNO Chorus conducted by Ludwig Wicki.
Wicki is himself a renowned Swiss composer, trombonist and conductor. He is also the founder and artistic director of the 21st Century Orchestra, which performs film music concerts and collaborates with film composers. From The Lord of the Rings to The Artist and Titanic, the music is brought to life in live-to-projection concerts.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is one of Europe’s leading orchestras, with a history stretching over 120 years. It is one of Scotland’s leading cultural institutions, and an orchestra with a variety of work that is almost unparalleled among its British peers. Its education programme, the reputation of its recording back catalogue, the loyalty of its audiences, and the passion of its musicians, staff and directors are key assets in building future success.
The RSNO chorus evolved in 1843 to form a choir. Today the RSNO Chorus is one of the most successful in the UK. As well as performing with the RSNO the choir also performs with orchestras throughout the world establishing an international status.
The Amadeus Live events presented a challenging sound reinforcement for several reasons….
‘The two venues represented very different challenges both sonically and physically, explains Douglas Martin of The Warehouse. ‘We had to consider proximity of speakers to the orchestra players and microphones on stage while not compromising sightlines to the cinema screen hung upstage of the orchestra and choir. Adamson S10 gave me the flexibility to cover both venues with completely opposite rigging approaches while maintaining full coverage of all levels of the auditorium at all frequencies. The system is very transparent and works exceptionally well amplifying the orchestra with the punch to deliver the cinema tracks and FX with clarity when required.’
In all, 24 S10 line array elements were flown in two hangs of 12 left and right of the stage. Four S119 subwoofers were also used to reinforce low end. Almplification was provided by Lab.gruppen PLM20K44 amplifiers using Lake processing, and a Lake LM44 at FOH. A DiGiCo SD10 mixing console was used on front of house with two SD-Racks and SD-Nano, all running at 96kHz on HMA optical. The orchestra mics were predominantly Neumann, with some DPA and AKG models, while the choir was miked with Shure KSM dual-diaphragm dynamic handhelds.
