Following last year’s Elrow Ibiza in Amnesia event, the RDS Stadium in Genoa, Italy, again hosted the event for 2019. Among the best known events of its type in the world, sound quality played a fundamental role in its success. The audio rig able to meet the requirements of the world-level event was supplied by Show Technologies TM of Recco (Genoa) with an Outline system.
‘We adopted a solution we’d already successfully used in the location in question, which comprised two hangs of 12 Outline Butterfly systems, positioned approximately 10m above the floor and 15m apart, plus two groups of three Outline Mantas modules, stacked left and right and six Mantas modules on front fill,’ Sacha Bozzo, partner with Show Technologies TM, explains.
‘This type of event, featuring techno music with DJ sets, has reached production costs to the point of being comparable with rock concerts with medium/large artists,’ PA man Giancarlo ‘Jerry’ Paladini continues. ‘Consequently, the performance expected by artists and promoters from the rigs has increased considerably. Many DJs arrive with their own sound engineer, who has the job of checking the system and, if necessary, making changes to achieve the required results.
‘However, there is a big difference – they must also ensure 130dB SPL and more for an entire evening, in other words at least six hours, so a considerable amount of equipment must be installed.’
To reduce the space occupied by the 20 Outline DBS 18-2 subwoofers deployed, they were positioned under the stage, divided into two groups of nine in end-fire configuration at the sides and the remaining two positioned in the centre to optimise distribution.
As well as ensuring a ‘cleaner’ stage zone, without foregoing losing impact at the front rows of the audience, this enabled an increase of at least 3-to-4dB of dynamic headroom on the low frequencies. The subs were powered by Outline T11 and T9 amplifiers.
‘I would say that the result achieved was really exceptional,’ Paladini says. ‘The sound pressure was very high and well distributed over the entire floor of the venue [the stagefront was 40m wide] with an impeccable quality, and we managed to reduce to a minimum the reflections from the venue’s walls, thanks to the directivity of the system’s components.’
Although reaching incredible sound pressure levels, the rig still ensures discrete power headroom, also providing the necessary reliability for this type of event: ‘For the DJs’ monitoring, we used two stacked clusters, each of three Outline Mantas modules, positioned on the left and right of the artists, atop two DBS 18-2 subwoofers,’ Bozzo continues. ‘For some, this could seem rather excessive, particularly for monitoring for one person, but apart from the technical rider to be respected, and on the condition of not exaggerating with the volume otherwise risking permanent hearing damage, it definitely ensures enjoyable listening and is much better than an under-sized system running almost on clipping level.
‘The overall result was even better than my expectations and the various problems cause by the type of event and location were really easily solved,’ Paladini reports
‘The coverage was consistent and uniform, the front fill enabled us to open the two main clusters slightly outwards and thus cover the tiered seating opened for the occasion, as the event sold out,’ Bozzo adds. ‘In short, with the audience satisfied, us satisfied, the promoter satisfied and the artistes too, things couldn’t have gone better.’
More: www.outline.it
