First held in 1985 at the invitation of Pope John Paul II, who organised a gathering in Rome on Palm Sunday to celebrate the Youth Jubilee of the Holy Year of Redemption, the climax of this year’s World Youth Day saw Pope Francis deliver a message of hope and unity to 250,000 people from different countries came in Lisbon.
Held every three-to-four years in a different country, this was largest event ever to be hosted in the city of Lisbon. The expansive, 100-hectare riverside Parque Tejo served as the primary location, with a massive stage conceived by architect João Matos, and a series of screens and audio systems set up along a 3.5km-long open-air space to accommodate the audience. Supporting the event with concert audio capable of serving the massive crowds was an L-Acoustics K Series sound system, designed and deployed by Pixel Light.
The challenge was to create a sound system that would deliver clear speech. An L-Acoustics rental partner since 2016, Pixel Light has a solid foundation of successful collaboration on major projects. For World Youth Day, challenge was to deliver comprehensive audio and video to 1.5m people over a sprawling 3.5km area, no matter their distance from the stage.
‘Our goal was to achieve a minimum of 97dB SPLA, considering the outdoor environment, wind, and the sheer number of attendees,’ explains Rafael Pereira, System Engineer and Sound Designer at Pixel Light. ‘Soundvision was instrumental in helping us predict coverage and balance the SPL across the entire audience area.’
Pixel Light opted exclusively for L-Acoustics products. Given the magnitude of the undertaking, this allowed them to create a comprehensive and consistent solution.
‘I believe we used every available piece of L-Acoustics equipment in Europe,’ says Sérgio Antunes, Project Manager for World Youth Day. ‘This decision not only met our needs but also significantly contributed to the project’s resounding success.’
Pereira divided the space into more than 72 parcels, each with its own screen and sound system. ‘I never thought it would be possible to cover a space like this with just 109 towers,’ he says. ‘I decided to try modelling it in Soundvision anyway, and I couldn’t believe it. It was possible. I used this 3D Soundvision model to show the client how it could be done, which helped convince them to award us the project.’
In all, Pixel Light deployed a record-breaking total of 1,100 L-Acoustics loudspeakers both on stage and on 109 delay towers. This assembly included 128 K1 line source elements, 272 K2, and 132 K3. Additionally, 528 Kara elements and 24 dV-Dosc elements were deployed. The system was driven by 196 LA12X and 93 LA8 amplified controllers. Pixel Light built a network of audio and control systems using 103km of fibre, and more than 300 switches to connect everything.
Drawing from several different L-Acoustics loudspeaker lines, Pereira prioritised even tonal balance and SPL with the objective of providing speech intelligibility in the speech range. ‘I was limited to one LA-Rak per delay tower. Taking this into account and to facilitate load-in/load-out, I created five varying types of arrays that included four K1 over six Kara; eight K2; 12 Kara,12 K3; or four V-Dosc over six dV-Dosc.’
It took a team of 24 people and six days to fly the sound system – two days were required to set up the network, and then two more days were used for tuning and rehearsal.
‘From the outset, we knew this project was destined to be colossal in size, but the final outcome surpassed even our wildest imaginations. Our dedicated team ensured the best possible coverage, delivering an unrivalled audio experience that resonated with every single one of the attendees. From the start of the event to its conclusion, the feedback from the production team was nothing short of positive – not a single audio complaint was registered,’ Antunes says.
See also:
Newton gets Pope Delay mod for World Youth Day
More: www.pixellight.pt
