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L-Acoustics Kudo for Andreas Bocelli Tour of Australia and New Zealand

Italian tenor Andreas Bocelli has completed an arena tour of New Zealand and Australia with an L-Acoustics Kudo line source array system provided by Norwest Productions. The tour included a show at the Sydney Acer Arena, the largest in the southern hemisphere, where Bocelli broke his previous world box office arena record, putting $AU3.273 million through the registers.

The concerts featured a 76-piece orchestra and a 60-piece choir together with baritone Gianfranco Montresor, soprano Paola Sanguinetti and guest star Tina Arena accompanying Bocelli.

"As each orchestra member is playing towards the conductor, the orchestra itself can be considered a point source," says sound designer Andrea Taglia, whose priority for the main system was to preserve the orchestra's sound image, retaining a sharp correlation between the visual of the musicians playing live and the sound system reinforcing it. "I designed a full mono system with a centre cluster of between 12 and 15 Kudo cabinets, depending on the venue, to cover the floor. There was a left and right hang, again of between 12 and 15 Kudos per side, to cover side balconies; left and right side hangs of eight Kudos per side to cover audience seated at the sides of the stage; delays of one or two clusters of six to eight Kudos for covering the front of the balcony and an arc delay subwoofer system of 12 SB218 subs on the ground in front of stage."

Kudo was chosen because its variable horizontal directivity kept the focus on the audience, avoiding reflections. On the side balconies, an asymmetrical configuration of 55°/25° gave smooth dispersion of SPL and frequency for those close to the 55° angled loudspeakers, while those further away enjoyed good high frequency penetration and SPL thanks to the 25° angles. Fully open Kudo cabinets with 110° angles, often rigged at around 15m from the floor, helped cover the front rows without much image shift, while those closed to 50° gave a good focus for the audience further back. "In Melbourne we didn't use delays as the rigging points didn't allow this, and with a centre cluster of 15 Kudos we could easily cover the floor and centre balcony up to an amazing distance of 76m from front of the stage!" says Taglia.

Another benefit of Kudo was that its small footprint preserved sightlines, while its easy captive rigging system allowed the full system to be rigged in a few hours, leaving plenty of time to focus, trim, align and EQ the day before the show. This meant that show days were relaxed and focused on mixing.

Taglia used L-Acoustics' Soundvision prediction software in conjunction with seating plans and rigging points for the different venues. "As both the Soundvision predictions and venue databases were very exact, we only needed to trim the system using an inclinometer and laser pointers mounted on top of Kudo bumpers," he says. "Kudo is a true line source array so a cluster of even 15 cabinets will be heard as a single huge loudspeaker with perfect fusion of all components. With a little tuning the sound image and frequency response will be enjoyable for any audience member.

"Soundvision helped define what was needed months in advance, allowing us to plan the tour budget accurately and give the crew a printout of the system report. This software is highly reliable, with amazing precision that can solve any problems and glitches."

It wasn't just the sound crew who appreciated the Kudo system. "The promoter, local venues and audiences were amazed that the sound system was virtually invisible, giving the illusion that the sound was coming directly from the orchestra on stage," concludes Taglia. "This was noted in the press by several journalists who appreciated the natural and clear sound reinforcement, regardless of the venue or the seat."

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L-Acoustics Kudo for Andreas Bocelli Tour of Australia and New Zealand

10th October 2008

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