FEATURES: LIVE SOUND
Lady Gaga on stage in Korea
Music marketing
AIA Real Life: NOW Festival in Seoul. Pro Audio
Asia explores the system design for the festival
FOLLOWING THE WILDLY
successful sponsorship of Justin
%ieEer·s Àrst liYe concert in AIA Life Korea has done it again
with the recent AIA Real Life: NOW
)estiYal in 6eoul 6outh Korea
According to 'an &ostello &(O
of AIA Life Korea the insurer is
thrilled to present the unique music
e[perience in 6outh Korea ¶We want
to use music to communicate with
our customers so we·re Eringing
something special to Korea We
hope people haYe fun interacting
with some of the Ànest gloEal
music talents in the heart of
6eoul·
7he two da\ festiYal tooN
place at the Jamsil Olympic
6tadium in southern 6eoul
featuring top music artists
from home and aEroad
supported by an Adamson
(nergia sound reinforcement
system 3op icon and trend
setter Lady Gaga appeared as
the headliner on the second
night of the show while other
acts that performed during
the festiYal included 3sy 0iss
Nine 6idney 6amson IYan Gough
&a]]ette twenty one pilots 0an With
A 0ission Gala[y ([press and Glen
&hecN
Alpha 6ound which recently
became an Adamson (nergia
partner was tapped to proYide the
Adamson 6ystem for the eYent
%oth 6un Kim technical support
manager for 6ound 6olution ² the
manufacturer·s 6outh Korean
distributor and 'aYid 'ohrmann
94 PRO AUDIO ASIA 6eptember²October technical director Asia3aciÀc for
Adamson were on site to assist with
system design setup and tuning of
the 3A
The venue
7he multipurpose Jamsil Olympic
6tadium was the original site for
the Olympic Games and now
serYes as host to a Yariety of eYents
notably as a concert Yenue for 6outh
Korean and international artists
6pectator seats are distributed
on two coYered tiers 7he stadium
currently has a capacity of )or the AIA Real Life: NOW )estiYal
the stadium was played sideways
² the stage was placed at the wide
end of the stadium 6eating was on
the Àeld and also aYailable in lower
stadium tiers ² seats that were
located behind the stage were not
used for the eYent
0r 'ohrmann worNed closely with
6ound 6olution to design a system
that would blanNet the audience
8sing Adamson·s %lueprint A9 '
modeling software he recreated
the stadium and then placed
Adamson system components
Yirtually in the computer generated
design 7he program shows how
the system will act in the Yenue
allowing the designer to determine
ideal placement and quantity of
components necessary to meet
system requirements
¶%lueprint is particularly useful
in these situations· e[plains 0r
'ohrmann ¶6un Kim and I worNed
together on the system design
Lady Gaga engineers Chris Rabold and
completing it Yirtually long before
the eYent %y the time I arriYed the
system was already hung and all that
was left to do was some Ànetuning·
¶It is impressiYe how accurate the
design was· adds 0r Kim ¶%lueprint
A9 is a tremendous timesaYer·
Sound reinforcement
¶7he stadium layout required a throw
of m distance and m eleYation
to coYer all of the seating areas·
e[plains 0r Kim ¶7he goal was to
achieYe roughly d%A aYerage 63L
with a dynamic liYe music programme
throughout the listening spectrum
without any gain reduction from the
system limiters·
In order to accomplish this left
right arrays ² each made up of ( and si[ ( enclosures ² were
hung from scaffolding columns
FEATURES: LIVE SOUND
The system was powered by
Lab.gruppen amps
AIA Life Korea is looking to
expand through the use of ‘music
marketing’
Hanging columns of 12 Adamson E218 subwoofers flanked the main arrays
Mike Hackmann
constructed on each side of the
stage. The E15 is a three-way system
consisting of two 15-inch and two
7-inch Kevlar neodymium cone
drivers, and two 4-inch Adamson
NH4 compression drivers. The threeway E12 provides a wider dispersion
pattern than the E15, and is loaded
with two 12-inch and a 7-inch Kevlar
neodymium cone driver, and a 4-inch
diaphragm compression driver. The
combination was easily able to cover
the audience.
‘I was pleased with how much
headroom I had with the Adamson
rig,’ adds Chris Rabold, FOH engineer
for Lady Gaga. ‘I can’t stand the
feeling of having a system that
pushes back against what I’m trying
to do – even the best ones do it from
time to time. When we were tuning
in the morning I quickly learned that
there was a ton of power behind the rig.’
The system also required a strong
low end to drive the various musical
genres. To assist with this, two
hanging columns of 12 Adamson
E21 subwoofers Áanked the E15
E12 arrays. Ten Adamson T21 subs
were ground stacked beneath each
E15 array with eight E219 subs
deployed to deliver the beat. The T-21
uses dual 21-inch Kevlar drivers in a
bandpass design while the new E219
boasts two lightweight, long excursion
19-inch SD19 Kevlar neodymium
drivers in a frontloaded design.
‘The low end out of the air would
have been sufÀcient to do most
shows,’ explains Mr Rabold. ‘The
addition of the T-21s and E219s on
the ground was incredible. The low
end capabilities from the Áown rig
and Áown subs were about as big as
I’ve heard.’
To complete the system, two
additional line arrays – this time
comprised of 16 Adamson Y18
enclosures – were added to handle
out Àll duties. Front Àll was taken
care of by eight stacks of TW Audio
Vera36 vertical array enclosures
(stacked three high) distributed
across the length of the stage.
The entire system was driven by
racks of Lab.gruppen 3LM ampliÀers
with Lake Processing. The main line
arrays were powered by 16 PLM
24 ampliÀers, another 12 PLM
24s drove both the Áown E218s
(six per amp), the ground E219s
(four per amp) and some of the T21
subwoofers (two per amp).
The PLM 20000Q integrates a
four-channel ampliÀer with the
capabilities of the Lake Processing
Platform. Three Lake LM 44s, located
at FOH, handled matrixing and signal
distribution between FOH and the
ampliÀers via a dual redundant
Dante network. Adamson’s
proprietary Àrmware for the Cisco
network switches that come bundled
with each Energia system ensured
safe network operation and quick
setup. Lab.gruppen’s FP Series
ampliÀers Àlled in to power the out Àll
arrays as well as the rest of the T21s.
‘The power behind the system was
incredible,’ says Mr Rabold. ‘There
was no way I could have run the
system to its limit and not have been
running for cover myself.’
SpeciÀc attention was paid to
miking the drums to ensure a
prominent and punchy sound. ‘I don’t
know that I have any secrets but I
do know the things that I’m diligent
about to insure I get consistent
results,’ explains Mr Rabold. ‘I
always Ànd myself working closely
with drum techs to make sure we’re
getting the same sounds from the
drums themselves every day. From
there it comes down to mic choice
and mic placement. I didn’t intend
for it to happen but all of the mics
I use, except one, are Telefunken. I
can’t say enough good things about
their stuff. M80s, M81s, M82s and
M60FETs comprise the bulk of the kit.’
The ‘trusty outboard gear’ the
engineer is referring to is the
Sonic Farm Creamliner and API
2500 stereo bus compressor. The
Creamliner is a stereo line signal
conditioner that improves the sound
of digital stereo busses and digital PA
boards by running the signal through
a pentode, and, if selected, also the
output transformer. The API 2500
allows adMustment of sonic qualities
in order to alter the punch and tone
of the stereo mix.
‘My sound begins and ends with
my stereo bus processing – which is
the same for every act and for every
genre,’ explains Mr Rabold. ‘The
Front fill was taken care of by
eight stacks of TW Audio Vera36
vertical array enclosures
Creamliner is the glue and the API is
the muscle. With those two in play
it really Must makes the music gel in
a way I’ve yet to Ànd via any other
means.’
FOH
Left-right arrays – each made up of
18 E15 and six E12 enclosures –
were hung on each side of the stage
Three Avid ProÀle digital consoles
were provided to meet general FOH
needs throughout the festival. The
ProÀle works in conMunction with Avid
Venue software which allows it to
interact with external equipment and
commands. Dedicated dynamics
and EQ encoders offer control of
both onboard dynamics and EQs as
well as plugins.
As with most headlining acts,
the Lady Gaga team travelled with
their own control – provided by
Eighth Day Sound – for the festival
performance. A longtime DiGiCo
user, Mr Rabold manned an SD7
for the show. ‘I simply Ànd it to be
the best sounding and most Áexible
console out there,’ he states. ‘I
actually got rid of all of my plugins
for this tour – between the quality
of the desk and my trusty outboard
gear – I didn’t feel plugins were
necessary.’
The DiGiCo FOH setup for Lady Gaga
September–October 2014 PRO AUDIO ASIA 95