The riders of d&b improve audio demands at pop events at the Barcelona Auditorium

With the aim of offering variety and quality in its concert and event programming, The Barcelona Auditorium has made a permanent installation of riders from the firm d&b audiotechnik to respond to the demands of pop music, installed by your local partner Imaginamusica.

The Auditorium (The Auditorium) from Barcelona, inaugurated in 1999, It was originally designed for the performance of classical music, but in recent years it has opened up to a more varied program in response to the demands of the public and has even welcomed international pop stars on its stage.

Besides, It is the headquarters of the Barcelona and National Symphony Orchestra of Catalonia, and it was the first concert hall in Spain to join, in the year 2007, a la European Concert Hall Organisation (Organization of European Concert Halls, ECHO).

Under these premises focused on variety and quality, The technical management of this entity identified a key weak point for the expansion of its program, as explained by his head of sound, Toni Vila: “we had a point source solution, as well as some delays due to the large size of the auditorium, but for international artists, “That system was very far from the expectations of its riders and could not provide the proximity effect that the public expects in this type of shows”.

To solve it, The audio managers at L'Auditori reserved three days to carry out tests and demonstrations on the three brands that appear most often in the audio riders of reference facilities, between them d&b audiotechnik, that was selected for the project .

As Enric Esteve explains, of Imaginamusica, local partner of the multinational d&b audiotechnik, “The tests were very exhaustive.”. We were asked to come and demonstrate a system with singing voices using handheld and lapel microphones., a section of woodwind instruments and pre-recorded sound material by contemporary artists. The room is big, so, as a partner of d&b, “We consulted with their office in Spain and Juanma de Casas provided us with excellent technical assistance”.

For the test, the person in charge of d&b determined a left/right system of the V Series, with flown V-SUBs and V8/V12 main arrangements adding T10s in point source mode for front-fills, all configured to provide the tightest directivity control. “His priority - says Esteve- was to move the energy away from the walls, but without giving up the level of presence, power and musicality that contemporary popular artists demand”.

Besides, added a pair of discreet outfill V12s mounted upstage behind the TOP and SUB clusters. “There are some amphitheaters very lateral to the stage and we had never before been able to cover those locations. “This and the well-shaped cardioid performance of the flown SUBs have transformed the listening experience.”, assures Esteve.

Josep Andrada, technical director of L'Auditori, took into account the decisions of his sound team and, after the tests carried out, a concert was offered with David Byrne and his band. “Both on the day of the demonstration and in the test for the David Byrne concert we had very little margin,” Juanma de Casas recalls.. With a combination of line arrays and point source, Correctly aligning and equalizing that type of system is often time-consuming.. But the simplicity of the workflow d&b when using ArrayCalc in the planning phase and, next, Quickly and easily convert that data into a complete system setup on D80 amplifiers using D's Remote Control R1 software.&b, means that, in those two days, “We were able to have the installation running and adjusted almost immediately after assembly”.

After this, Imaginamusica carried out the permanent installation in July 2014. “The uniformity of the voice down to the far-field and the fact that we no longer need delays, son también un beneficio importante del nuevo sistema. Antes de la puesta en servicio, asistimos a un taller de arreglos en línea en la sede de d&b de Backnang (Germany). So, pudimos gestionar nuestro primer concierto ‘solos’, en el que participaron las leyendas americanas de Chicago. Ahora ya podemos presentar un programa de contenido nuevo, apasionante e inesperado, pero las tradiciones y virtudes de L’Auditori permanecen inalteradas”, puntualiza Toni Vila.