Gojira finds the balance between aggressiveness and precision in the L-Acoustics K series

The first large-venue tour of the progressive metal band Gojira in France has featured a complex video and audio installation led by the Danish company Victory Event, which opted for a complete K series system of L-Acoustics to channel all the power of their progressive metal without giving up the definition of their calmer passages and the avant-garde effects of their instruments.

The tour of Gojira had a montage starring a large video screen who dominated visual design and influenced the mounting capacity and the options audio system location. The location of the speakers front-fill became a matter of negotiation between departments: the band wanted speakers Kara II on stage, while the lighting designer needed clear sight lines.

The configuration of double band drummer (with its exceptionally fast and complex patterns) also posed specific challenges in terms of audio. Jesper Danius Sørensen, executive director of Victory Event: “Gojira was clear that they needed a fast system with exceptional transient response, capable of handling dense, fast-paced percussion and layered instrumentation. The combination of K1, K2 and K1-SB were ideal”.

To resolve these mounting conflicts, in which different variables had to be coordinated to offer a visual spectacle to match without compromising the sound range, Victory Event turned to software Sound vision of L-Acoustics. The production company built a complete model of the venue in Sound vision, importing plans architectural, assembly diagrams y production elements, and then positioned the speaker arrays to predict acoustic coverage accurately: “We were able to demonstrate to the broader Gojira team exactly how speaker placement would affect both sight lines and sound quality.” (…). The tour was a production in which each department had different staging points and priorities, resolver esos conflictos en Soundvision antes de la primera carga nos ahorró días de negociaciones in situ”.

The final display of L-Acoustics on the Gojira tour

The final stadium tour configuration consisted of an arrangement of 14 Q1 con three K2 per side. In the background, 10 K1-SB provided the low frequency impact that the configuration of double battery, while on the ground, eight KS28 on each side they flanked a central arrangement of from KS28, all stacked. Finally, seis Kara II placed above the subwoofers provided fill coverage that responded to both the band's preferences and the lighting designer's line-of-sight requirements.

For venues that required additional coverage, 12 Kara II per side provided exterior padding coverage. Concretely, for him Accor Arena in Paris, the most demanding venue on the tour, Victory Event added four delay positions with six K2 each one, which raised the total delay deployment to 24 boxes.

on stage, a monitor configuration composed of 12 X15 and two KS21 provided additional reinforcement to the in-ears without saturating the mixture. With no electronic instruments on stage and with the guitar and bass connected directly to the tracks, the stage was kept clean. As he comments Sørensen: “There are no high frequencies coming from the stage. The sound image is the same everywhere”.

A “plug-and-play” sound montage

The system worked entirely with LA12X amplified controllers, fed through Milan-AVB with audio routed directly from the console to the amplifiers. The network protocol provided two immediate advantages: sound quality y operational reliability.

The digital infrastructure chosen by Victory Event streamlined operations throughout the entire tour. With only one day of assembly and two of rehearsal, efficiency was essential. The network «plug-and-play» de Milan-AVB allowed the team preconfigure system files in advance and load them directly into the controllers LA12X in each enclosure, eliminating time-consuming manual cable routing and troubleshooting.