Adlib was contracted by Liverpool City Council's events department, Liverpool Vision to provide PA systems in the three key gathering points for the colossal promenade performance, featuring the Little Girl Giant and her Giant Uncle. Adlib also installed a sound system on the 'Brocklebank' Band Boat which accompanied the waterborne part of the show.
Adlib's Phil Stoker was the project manager and co-ordinated all of the equipment and crew needed and dealt with the logistics. He collaborated closely with Royal De Luxe's sound designer and engineer Stephanne Brosse, ensuring that their very specific system requirements were met.
The requirement was to produce clean, clear audio over large distances to the amassed crowds, and Adlib was also able to satisfy Royal De Luxe's request for premium French audio brands L-Acoustics and Nexo.
Stoker also worked alongside event production manager Pete McDevitt and overall event technical director Stuart Stalker.
Five PA hangs were deployed over three venues including Stanley Park, the Kings Dock and Canning Dock respectively and they were all provided to L-Acoustics K-Standard.
In Stanley Park the system comprised two arrays of 16 L-Acoustics V-DOSC plus all amps, cables, rigging and mains distro. The speakers were suspended on two cranes supplied by Such Crane Hire.
For control, Adlib supplied Lake processing, plus two Soundcraft Vi1 mixing consoles tech'd by Kenny Perrin and Alan Harrison.
The audio signals from the music trucks accompanying the giant puppet 'cast' as they performed around the town were beamed via RF links into the Adlib arrays at each stopping point.
At the Kings Dock, systems tech's Tony Szabo and George Puttock looked after a system of 40 L-Acoustics K1, again split into two hangs and hung on Such Hire cranes.
There were another two Soundcraft Vi1 consoles with system control from the new LA Network Manager 2.0 complemented by ADLIB's recently upgraded Lake LM processing racks.
An additional system was deployed on the Band Music Boat which was stationed at the Kings Dock, and had 24 L-Acoustics Kara speakers installed onboard in four stacks of six, two in the bow of the boat and two towards the stern, giving a full 360 degree coverage.
This self-contained sound system was completed with eight L-Acoustics SB18 subs and a DiGiCo SD8 mixing console. There was also a full monitor system of eight Nexo PS10 wedges, a rack of L-Acoustics LA 8 amplifiers, and a full mics/stands and line system, all tech'd by Simon Lawson.
Waiting for the grand finale of the magical tale of love, loss and reunion at Canning Dock was Adlib's Kenny Perrin with James Neale, complete with a large hang of 16 x V-DOSC elements also suspended by cranes. The systems were all powered by local generators.
ADLIB supplied a full site support and back-up team for the weekend who were on hand to flip between all locations as and when necessary - consisting of Arron Hatcher, Dave Roberts, Josh Owens, Jack Miller and Tommy Bradshaw.
Phil Stoker comments, "The Sea Odyssey was a fabulous event and a great piece of public art to be involved in. It was incredible to see so many people getting involved and inspired by the drama & performance. The entire event created a very special and unique atmosphere in the city of Liverpool that will be remembered for a long time."
(Jim Evans)
