Marking the 11th year of the Awards, a glittering line-up of international stars gathered on-stage at the Royal Albert Hall in London, home to the Classical BRITs since it started in 2000. Accompanied by the London Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Warren-Green, the live performers included Angela Gheorghiu, Bryn Terfel, Rolando Villazón, André Rieu and his Johan Strauss Orchestra, and the legendary Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, picking up her Lifetime Achievement Award.
Zieba is a familiar sight at the big awards shows; his contract with BRITS TV also includes the mainstream BRIT Awards for popular music, and he has designed many similar events for MTV and others. Over the last year, he admits to renewing his long-term enthusiasm for the Electro-Voice X-Line system following the addition of FIR-Drive processing (Finite Impulse Response filtering).
"Now the X-Line system has been embellished with the FIR-Drive software and hardware, it can achieve great definition in the upper mids and highs, yet has lost none of its punch and drive in the lower mid and low-end," says Zieba. "Using the same system for both the rock and pop BRIT Awards and the Classical show, we have evidence that X-Line is easily able to deliver on both. The system is clear and transparent enough to handle the nuances of classical music, and powerful enough for rock 'n' roll."
Britannia Row's team, guided by X-Line system specialist Nico Royan, rigged a L/C/R system in the Royal Albert Hall, trimmed 14m above the orchestra. "Because of the demands of television, we have to fly the PA much higher than we'd like. However X-Line offers the right size and weight of cabinet to deliver the sound over the distances involved, where a smaller box might struggle in the low-mids and low-end."
The design uses a full-range line array, powered by EV's Precision Series amplifiers. Left and right hangs use eight Xvls plus four Xvlt cabinets - the centre hang, throwing over the orchestra, uses 12x Xvls. Zieba and FOH engineer Colin Pink have time-aligned different sections of the orchestra in each hang so that the audience hear the most accurate mix for where they are seated.
"Everyone comments that this is a big PA for a classical concert, but I wanted to deliver all the frequencies equally, from bass to the very top, hence the design. With a huge reserve of power, we are able to extend the range so that most of the low end is in the hang. The result is a very beautiful sound, especially in the upper levels of the Hall."
(Jim Evans)
