A dynamic range of international bands and artists included Goldfrapp, Anthony & The Johnsons, Bloc Party, Razorlight, Judas Priest, The Scorpions, The Cure and comedian Ricky Gervais who opened the week long event.
Entec Sound has serviced the event for the last six years and seen it grow from a single night to the six gig event it is today. Over the years they have sussed out the nuances of the venue and fine tuned the art of creating a successful sound design. However, the major sonic challenge still remains - ensuring the system sounds equally as good for the different performance genres - from the spoken word to heavy metal - and everything in between.
Entec's TCT 2006 system was designed by their own Stefano Serpagli in conjunction with Ralf Zuleeg and Jonas Wagner from d&b.
Serpagli says: "The system sounds phenomenal - it's far exceeded my expectations in delivering power and clarity in an idiosyncratic venue. I have been really impressed with the vocal intelligibility that is achievable - whether it's an acoustic number, the spoken word or full-on blistering rock 'n' roll."
The main left and right arrays comprising twelve J8s and two J12's a side complete with six flown J-SUBs and eight Q1 elements for the outfill hangs. The J-SUBS are a 3 x 18" true cardioid sub, two drivers facing the front and one to the rear, with either cardioid or hypercardioid settings available on the D12 amp. For this application they were used in hypercardioid.
Under the forestage were four d&b B2 subs, running in 'infra' mode, adding low end atmospherics into the equation. Serpagli says: "Running the two different types of subs together is a perfect combination."
They also flew a single Q7 each side high up on the PA pick up truss to take care of the far upstage corners of the balcony & gallery. The choir stalls were covered with two Q7s and one Q10 per side.
For ground fills they used a single Q1 (frontfill) & Q7 (outfill) each side, sitting on top of a Q sub - with Q7 repeated at the top of the side-stage stairs position each side. There were also four E3's across the front of the stage.
The whole system was powered & processed by d&b D12 amplifiers using the latest version of d&b's ROPE C software. New features include a simple graphical layout, even more user friendly operation than previous versions and diagnostic tools including checking impedance across the system and problem monitoring. It also allows elements like additional HF to be added with the click of a mouse, and individual engineers' settings to be saved and recalled as and when needed. ROPE C was run from a laptop with a tablet on radio link, which allows perfect monitoring and system adjustment anywhere in the room.
"Using the cabinets, the amps and the ROPE C software as an integrated system is unbeatable," says Serpagli, adding that by the end of the week he'd received unprecedented positive response from visiting engineers, artists, management, technicians and crew, commenting on how smooth and rich the system sounded.
Another bonus of the new d&b cabinets is the easy rigging - the correct angles can even be preset whilst they're still on the floor on their wheels - via a locking arm on the back.
Entec supplied a Midas XL4 & H3000 console at FOH, each with a standard rack of outboard effects and inserts - Drawmer DS201 gates, DBX 160 and 1066 compressors, Lexicon PCM91, Yamaha SPX 990s and KT DN370 as a 'grabber' EQ for visiting engineers. The two desks shared a 'posh' rack of valve equipment including Avalon 737's, DP2044 and Summit TLA100's, plus an Eventide H3000 harmoniser and a TC D2 delay. Front-of-house was babysat by the unflappa
