Harman powers Psalms of David Festival
- Details
Held in September 2020 in the small Polish town of Kolbuszowa, the fifth annual Psalms of David Festival was a celebration of Jewish and Christian scriptures set to a soundtrack of live orchestral music. The open-air event, which was hosted at Kolbuszowa’s sports stadium, saw performances from Poland’s largest youth symphony orchestra, the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, as well as dozens of individual performers and soloists.
To ensure every note rang clear among the audience at the event, which had to adhere to COVID-19 social distancing rules, the organisers needed an appropriate cound system. To accomplish their goal, they hired ESS Audio to design and deploy a powerful Harman sound reinforcement system consisting of JBL loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers and Soundcraft mixing consoles in collaboration with TJT Music and Master-Ton.
“2020 was a difficult year for the professional sound industry, with only a handful of events taking place,” said Witold Karalow, managing director, ESS. “The Psalms of David Festival was our biggest show in Poland, and we were determined to make it a success. Alongside TJT Music, we deployed a JBL VTX A12 FOH system to great effect. The performance of the Harman audio solutions, including the Crown amplifiers and Soundcraft Vi Series consoles, was outstanding.”
At the core of the sound system were 24 JBL VTX A12 line array loudspeakers, arranged side-by-side in two clusters of 12. JBL VTX G28 subwoofers, deployed in two clusters of eight, provided additional low-end extension and power to give a true full-range sound.
For monitoring the performers on stage, the team deployed two JBL V20 three-way line array elements as near-field stage-fill speakers. In place of individual monitors, they deployed smaller loudspeakers within close proximity of the performers, with JBL VTX M22 stage monitors placed near soloists and orchestra leaders, and VTX F12 two-way speakers positioned for the event’s choirs.
The team powered the JBL speakers with Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD amplifiers. Soundcraft Vi3000 and Vi7000 digital consoles provided flexible mixing capabilities.
Despite the unusual circumstances caused by the pandemic, the fifth annual Psalms of David Festival was a success and a delight for those in attendance. The show is expected to be broadcast on TV and released on Blu-Ray in the near future.
