The production was co-ordinated by Eric Clapton's touring team, led primarily by production manager Mick Double. Having also worked with Double on Eric Clapton's annual run of gigs at the Albert Hall for several years, sound contractor Concert Sound has honed the required audio design for the venue to a fine art, making them an obvious choice for perfecting the meticulous sound needed for the Cream's performances.
Since last year, JBL's VerTec line array system has been used regularly by Concert Sound for Clapton's live shows. Concert Sound purchased their initial system from UK distributors Harman Pro UK in early 2004, and have regularly upgraded and expanded it to meet demands for upcoming touring artists like Elvis Costello and Lenny Kravitz. The Cream system was designed by Concert Sound's Dave Dixon and Dave Caitlin with input from Robert Collins, Clapton's FOH engineer. A key to the exacting audio design was ensuring the system looked elegant, didn't interfere with the RAH's complex sight lines, and that all areas of the in-the-round show were well covered. The VerTec was configured with a centre hang of 16 VT4889 elements, and two arrays left and right of 14 VT4889s. The VerTec VT4889 is JBL's full-size 3-way line array element, ideal for providing full range even audience coverage. For audience seated within the choir stalls, Concert Sound specified the two additional hangs of VT4888, JBL's mid-size three-way line array.
FOH engineer for the shows, Chris 'Privet' Hedge, comments that a major advantage of using VerTec was that it needed virtually no additional subs - such is the latitude of its full-range and the quality of its low frequencies. "While Cream is not a particularly bass-driven band, they still need to be loud; after all, they invented rock music," he comments. "Running at the SPL that we were, I still needed a full-sounding result with no harshness. I was delighted with the system, it sounded absolutely huge." He adds: "VerTec has worked beautifully in this room, I get a full-range sound from the flown arrays and am not dependent on subs at all. There are no sight line issues, which is great with all the seats sold, so production love it too."
The shows were preceded by band rehearsals using four VerTec VT4889 elements a side at Bray Studios where Privet fine tuned the system to run without subs. System tech' Tim Peeling added that VerTec's quick and practical rigging methodology and its light weight was really helpful for the get-in, enabling them to save time and be ready well on schedule. The system had to be rigged and ready for a 2.30am sound check on the first night - so the timescale was really tight after a 1:00am get-in.
Above the white projection screen at the rear of band (and below the choir stalls) were four new JBL monitors infilling the rows of back seats. Though new for the Cream concert, these custom products were tweaked from an existing JBL and Concert Sound collaboration. Having worked with JBL over the last 12 years, Concert Sound's Tim Boyle wanted to create a three-way wedge consisting of active crossover on bass and passive crossover on the mids, with a very low profile. These customized JBLs are also used onstage for the band's monitor wedges, looked after by Chris Wibberley.
(Lee Baldock)
