L-ISA brings creative freedoms for Mark Knopfler
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Front of house engineer Dave Dixon and systems engineer Ulf Oeckel specified L-ISA technology, with Maxime Menelec – an experienced L-ISA operator - joining during production rehearsals to take over systems engineering duties from the beginning of the tour, setting up the initial design with creativity and audience impact in mind.
"The idea of moving to L-ISA technology is a direct result of a request made by Mark during the last tour," Dixon recalls. "He asked me to pan a guitar, and I bravely - or stupidly - said over the mic during sound check that I couldn’t do that in an arena as half the audience wouldn’t hear it.
“The constraints of left/right sound systems mean that I have always mixed pretty much mono. When you’ve got 11 musicians on stage, that's not an easy task. So when I heard about what L-Acoustics was doing with L-ISA, and understood what the technology is all about, I realised that it was exactly what we needed to fulfil Mark’s vision."
With creative ambitions realised, attention was turned to one of the most important requirements from the production team: that it could not take additional time to rig the system, so as not to put extra burdens on schedules and budgets. To that end, Oeckel worked with SSE Senior Project Manager Miles Hillyard on time-saving rigging and set-up solutions. Together, they came up with a range of innovative rigging, routing, and control solutions that mean the complete 7.1 L-ISA configuration is up and running in less than two and a half hours.
Oeckel had already created optimized solutions on a recent P!NK tour by combining amplifiers, motor control, and audio / power distribution into one flyable frame. He took that a step further for Down the Road Wherever: "SSE manufactured the frame that holds all of the amplification and all the motor control distribution," explains Oeckel. "They were really clever about combining it with a special platform so an operator could get up there and operate the system in case of failure.”
"The amp rack has working platforms on it left and right, and a built-in access ladder," continues Hillyard, who notes that the whole system was built over two weeks in the Redditch headquarters of SSE.
Possibly one of SSE's most significant innovations for this project was a new, adjustable, mechanical system for changing the angle of the hangs.
"After working through several ideas, we now have a single-point, swingable rigging system for adjusting angles," says Hillyard. "Basically, it clips onto the front of the truss and has teeth in it that allow you to lift it and turn it. Once you've got the angle set, a solid bar drops down and locks it in place.”
As well as these mechanical solutions, the audio signal distribution was fully digital, from the DiGiCo SD7 at front of house to the P1 processor and LA12X amps, using the Milan AVB-based deterministic network protocol, which also had to implement a redundant routing system to and from the SD7 with two L-ISA Processors. Hillyard: "We needed to connect a second L-ISA Processor and be able to switch to that at the push of one macro key on the console."
"With the help of SSE, we put all of these innovations together into one system," reflects Oeckel. "A full ten-hang L-ISA configuration that, even in early rehearsals, we were able to rig in just two and a half hours. We have proved that it is possible to rig L-ISA in the same amount of time as a conventional arena system, and that is what it was all about for me."
The Mark Knopfler tour uses an L-ISA Focus design, which varies from venue to venue. At the O2 in London, the biggest venue on the itinerary, this comprised five hangs for the main scene: three centre-hangs of 16 K2 and two outer-hangs of 18 Kara each. The two extension system hangs are made up of two arrays of 15 Kara each with two side-fill hangs of 12 K2 for extending the coverage of the system. A central cluster of nine KS28 subs provides coherent low frequency throughout the venue.
“This was a truly collaborative effort, with SSE and Ulf providing great equipment and methodology, optimized to have a really fast load in and load out,” adds Menelec. “But we also have a fantastic team, including crew chief Pete Hughes and the PA team of Guillaume Richard and Klaus Bolender. As a result, it was possible to use the L-ISA technology at every venue and after 47 shows, it will be difficult to go back to a Left/Right system.”
(Jim Evans)
