Martin Audio reinforces castle concerts
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In order to meet the COVID-19 requirements, the Gotha Thuringia Philharmonic Orchestra moved for three evenings into the courtyard of the baroque Friedenstein Castle in the City. Here, taking into account the rules of distance, a baroque evening, an operetta gala and a concert with violin and grand piano were able to take place in front of an audience of 400.
Torsten Kotsch, owner of Kotsch Showtechnik, implemented the sound and lighting design with his team and explained the special features required of classical music reinforcement: "The dynamic range of a classical concert is far greater than at many rock concerts,” he said. “Since the concerts were open-air, and not in a theatre or concert hall, we had to pay special attention to the correct set-up of the system.”
The choice of loudspeaker technology was always going to be self-powered products from Martin Audio. The MLA Compact was used as the main PA, with the area in front of the stage covered with DD12 speakers, and CDD-LIVE8 speakers were used as stage monitors.
Torsten Kotsch explained this selection rationale: "I can connect all speakers via Martin Audio's VU-Net and control and monitor them in the software,” he said. “Since we wanted to achieve the same sound experience at all seats, the mix of MLA Compact and DD12 was perfect. Both systems distribute sound homogeneously and thus ensure that all instruments are heard equally at all seats. The CDD-LIVE8s were used as stage monitors, as they have the same properties, and are extremely compact.
“The main PA was rigged continuously in the Castle courtyard for a week. Fortunately, there was no rain on the three days of the event, but there was rain between the days. That didn't make much difference to the system, however," he confirms.
Due to the structural requirements in the castle, the FOH position had to be set very far back - and a good 40m from the stage. In addition, the many reflective surfaces on and around the courtyard did not make mixing any easier. Here Torsten Kotsch used a special function of the MLA Compact to minimise reflections.
"With Martin Audio’s proprietary MLA technology I am able to set a Hard Avoid pre-set, among other things. These areas are defined and identified beforehand in the software. The preset for the speakers is then calculated so that as little energy as possible is emitted to these reflective surfaces.”
