Web Summit 2015 is a huge and rapidly expanding conference for business and digital entrepreneurs. Its subject matter is centred on internet technology, and its attendees range from Fortune 500 companies to the world's most exciting tech companies and start-ups, such as Amazon, Pixar, Google, Facebook and Uber. The 2015 event was hosted at the Royal Dublin Society, for 30 years the leading venue for conferences in Ireland.
For the second year running, Sound Design was the audio rental supplier for Web Summit, providing systems for five stages within the RDS venue. The largest of these was Center Stage, with capacity for 5,000 people.
Sound Design's John Vickers explains, "This space was designed for showjumping competitions and exhibitions, not for perfect acoustics! Although Web Summit is a conference, the stage content is geared for a young, tech-savvy audience so it is very dynamic with lots of music stings and video as well as lively speeches, discussions and presentations."
To meet audience expectations in this demanding venue, Vickers chose a Nexo STM Series modular line array system. The main PA, trimmed at around 8m, comprised STM M46 main and B112 bass cabinets, nine each side, with a centre cluster of three STM M28 modules. Subbass was provided by 12x STM S118 subs running in omni mode and stacked two high across the front of the stage. In-fill was handled by six additional STM M28 omni modules stacked on top of the S118 subs. Monitoring was through Nexo's 45°N-12 wedges.
"The STM main arrays were loud enough to throw speech over 70m," says John Vickers, "and dispersion was perfect for every seat in the 55m wide hall and up into the tiered seating at the back, which had a 20m rake. We brought Nexo Geo S12 cabinets as delays but we didn't need to use them. The top end of the STM Series was fantastic, and in the low frequency range, even with clip microphones, the throw was fantastic. I was very impressed."
Vickers used Nexo's proprietary NS-1 software modelling tools to design the system for the main stage, and for the three smaller stages, these for audiences of 600 people. Here he chose the Geo M6, using five M620 modules per side, with two RS-15s for subbass and PS8 cabinets for foldback and in-fill.
(Jim Evans)
