Outline reinforces Justin Bieber Cardiff concert
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London-based Capital Sound Hire were the audio contractors for the event and supplied a bespoke system design using Outline’s flagship GTO family of products designed by Vincent ‘Vinnie’ Perreux, who already had the Cardiff stadium stored in his OpenArray acoustic measurement files. Capital had of course worked frequently at the stadium before with major pop acts including Take That, and a last-minute decision to close the roof did not necessitate major changes to the basic system design.
The main and side hangs comprised 15 of the 2x15-inch GTO elements with one GTO-DF down-fill at the bottom of each hang, in addition to 12 GTO-SUB flyable subwoofers per side and a further nine DBS 18-2 subs per side. Near-field coverage was handled by LIPF-082 lip-fills, two 3-high ground stacks of Mantas 28 line array elements between the main and side hangs and a further three Mantas 28s on the thrust stage. Three downfield flown delays (in L-C-R configuration) used 15 of the Outline’s compact GTO C-12 elements plus three more Mantas 28s in each hang.
In the midst of a busy summer for Capital and with their extensive inventory heavily committed on other projects, the event was a perfect opportunity to engage the international Outline Network to source various system components.
Capital’s Robin Conway was heavily involved in the project and he commented, “Justin Bieber regularly tours with well-known 15-inch boxes so we had to establish what was the best fit – and Outline was definitely it. We had to get the right proposition for the American engineers, and we knew that thanks to the Outline Network we could source a GTO system from Poland, supplemented by our control and delays. They didn’t need much persuading: they know and trust Vinnie and were aware of Outline’s growing reputation.
“In terms of control we have large primary and secondary Dante networks running, onto which we’ve placed all the data including the delay measurements from SMAART,” continued Conway. “It gives us complete control of all the amplifiers including our Outline X8 DSP models – the ones developed with Powersoft – and the ones we sourced from Poland, which are actually Powersoft K10 and K20. I forwarded the IP addresses so they could be preconfigured, and when they turned up I connected the Cat-5 cable and there they were on the network, immediately. Every amplifier channel, the speaker management, the distribution, the power management – it all came together really quickly.”
Conway concludes, ‘Capital Sound wants to provide customers with viable options and to have a wide variety of tools in the toolbox. Outline is by far the best alternative to the main brands you’ll see on the riders and it doesn’t demand the highest of premiums. This is simply because it’s less well known, not for any shortfall in quality. It has high-end processing, and amplification, it’s really well built, it flies beautifully and it delivers one hell of a punch. Gigs like this present no problem. If people are willing to trust us, they’ll find it offers superb value for money.”
(Jim Evans)
