Psy’s stadium tour reinforced with d&b GSL
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Psy’s 2018 dates were the fourth incarnation of his Soaking Wet Show series of concerts, so called due to the amount of water sprayed onto the audience to entertain and beat the sweltering summer heat.
They are big-business events, drawing in thousands of eager fans from across South Korea and overseas. The 2018 tour played no less than six stadiums: Busan Asiad Main Stadium, Taegu Auxiliary Stadium, Seoul Jamsil Auxiliary Stadium, DaeJeon World Cup Stadium, Incheon Asiad Main Stadium, and Gwangju World Cup Stadium. Keen to showcase the latest technology, in addition to special effects and water cannons, the tour marked the first South Korean outing for the GSL System.
Seoul-based PA rental company Artmix supplied the GSL loudspeakers. The team rigged 14 cabinets of d&b GSL8 and two cabinets of GSL12 per side for main L/R system, eight SL-GSUB per side for flown subs, fourteen d&b J8 and two J12 were rigged for out-fills.
To meet the LF demand of Psy’s EDM style, Artmix deployed 16 J-SUB for ground stacks. The deployment of front fill consisted of twelve V8. A D80 amplifier powered the set up.
“Designing the sound system presented some challenges, since each of the stadiums has its unique characteristics, in terms of size, seating layout and distance from FOH to the main stage,” says Artmix’s audio director Sun-Joong Kim. “We decided that our main objective was to tune the system to be as similar as possible, to create an identical sonic response in each venue.”
Summer in South Korea can be hot and humid. During this tour, temperatures in the region reached some of the highest levels since records began. “At the Busan tour date, it was 40 degrees with 40% humidity at the sound check, 36 degrees with 65% humidity at the rehearsal, and 30 degrees with 70% humidity during the show,” Kim continues.
“Needless to say, we had to ensure this didn’t have a negative impact on the sound. Thankfully, one can factor temperature and humidity into d&b Array Processing, so we ran the shows with multiple versions of ArrayProcessing slots, which was so helpful in making everything sound identical both day and night.”
The Artmix team utilised the d&b amp remote control software, R1, to monitor not only levels but also the system’s temperature throughout rehearsals and shows.
Sun-Joong Kim also served as FOH sound engineer for the tour. “It’s clear that the GSL System is optimised for large tours like this one,” he says. “Generally, there is an excess amount of low frequency on the main stage when you rig large quantities, but not with GSL. This phenomenon enables us to focus monitors more cleanly.”
(Jim Evans)
