The Maastricht-based Rieu is known for being a stickler for sonic excellence. Sensitive to the acoustical limitations of the arenas and stadiums in which he often holds court, Rieu has trusted Montreal-based Solotech with his tour sound for nearly a decade. The highly respected company behind the shows of Cirque du Soleil, Celine Dion, and many others provides Rieu with a finely tuned audio system based around Meyer Sound's Milo high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker.
The main system is centred on two arrays of 14 Milo cabinets and two Milo 120 high-power expanded coverage curvilinear array loudspeakers. "The Milo array covers (from the rear of the venue) up to about 25 or 30 feet from the stage, where the front-fill takes over," explains David Brazeau, project manager and head systems tech for seven of Rieu's nine-plus years of touring. "The Milo array is quite capable of covering even closer if we wanted to, but near the stage there's quite a bit of sound coming from the orchestra itself, and we get a more natural blend by using smaller front-fills."
Four M1D ultra-compact curvilinear array loudspeakers across the stage lip and a pair of UPA-1P compact wide coverage loudspeakers on either side handle those front-fill duties. "The M1D was designed as a line array," Brazeau observes, "but we've found it's perfect for front-fill, giving us just the right area of focus."
Side-fill is handled by two MSL-5P high-power loudspeakers, a custom self-powered version of the discontinued MSL-5 that was made for Solotech. Underneath the MSL-5P cabinets are two MSL-4 horn-loaded long-throw loudspeakers, complemented by two CQ-1 wide coverage main loudspeakers for down-fill.
Under the stage are five 650-P high-power subwoofers per side, while on stage, 10 legacy, unpowered UPM-1 UltraSeries reinforcement loudspeakers cover monitoring duties. "The UPM-1 is very low-profile and not too loud; just right for filling in particular parts of the orchestra," Brazeau explains. "Eventually we'll go to the powered UPM-1P version, but these UPMs have been touring for over nine years and, like with most Meyer stuff, they never break, so there's been no rush to change."
FOH engineer Wim van der Molen mixes the show on a Yamaha PM1D digital console, adding a sidecar to accommodate the choir added for this tour. The only outboard gear is a Lexicon 960 for Rieu's violin. The show is consistent enough to allow van der Molen to mix monitors from FOH as well.
Rieu's vintage 1667 Stradivarius is picked up via two Sennheiser ME102 omnidirectional lavalier mics sewn into his jacket. "We mic him low with one mic, and put the other a bit higher," says Brazeau. "We raise it up a bit when he's talking. That's another great thing about the Meyer rig: it's got a tight enough focus that we can use an omni on Andre and it won't feed back.
"Milo is ideal for this music," Brazeau concludes. "It's very powerful, very capable, and easy to manipulate. We play such a wide range of venues, from arenas to theatres, and that versatility is important for us. I've worked with other line arrays, but Milo is really the one I prefer. It sounds sweet without being overly aggressive, and really brings out the richness of the strings."
(Chris Henry)
