Project Description
Ennio Morricone is considered the world’s greatest living film composer. Having created more than 500 works for the cinema, he is currently celebrating his 60 years of career in the industry with a worldwide tour. In the summer of 2017, FOH Engineer Fabio Venturi and project manager Giulio Rovelli presented Ennio’s management team an opportunity to experiment an L-ISA Live system for the Maestro and his orchestra. Enthusiastic about the idea of bringing an immersive experience for his audience, the team decided to test the L-ISA technology on two Italian tour dates in Bologna and Milano.
Sound Design Solution
The two dates took place in the Bologna Unipol Arena (8600 seats) and Milano Mediolanum Forum (12,700 seats). L-Acoustics’ Certified Provider Agora would have typically deployed a main K2 system of 12 enclosures per side with KS28 subwoofers plus side fills, front-fills and subs.
On the Milano show, the L-ISA application team and Maestro’s FOH engineer Fabio Venturi deployed an L-ISA configuration consisting of a scene system with five speaker groups of 12 Kara completed by an extension system with two groups of 12 Kara, along with K2 side fills, Kara front-fills and a flown central subwoofer configuration with two rows of four KS28.
This new implementation principle, combined with the L-ISA Controller and Processor delivered an unprecedented experience: The sound coming from the 100-piece orchestra and 75-strong choir seemed to come directly from the stage, with an unprecedented level of detail, transparency, and with a true connection between what was seen and heard for a significant portion of the audience. Many professionals agreed, saying that the PA seemed to have disappeared, leaving room for the music coming from the stage.
Setup
L-ISA Design
L/R Design
Technical Information
| Type | 12,700 pax Sports Arena |
|---|---|
| Venue | 75m deep x 70m wide (at the back) |
| Stage | 20m wide x 1.2m to 2.5m high |
Constraints
| Top max trim height | 13.7m (above floor) |
|---|---|
| Min trim height | 10.9m (above floor) |
| Max weight | 344 kg (Kara Scene system) |
Sound Design Target
| Program type | Classical Music |
|---|---|
| SPL max average | >= 106 dBA |
| SPL profile | 1 dB / 10 m |
| Frequency contour | 6 dB (@ 100hz) |
Mapping
L-ISA Design
L/R Design
L/R Coverage
L-ISA Coverage
The L‑ISA multi-channel system adds a sense of space to the sound. This has made it possible for Fabio and the Agorà group to reproduce my concert performance with a surprisingly realistic sound image of the orchestra. More than ever before, there was a clear feeling of being enveloped by the musical performance.
Ennio Morricone
The L‑ISA system made a strong and positive impression on every musician involved in the project; Ennio was really impressed by it as well. My personal take is that L‑ISA gives the music not only a big, detailed panorama, but also a real and better color of the sound; every detail of Morricone’s complicated score sounds very clean, with more space for the music to breathe. What I consider to be the biggest improvement is the realism of the sound, which, for symphonic music, is the essential point. Thank you!
Fabio Venturi, Ennio Morricone’s FOH engineer
I think artists and audiences alike are continuously looking for more profound live experiences and the L‑ISA technology seems to meet this demand. I think that this system is in particular exciting for arenas and large halls as it enables the entire audience to enjoy an amazing sound experience, with much more transparency and dynamic in sound than with conventional line-array systems.
The audience gets to enjoy sound that is far more natural and organic in terms of the geographical location of the many musicians and instruments on stage, even those who are seated in places that would not receive ideal PA projection with conventional systems.
Anyone who tours with orchestras outside conventional acoustic concert halls knows that it is very challenging to recreate that type of sound in an amplified arena environment. This system brings the orchestra much closer to the audience which makes the experience much more immersive and enjoyable!
Floris Douwes, Producer, Managing Director, General Entertainment Associates