“As the mix engineer, it’s a really nice feeling to know you’re able to reproduce your show as it’s intended 99 percent of the time...” want to do, and how to achieve it. “With the d&b system and the fine-tuning control tools it brings such as AP and the prediction software tools, our work is very similar from location to location,” says Eddie O’Brien, FOH minder. “We get the same result quickly, which is very refreshing. As a footprint, the content of the show is pretty static, and is easy to transfer venue to venue. We’re just left with acoustic differences in the room, and we can address this with the d&b system.” “The size differences between venues are dealt with by simply adding delay arrays but leaving the core stage end PA system positions unchanged, making only angle and box count changes to suit each venue’s audience geometry,” adds Vickers. “We advance all the shows with full 3D CAD data and model in ArrayCalc to ensure that every seat in the house has the same experience. There are no longer ‘cheap seats’ due to the audio quality.” When used as intended, and with accurate array placement within each venue, the SL Series can guarantee that the highest/widest/furthest seat has the same experience as the pitch level VIP zone. Correctly placed arrays in a stadium now typically require only two pitch delays, with additional roof-hung arrays only for the higher venues where they deploy the touring six-position ring system of GSL’s lighter brother, KSL. The team chose to use the SL-SUBs simply tipped on their ends in a horizontal spaced array. “We found that the SL-SUBs didn’t need to be in big blocks to deliver the level, control and tonal response that we wanted, so we thought ‘out of the box’ and took a new approach,” Carolan explains. “By shifting from indoor to outdoor 70 Headliner
venues, the Sub-Array physical deployment changed slightly. The team worked with timing, and at some outdoor venues, they worked on a super-wide SUB experience. But aside from that, very little has changed with the actual musical tonality.” Rehearsals play a big part in the preparation, with Muse and the team using London’s Air Studios for a couple of weeks as a base to finetune the tour beforehand, where they bring in the full touring control package. “We mostly work on arrangements of the new songs to make it transfer live; it’s always a very concise and streamlined process,” says Carolan. “I just bring my console and my stuff. For me, at that stage in the rehearsals, I don’t want big reinforcement, I don’t want a big system. I prefer to just concentrate on the musical details first and make that my bed — first art, then noise!” “The album mix is a reference, and that’s important, but it’s also about translating the feeling of what the album mix is, not just ‘tracing’ it. We understand the intention, and transfer that to the audience experience. As the mix engineer, it’s a really nice feeling to know that you’re able to reproduce your show as it’s intended 99 percent of the time.” Show by show, the touring audio team fine tunes and deploys cabinet quantities and angling based on the actual event spaces. “When people ask why I love using the SL series so much, my answer is that it’s smaller, weighs less, uses less power, and goes louder,” says Skan touring array expert, Joachim Dewulf, who has been working with the band since 2015. “If you see the number of speakers we fly for stadiums, we have a main hang of just 18 GSL!”
KEEPING IT MUSICAL
According to the team, the high-quality, smooth musicality of the SL Series is the most essential feature. The large-format line array system is said to provide the audio fidelity and configuration flexibility to deliver a great concert experience in any venue efficiently. “As you can see, there are only two delay masts, with no other visible supporting structures. We’re quite far out, and it’s incredible audio engineering that they’re able to cover this so well,” Carolan gestures around the arena. “You don’t have to rob Peter to pay Paul anymore. You don’t have to sacrifice something to get something else. You can have everything. From the musicality point of view, that’s such a huge leap forward. If you can imagine it, and if you know what you want, then you can achieve it.” Considering the wall of sound that is Muse, so far, the tour has had no complaints about SPL. “In fact, we keep confusing the noise police,” Carolan laughs. “The SPL of my show, without anybody regulating me or telling me ‘this is the envelope,’ sits at around 100dB over 15 minutes, which historically would seem like a low figure. But with the SL Series, it’s absolutely all you need, because of the speed of the system, its impact, and the perception of size. It feels really good. There are points, of course, when I’m pushing a little bit, and there are points when I’m pulling a little bit back.” “The GSL system is doing exactly what it says it will do,” agrees audio crew chief and monitor minder, Liam Tucker, who has worked with Muse since the rehearsals for the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. “It’s sorting the environmental control. It’s