I keep saying this, but rock concerts in South Africa are getting bigger and better as time goes on. Looking back even 10 years ago, I am astounded at the strides we have made not just in technology but in promotion and production value, writes Greg Bester.
So standing among the crowd at any of the sold out shows that have transpired over the past year or so I had to constantly remind myself that I was in South Africa. I could have been anywhere; Redding, Glastonbury, Coachella; anywhere. We’ve become that good and it makes you proud to see our industry deliver in such a professional and often highly scrutinised arena.
A notable mention of late is the Bastille concert at Emmarentia Dam on 11 January 2014, brought to us by Nokia and 5FM, and supported by local acts Matthew Mole, Beatenburg and Bed on Bricks. 15 000 strong, the crowd was a virtual sea of people that washed from the dam front to about 200m up the grassy field perpendicular to the embankment. As usual, a host of South African technical companies were involved to help bring the event to fruition and, as one would expect and despite the welcome (unwelcome for some) afternoon downpour, the show was a resounding success and put another positive mark against our name when it comes to putting on a show of international calibre.
It seems these days a show is not a show unless we have a full complement of high-tech kit. Massive full-size line array? Check. Huge LED screens flanking the stage? Check. State-of-the-art lighting? Check. Gargantuan stage? Check. 3D video recording? Check. The show was clearly chock full of tech so let’s take a look at who did what and the gear that was supplied.
Audio
Audio services were supplied by Pretoria-based rental company Blue Array. Blue Array has been popping up all over the place lately and it seems their services are highly sought after because of their professional and knowledgeable crew and, of course, their outstanding gear. However, all the gear in the world does not mean there won’t be any challenges.
Marinus Visser, FOH engineer and technical director at Blue Array, comments on those faced at the Bastille gig: “We had a tremendous challenge firstly because of the sheer size of the audience that was expected for the show; around 15 000. Our sound coverage area was about 200m from front of the stage to the rear of the coverage area, 60m wide in front and funnelling out towards the back to about 120m. The inclination angle of the floor from front to back was about 11 to 14 degrees, which meant a floor height of over 12m at the very back of the audience. My delays were flown at about 96m in front and in line with the main PA system at about 9m bumper height from floor. Main PA bumper height was 11m bumper height from the floor.’
He explains further: “Our laser inclinometer/rangefinder and the d&b audiotechnik ArrayCalc software is crucial to the actual PA system design and luckily the d&b software is logical and easy to use. You can really get a good idea of what the PA would respond like on the prediction software, and adjust the angles, height and processing accordingly. Time alignment is also done in Smaart V7 just to be extra precise.’
The audio system for Bastille was quite elaborate but we’ll get to specifics later. The main PA was a d&b audiotechnik J-series line array with 14 boxes per side. In fact, the entire system was d&b. The top 12 boxes in each hang of the main array were 80 degree horizontal dispersion J8s while the bottom two were 120 degree J12s for downfills. This makes sense since the crowd at the front of the stage might be missed by the J8s and the wider dispersion at the bottom of the splay will cover this area nicely. A further six Q7s were placed for front fills.
A total of 12 JSUBS were deployed and flown six a side right behind the main arrays in hypercardioid mode while a further 14 B2 subs were ground stacked in stacks of three and four in front of the stage, also in cardioid configuration.
The delay system, situated about 20m behind FOH, comprised of 20 (10 a side) Q1 boxes hoisted up on ballasted truss frames.
A whopping 53 d&b D12 amplifiers were employed to power the entire system, distributed via AES/EBU at 96kHz from mic pre through to speaker. This results in an ultra-high quality, recording studio grade digital audio transmission from point to point, lowering the noise floor, extending bandwidth to about 40kHz and maximising dynamic range.
On-stage monitoring comprised of a combination of d&b audiotechnik M- and Q-series loudspeakers. Eight M2 and six M4 paired to eight QSUBS were supplied, powered by a further 14 D12 amplifiers. For sidefills, six JBL VRX 932 LA and four SRX 728 subwoofers were supplied, powered by four Crown IT8000 amplifiers.
FOH received two consoles; a Soundcraft Vi6 with a 64 input, 32-output stage box running on SC Multimode MADI optical fibre cable; and an Avid VENUE D-Show Main console with five mix cards running Waves V9, Cranesong Phoenix, Sony Oxford Sonnox, McDSP and Slate plugins. The VENUE console was paired to a 48-input, 24-output stage box via BNC coax cabling. The VENUE was spec’d for Bastille.
For plugin support on the Vi6, a Waves Multirack system was employed. To make things as simple as possible, a 194-input, 192-output RME MADI FX PCI-e interface housed in a Sonnet Thunderbolt chassis was connected to the console via optical fibre and paired to a MacBook Pro, where the plugins here hosted. The Waves Mercury bundle along with many more plugins were available, essentially – like the VENUE – bringing the power of the studio to a live scenario.
Similar to FOH, two monitor consoles were supplied to monitor world: a Soundcraft Vi1 paired to a 64-input, 32-output stage box via SC Mulitmode MADI optical fibre; and an Avid VENUE D-Show Main with side-car and five mix cards running Waves v9, Eventide and Rane plugins. Five Senneheiser G3 and four Shure PSM900 in-ear monitoring receivers and body pack transmitters were supplied while the artists supplied their own moulds.
As mentioned, the audio system was quite elaborate due to the fact that there were four consoles to accommodate and rolling risers which rotate seamlessly between bands.
“All audio for Bastille was split between the two Avids,’ says Visser, “and all audio for the local bands were split between the two Soundcraft Vi6 stage racks respectively. We also implemented two separated stage mult-box patching systems. In other words, Bastille had its own 48-channel splitter with looms and stage boxes that interconnected using Harting plugs. The exact same system was doubled for each local band. We had a set of 4 x 12-way multi-boxes on stage for Bastille and another 10 x 8-way mult-boxes for the local bands. This enabled us to deploy very exact patching procedures and mic placement on rolling risers which could simply be plugged in and out using one connector and without moving any microphones, cables or stands. It also enabled Bastille to start checking lines while the local band was playing. It just makes everything easier, quicker and, most importantly, more precise!’
Staging
The Eurotruss PR-10 extended roof structure was supplied by SS Stage Structures & Equipment, a local staging company headed by Mike Niksch and Attie van Staden. According to local Eutrotruss distributor Prosound (Pty) Ltd, it’s: “…the largest aluminium pitch roof structure of its kind sold to date in Africa.’
As this was the first build for the new roof construction, SS Stage Structures were assisted by Eurotruss build engineer Henk Tiekstra and Prosound’s Donovan Calvert. The PR-10 Extended is the second special order of its kind from Eurotruss, and sees South Africa again pushing the boundaries for what is available locally.
The stage measured 35m wide x 15m deep x 16m high with load bearing capacity of 38 000kg. The roof boasts a 14-tower system for higher loading capacity over the standard 12-tower system and the fact that it boasts self-climbing capacity gives it a tremendous speed of build. Of course, all international structural safety regulations were adhered to during the structure’s erection.
“With a performance area of 20m x 16m and with two off stage areas each 6.9m x 15m the PR-10 roof offers massive advantages for show requirements,’ says Mike Niksch owner or SS Stage Structures & Equipment.
Lighting
Lighting for the event was handled by local lighting suppliers Stage Effects, directed by Theo Papenfus. Since it was a daytime event the lighting was a bit of a challenge due to the direct sunlight.
“Because it was a day show and the stage faced the setting sun,’ says Papenfus, “we concentrated more on eye-candy and staggering the rig more than usual to get visual effects easier from the source of the fixtures. We also decided to utilise the ZR-44s with fans, so that we could get enough smoke on-stage in order for beam-work to register in the direct sunlight. Our luck turned when a rainstorm came over and receded about 20 minutes later, leaving some cloud cover behind but not for long.’
The following fixtures were supplied:
• 16 x Martin MAC600
•12 x Martin MAC Viper Spot
• 12 x Martin MAC401
• 9 x Martin Atomic 3 000W Strobe
• 12 x Robe REDWash 3.192
• 6 x 4-cell Molefay
• 2 x JEM ZR-44 smoke machine
• 1 x Avolites Sapphire Touch DMX console
Guiding the rig’s design was the spec from Will Dart, Bastille’s lighting designer and by a stroke of good luck the fixtures available in Papenfus’ arsenal were very close to his requests.
“Will uses the Avolites line of consoles almost exclusively. We had a patch list exported from our show file printed and ready for him when the company arrived on-site Saturday morning. With the Bastille show-file loaded and about two hours later, all components were updated and their show kicked off at four that afternoon without a hitch.’
LED and video
As is becoming a standard affair at most large concerts in South Africa these days, massive LED screens flanked either side of the stage, supplied by local LED experts PLED and coordinated by PLED LED engineer Buks Nieuwoudt.
“From a personal side, I have done a lot of AV for the big names such as Swedish House Mafia, Skrillex, Awolnation and many more,’ says Nieuwoudt. “Bastille was by far the one I enjoyed the most. Everything from staging, sound, AV and 3D recording was done extremely professionally and up to international standards.’
The chosen orientation of the screens was portrait-style and each screen measured 5.12m wide x 6.72m high and came in at 2 800kg. The screens had a pixel pitch of P20mm with a virtual pitch of 10mm and totalled 86 016 pixels per screen. In order to supply the ability to record and distribute signal in 3D, the screens were run in HD.
The control system for the LED screens consisted of a bespoke HD Linsn sender card with the latest ROHS 4K HD controller (Super HD). The software used was LEDStudio to achieve the portrait orientation.
“A lot of camera tweaking was put in by Mushroom (Broadcast) to prevent stretched pictures on the 16:9 portrait screens,’ says Nieuwoudt.
Video production services for the event were handled by Mushroom Broadcast, under direction from Eban Olivier, who supplied the cameras and broadcast crew for the event.
The wrap
The Bastille concert at Emmarentia Dam was a shining beacon of South African professionalism. Every facet and participant of the show was as on point as one could expect and really goes to show that we can put on an event as good as any other around the globe. Given the march of technology and its ever increasing availability it is clear that the relevant players in today’s local industry are staying abreast of the latest trends and techniques that are championed worldwide. So after standing in the sun and rain among the most beautiful surroundings that Jo’burg has to offer and enjoying a concert comparable to any worldwide, it’s easy to feel like a champion here at home.
