Servicing tours with Clean Bandit, Laura Mvula and Massive Attack, CS Audio
engineered for Massive Attack at their BST gig in Hyde Park in July. The sound
equipment hire company has a strong emphasis on touring control and monitor
packages, and particularly IEM’s due to company MD Paul Hatt also being a monitor
engineer.

KLANG:technologies 3D IEM system had been on Hatt’s radar following a discussion
with Andy Huffer of HD Pro Audio, the UK distributor of KLANG:technologies. Huffer
had loaned a KLANG:fabrik system for a short UK tour but, due to time constraints
with late load-in’s and no sound checks, Hatt didn’t get a chance to fully audition the
system.

Hatt continued, “On the Massive Attack tour we were joined by the Heritage
Orchestra for the Hyde Park show and were requested to provide sixteen personal
monitor stations. So this was the ideal opportunity to fully prove the
KLANG:technologies system and two KLANG:fabrik units were brought in, along with
a router, sixteen iPads and sixteen Shure P6 hard-wire IEM systems, fully prepped
and supported by HD Pro Audio’s Tom Turner.’

Hatt explained the simple operation, “System set-up is very straightforward and it
talked to my Soundcraft Vi console via the Dante interface with no issues. I sent a
stereo band mix to the KLANG:fabrik along with groups of first and second violin,
viola, cello and bass, and a direct out of each string line. This allowed each
orchestra member to maintain control over their own level and get the desired
blend with the rest of the string sections and the band.’

The weather on the day didn’t help, as Hatt explained, “What limited time we had
for sound check and rehearsal on the day was delayed further by heavy rainfall in
the morning. The musicians were understandably reluctant to get their valuable
instruments out in less than ideal weather conditions, so overall I was very
impressed with the speed with which the system achieved the desired results. After
a short demonstration the musicians seemed to get acquainted with the system
very quickly. I didn’t see any puzzled looks in using the KLANG:app. In fact I didn’t
receive any requests from them at all. It’s an intuitive user interface, and we
received nothing but positive comments from the users on the day.’

Hatt concluded, “I see it as two systems in one. It proved its worth to me as a high
end wireless personal monitor control solution, but also the 3D image processing is
quite something else. I solo’d a few output mixes by selecting the corresponding
Dante return on a couple of free stereo input channels on the desk during the show.
At one point I hit the cue bus and immediately physically spun around to look
behind me as I was certain there was a group of cellos behind me; the spatial
image was so real and beyond conventional stereo. It’s a great product – and lots of
fun.’