The Philippine arena, the flagship venue of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) church opened
on Sunday 28 July 2014. The venue, north of Manila, is the largest indoor
auditorium in the world and has the largest single-span roof structure. Seating 55
000, it is twice as large as any similar venue in Europe or the USA. Prosound South
Africa was there.
Prosound”s involvement in the opening events at Philippine Arena was the
culmination of 18 months of planning the sound system for this mammoth project.
In early 2013, via Bosch / Electro-Voice international, Prosound was introduced to EVI
Philippines who commissioned the company to design and supply the specialist
electro-mechanical services for the installation of the EV sound system.
This sound set-up is rated as the largest indoor system in the world. It comprises
24 large format line arrays and four arrays of subs. Prosound built the spines and
rigging for the arrays, the 34 pre-wired racks at 40u for the amps in the catwalks,
12 racks for the control room, speaker cabling and power distribution.
A number of containers were shipped to Manila followed by Prosound specialists for
rigging, wiring and electrics all overseen by the company’s technical director, Mark
Malherbe.
Due to the success in implementing the unique and complex install of this gigantic
sound system, EVI asked Prosound to oversee sound and general show co-
ordination for the week-long opening ceremonies. Ceremonies that were planned to
compliment the magnitude of the Arena structure as well as celebrating the
centenary of INC Church.
Malherbe was the obvious person to look after this job. He has led Prosound
technical teams for very large events including the Pope (twice), Mandela’s release,
Namibian independence, Mandela’s inauguration and the sound and comms for the
2010 WCS opening and closing ceremonies.
He certainly needed all of his experience to handle the INC events!
Malherbe takes up the story: “’When the commission finally came through I knew I
needed qualified assistance but the relevant Prosound guys were all committed. The
company has recently concentrated on supplying independent technical support
services for events and installations so our own staff was difficult to get hold of!
“I suspected that despite the multiple events planned at the Arena there would be
no central production manager/co-ordinator. The limitations therein would be
compounded by the Philippine way of wanting to please and struggling to say NO.
“Fortunately Revel Baselga was available. I have worked with him and knew he
would have the skills and stamina to deal with the unknown we were walking into.
And wow, did Revel perform 24/7 in the real sense of that number. He was a
perfect technical partner helping to keep a lid on the potential chaos.
“The two of us arrived in Manila late on Tuesday 22 July. We immediately held
meetings with the EV international people to establish the status of the electro-
acoustic commissioning of the installed sound. With the EVI Philippines team we
reviewed the programme for the opening ceremonies.
“From midnight on Saturday there would be an hour long firework display (also an
attempted Guinness record) outside the Arena followed by a 4 750 piece choir in the
arena, and this too was to be a Guinness record. On the day the choir was on until
about five in the morning when we had to turn around staging.
“The audience of 50 000 was also turned around in preparation for 07H00 on Sunday
27 July when the main worship and praise ceremony would take place for two hours
followed by the Guinness Records presentation.
“[We would then] strike staging and prepare for the 10H00 Oratorium; a classical
piece of music specifically written for the occasion and featuring artists from all
over the world. The orchestra was 125 pieces with 450 person choir and eight
soloists performing for two hours.
“Here it has to be mentioned that to deal with this Sunday event we drove for six
hours on the Saturday (normally a half hour trip) to get to the venue with literally a
million people arriving either to get into the arena or onto the outside fields and
stadium. There was sound and screens all over the place outside and we had to
ensure suitable feeds for these events as well as outside broadcast vans.
“We worked right through from Saturday midday to Sunday midday when we
managed to claw our way to the hotel to regroup for the next event.
“On Tuesday 29 July there was to be a musical spectacular. This musical was
specifically written to depict the history of INC Church. The performance would
include an orchestra, a rock band, 350 performers and a 1 500 piece choir.
“The closing ceremony was on Saturday 2 August; a quiz show followed by worship
and evangelical mission. As things turned out on that day parts of the musical
performed on the Tuesday were re-performed without any warning.
“As expected the flow of events was controlled chaos. The venue is so large, the
presentations had these huge numbers of performers and there was just so much
going on with virtually no rehearsal. Besides working 20-hour days and relying on
caffeine to survive we focussed on three core areas: ensuring the sound system
was as accurate as possible, pre-planning the stage and making sure everything
worked!
“The first major challenge was to tackle the loudspeaker system for balance,
alignment and tone. This system and venue is one of a kind and the cavernous
nature of the venue required continual listening and tweaking throughout the venue;
an excellent fitness regimen…
“The system had been setup with analysers and machinery but our Prosound
experience is that these devices are merely tools and the first call for acoustic
commissioning. Experience, ears, understanding of the staging and source materials
are extremely important factors in optimising a sound system, especially of this
size.
“As things turned out, while working with ad-hoc rehearsals and changing stage
requests, we spent two days working on the main sound system to get a predictable
performance. We spent time with the EVI techs getting the microphone types and
placement correct. The other concern on stage was monitoring which we had to
clean up as somebody had the crazy idea of side-fills on a 60m wide stage. Yes,
60m wide!
“Fortunately the compliment of mics was largely DPA and Audio Technica. Besides
knowing these mics well, and our preferred choice, they are accurate and reliable
when you need them most. Both products offer excellent capsules for choral pick-up
and for orchestral instruments.
“Another ’win’ was the Dynacord co-axial monitors suited to the style of music and
vocals we were expecting on stage. Dynacord, an EV company, produces
predictable, high-quality loudspeakers, a must for very trying acoustic conditions.
“The sound consoles provided were the Avid/Digidesign VENUE Profiles working in
banks. Of course these are excellent digital mixing boards but I am used to the
Midas Pro-series with the quick VCA POP access. I also found the EQ and Waves FX
took some getting used to compared to the convenience in the Midas generic route
in dynamics and FX.’
The wrap
“In conclusion, the overriding challenge of very limited rehearsals and often no
sound checks meant that our planning had to be predictive. The help of the
industrious EVI techs was paramount and first class. The 500 odd EV line array
elements performed with all the power and articulation we needed and it was
certainly a privilege to have Glicerio Santos Jnr, the 2 IC of this vast organisation
INC, personally meet with me and to thank Prosound for a job well done,’ adds
Malherbe.
