Live sound for Covid concerts

The coronavirus crisis has caused people to rethink how to hold concerts and other live events. Kevin Hilton saw what this means from an audio perspective.

In the early days of live sound, the band played with its amplifier backup line as the only form of amplification. In the 1970s, this method was replaced by specially designed speaker equipment, mixers, amplifiers and microphones, because when the technology became more complex and the stage production became more ambitious, these were all obtained by experienced sound engineers and skills. Staff support.

When the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of all tours and concerts, this situation changed overnight. When the lockout restrictions were relaxed in July, the biggest challenge was to get people close to each other and stay safe. The American band The Flaming Lips not only adopted an innovative approach, but also used a huge plastic foam to put the audience in a huge plastic foam; the Ukrainian rock band O.Torvald's "Vertical Concert" was on the hotel balcony opposite the fans Watching stage.

Its level changes include being described as "the UK's first dedicated social venue". The Virgin Money Unity Arena in Gosforth Park in Newcastle has been reconfigured to provide spectators with a stage and a series of small movable fences. These individual micro-platforms are placed at intervals on site, providing a "private" viewing area for each group.

Normally, the arena can hold 15,000 to 20,000 people, but at any time the venue can hold up to 2500 people. Therefore, the usual technical layout of outdoor concerts is: the high sound tower can accommodate engineers, the front of the house (FoH) mixer (DiGiCo SD10) is located in the middle of the crowd, and the speaker stack is further tilted back and to the sides . being abandoned.

Instead, Live Sound Company, Kingdom Services used the ArrayProcessing option in d&b audiotechnik's ArrayCalc simulation program to analyze the performance of the SL series in all listening planes with a large number of receiving points. John Smith, the founder of Kingdom Services, said this makes it possible to "provide a consistent listening experience across the entire site." The safety of the unit is ensured by routing the FoH output of the inter-band music and broadcasting to the system control while cleaning the mixer during the mixing time.

In Germany, the Summer City Festival in Bendorf near Koblenz (renamed Corona Concert) is held on a smaller scale, with only 350 participants at a time. These include audiences, technicians, staff and artists who are sitting and keeping a distance from society. Michael Enchelmaier of the leasing company EVE explained that the government has introduced a strict sanitation system and strictly enforced it. Due to the performances in front of the two churches, the stage of the performance is more complicated. Martin Audio WPC drilling rig has a "hard avoidance" function, which can cut the overflowing sound to the surrounding buildings.

Microphone manufacturers including Sennheiser and DPA have issued comprehensive guidelines on how to clean the microphones, capsules and transmitters and receivers of wireless systems. Communication is an element that cannot be ignored. Like the radio microphone, the intercom headset and waist bag are worn on the body, so hygiene is very important.

Although bringing back outdoor concerts has been very difficult, organizing indoor performances has proved to be more challenging. British composer and producer Andrew Lloyd Webber (Andrew Lloyd Webber) made a special voice while locking down the financial impact of Covid on the field of activity.

After the show resumed, Lloyd Webber's London Palladium Theatre staged two performances of Jason Robert Brown's "Song of the New World". Performances are performed to keep performers away from society, while the auditorium is organized as empty seats that separate individuals or groups of people. This means that the 2,286-seat theater section is empty, said Joshua Robins of Robins Audio, which makes it more difficult to judge the audio level. The performance is sound checked and there is no audience, but engineers know that in a complete auditorium, many sounds will be absorbed by the human body, so they will compensate at the level that the sound should reach. With half of the audience missing, Robbins found it more difficult to measure the level. Palladium's internal L-acoustic system is complemented by a monitoring device designed by Robins Audio using the manufacturer's X series speakers.

After the first lock, one of the first theater productions was in the Donmar warehouse. Blindness was staged as a sound installation, and Juliet Stevenson performed a monologue and recorded with binaural heads. The sound design was created by Max and Ben Ringham. Max Ringham said that the decision to stage a "headphone show" raised a potential problem because the headphones touch the ears, which are a tight part of the body. In order to comply with Covid regulations, two sets of headphones were used, each set was cleaned between performances and placed on the seat of each new audience by a person wearing gloves.

The show performed before the pandemic was "The Great Gatsby." For the new version that supports Covid, sound designer Phil Grainger commented that sound design is one of the elements that are easier to adapt. In the initial version, the audience can freely move around the main background of the story, Jazz Bar. It was remade, so unless one of the actors took away, they would sit in the "pods" throughout the performance.

Grainger commented that since the speakers are installed on the original rack, the purpose is not to make anyone standing under the speakers too loud, but to keep them away from the speakers will still be harsh. The audience is concentrated in one place, keeping a distance from the society, this becomes even more important.

Another consideration is whether actors should share microphones. A program was implemented to clean between different microphones used by the performers. In an impossible scene, an actor and another singer are placed on a table in the middle of the room not far from the microphone on the stage with the microphone, but the audience can still hear it.

Grainger’s advice to anyone planning a stage performance or concert is: stay positive and suggest any solutions to see if it works; and consider changing the way you work over the years might improve your work.

Many of the tours and theater performances originally scheduled for this year have been rescheduled to 2021. It is too early to say whether these performances will appear in any form.

Live performances may never go back in time, but we can hope that new technologies and methods can ensure the continued development of the business.

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