The ove to Earls Court One meant that sound designer Derrick Zieba and regular PA supplier Britannia Row had to re-think the sound system. Once again using the Electro-Voice X-Line array system, Zieba chose to manage the larger rectangular auditorium by effectively splitting the room into two halves and "making sure that the delay system worked as a substantial primary system."
Half way down the venue, three delay hangs each comprising eight Xls boxes, were spread in a L/C/R configuration right across the room. The main PA system featured left and right hangs, each using 12 EV Xls plus six Xlt cabinets and a downfill; additionally there was a centre hang of six Xlc cabinets to cover the orchestra pit and first rows. "That's an advantage of the X-Line," says Zieba, "that underhung fill box that takes you from the banana curve right down to below the hang. With just two fill boxes and the XLC hang providing coverage, the sound in the orchestra pit seemed to impress Prince!"
Because the BRIT Awards are televised, the X-Line PA had to be flown very high, to avoid compromising TV sightlines. 10 X-subs were flown beside the front arrays. "One of the plus points of using EV's X-Line is that the bass is designed to be flown," says Zieba. "This gives me a huge advantage when distribution sub-bass around the audience, the system delivers a much better spread of low end in the room."
Assessing the results, Zieba remarks: "The whole show had so much more energy than in previous years. Because we weren't having to generate sound for the back of the hall from the arrays at the front, we needed much less power from each system, and we could make sure that that energy was spread right through the room. Everything was at the level we'd like to play it at, and we didn't exceed any of our legal limits - inside or out." Earls Court is located in a densely residential neighbourhood, so Zieba was particularly pleased to receive not one single complaint about noise from the venue.
The BRITs was an all-digital affair this year, with Andy 'Baggy' Robinson mixing many of the 10 live acts, and Chris Coxhead mixing all presentations, video clips and voiceovers, and another digital desk on stage, which Graham Blake was using for monitors. "Using digital consoles meant we could really cut down the amount of outboard we used. Despite all the infills, outfills, sidefills and delays, there was not an analogue graphic equaliser in sight.
Everything was tuned within the console or within IRIS, EV's management software for the Precision Series remote amplifiers powering the X-Line system. We're all very happy with IRIS now, and, as a reasonably regular user, I can say my confidence in the system has really grown over the last couple of years."
A full review of the BRIT Awards will appear in the March issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine.
(Lee Baldock)
