Halo system for Benedetti's Games curtain-raiser

UK - Young Scottish-born violinist, Nicola Benedetti, is one of the UK's rising stars. Currently enjoying a top 20 position in the UK pop charts - the first time a British violinist has scored a top 20 album since Vanessa Mae in 1995 and Nigel Kennedy in in 1989 - Benedetti is a sought-after performer.She recently played a sold-out concert at the Guildhall in London as part of the City of London's Curtain Raiser programme for the Commonwealth Games. Audio production was supplied by Scottish audio specialists, The Warehouse who opted for a Halo Compact line array system from EM Acoustics."I'd been really impressed with the performance of Halo-C at a recent open day at our premises in Glasgow," recounted Warehouse sound hire manager and sound engineer, Pete Harris. "By coincidence I was also in the process of sourcing a suitable system for Nicola's show at the Guildhall. I thought that Halo-C would be a good choice sonically, and that it would also be the ideal opportunity to test it in a real world situation." To that end, Harris got together with EM Acoustics' Ed Kinsella to specify the system."The Guildhall is over 40m long and with no opportunity to fly, a ground-stacked system is the only option," explained Harris. The resulting solution comprised six Halo-C elements ground-stacked on each side of the stage supplemented with an EMS-118 reflex subwoofer per side. Rear-fill was provided by two Halo-C pole-mounted on a Halo-CS sub per side. Ten M-12 stage monitors were provided for the artists on stage, and the entire system was driven by EM Acoustics AQ and AD Series amplifiers."I have to say that it all worked very well in practice," remarked Harris. "It all sounded excellent, despite the fact that the Guildhall is not an easy room - I thought that the HF in particular held up very well in a difficult acoustic environment. From a sonic point of view, the system did a sterling job - we were all very pleased with the results - and as usual, the support from EM Acoustics, especially Dave Kelland and Ed Kinsella, was exemplary."(Jim Evans)

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