Newtons drive audio for Roger Waters tour
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Audio system design and supply for This Is Not A Drill is by Clair Global / Eighth Day Sound, using a vast d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker system with Outline Newton Processors at its heart.
The audio setup is not straightforward. System tech Wayne Hall describes the role of his Newtons: “We are using three Newtons mainly because we have a complex arrangement of sends from the consoles to the loudspeaker system and also because we required a ‘mirrored’ backup console system where we could just push the fader up and have instant output without any button pushes or any other time-consuming processes.
“We use Newton #1 to take the first MADI send from the Main Avid S6L 192 engine into the Newton via Co-Ax to give us our principal inputs which are main L&R, subs and front fill L&R, so five inputs for the main system. We also take the same from the backup console’s engine into the second Newton via MADI Co-Ax, those then are sent via Dante to the first Newton.
“We then utilise the matrix DSP from that unit to feed our loudspeaker system, to which we send main L&R (which are the long side arena speakers), side L&R (short side arena speakers), flown subs L&R, mono ground-stacked subs and front fill L&R, so nine outputs to the main system.”
“The third Newton handles the surround inputs and outputs. The inputs are a combination of MADI and Dante and we use the matrix DSP again to merge the two consoles together to give us the four AES stereo outputs to feed the surround system. We utilise Newton’s ability to combine different audio formats, which it does with ease.”
Sean ‘Sully’ Sullivan is manning FOH for the tour and with a resumé that includes Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Rihanna, and many others, he’s no stranger to mixing audio on this scale: “The Newtons do so much so well in 1U of rack space, it’s impossible to ignore them as the centrepiece driving our massive, intricate system.”
