Held in the main ballroom at the stylish five-star Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, the exclusive playback was attended by international media and assorted celebrities, supplemented by video messages from album producers LA Reid and Timbaland, and hosted by Radio 1 Xtra's Trevor Nelson.
With rooms starting at over 500 pounds a night, the Bulgari is an unashamedly luxurious hotel in one of the most prestigious parts of the capital, and the high-quality finish of the ballroom venue dictated the standard of the furnishings chosen for the playback. Sony Music brought in furniture costing several thousand pounds for the gathering, and similar care was taken over both the audio quality and physical appearance of the sound system chosen for the evening.
Podd Sound's WideLine systems have been used extensively on a number of playbacks and live events for high-profile music industry artists over the last year. Founder Mat Podd's wireless microphone system of choice was Shure's industry standard UHF-R system, which was complemented by the new digital ULX-D systems.
The ability to network systems together and set them up or monitor them remotely adds huge value to events like this one, where the systems have to work flawlessly. The PA rig was made up of four ground stacks, one approximately in each corner of the Bulgari ballroom, and each comprising three WL212-sw subwoofers, with four WL3082 full-range WideLine units on top. The complete system was amplified by a total of eight QSC PowerLight PL380 and two PL325 amps, and managed by a pair of QSC SC28 processors.
"This job was a little different to some of the other playbacks I've done recently," admits Podd. "The ballroom was slightly egg-shaped, so I chose WideLine to give me an even coverage without the need for any fill-ins. I was asked to use ground stacks in the ballroom, but the media were all due to be seated during the playback, so I had to make sure that the dispersion was right, and that the music didn't disappear over their heads."
Fortunately, the WL212-sw subs have a mounting provision in their suspension system that allows WideLine 3082 units mounted on top of the subs at up to 10 degrees downwards, even when the subs are ground-stacked. "It was almost as though the array was hung," continues Mat Podd, "so during the playback, the music was aimed right at the seated audience."
(Jim Evans)
