Adlib Lives the Dream posted: 21/12/2017
The Orchestra at work
Adlib supplied full production - sound, lighting, rigging and large format video projection - for a special one-off event at the SSE Wembley Arena in London, DreamWorks Animation in Concert' which was presented by DreamWorks Animation, CineConcerts, and The MJR Group. It featured music and many memorable moments from DreamWorks Animation's numerous hit films like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon and more with music performed live by The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
Adlib was extremely pleased to be involved with such an ambitious and high profile orchestral / cinematic crossover' production. Their project managers Dave Eldridge and Richard Nicholson co-ordinated all the technical elements working closely with tour manager Barry Jepson, MJR's production manager Leanne Powell, technical manager Curtis King and creative director Nathan Stone.
It completes a hattrick of recent noteworthy orchestral works serviced by Adlib including the Harry Potter Film Concert Series and La La Land UK tours.
Video
As you would expect, video was right at the core of the technical production and a starting point for the entire concept.
Adlib's Charlie Rushton and John Haggart ensured that this all ran smoothly, starting with the large 40ft wide x 22.5 deep projection screen as specified by the production. Adlib has a number of Stumpfl screens and this one - a 40 ft. wide Vario 64 - was chosen for its quality and precision as well as the modular construction which ensures a nice rigid surface.
The Orchestra rehearsing pre-show.
The powerful front projection system consisted of a double-stacked pair of Panasonic DZ21Ks.
The content was fed via the production's CineMuse system servers and playback set-up running over Adlib's fibre signal network. One feed was routed to the projectors and another to conductor Benjamin Pope's stage monitor so he had a clear view of the animations at all times.
The biggest challenge for this aspect of the production was physically getting the screen built and floated in a timely fashion, allowing the orchestra to come in to a clear stage in time for rehearsals.
Due to the screen size, the build process occupied the entire stage and Adlib provided a dedicated crew to deal with its flying.
The Stumpfl product was also picked for the speed at which it can be assembled, which was of the essence here, with pre-rigged lighting trusses selected for the same reasons - so they could be wheeled in pre-loaded with fixtures and quickly picked up and flown to 'floating' height.
Adlib's New 40ft Projection Screen
Audio
PA techs Otto Kroyman and Jethro Hall looked after the system, with Terry Smith and Chris Snow co-ordinating everything at the stage end.
They worked alongside the production's FOH engineer Sylvain Denis and CineMuse's Marko Ambachtsheer.
An L-Acoustics K1 System was specified for its universal popularity and appropriateness for delivering premium quality audio for arena shows and events. From experience, Adlib's team knew it would provide exceptional coverage in the venue.
The system was a careful combination of L-Acoustics K1, K2 and KARA loudspeakers.
The main hangs were 12 x L-Acoustics K1 a side, with 4 x KARA-downs and the side hangs were 8 x K2 a side, with KARA also used for infills and outfills.
The low end of the spectrum was covered by the new L-Acoustics KS28 subs, six a side which were ground stacked in front of the stage.
All of these speakers combined to ensure a crisp, precise sound image across the whole arena, which is vital for delivering classical music in this environment.
The whole system was driven by L-Acoustics LA12X and LA8 amps and one of Adlib's standard Lake LM44 control racks was used for zone control, EQ and signal distribution.
Sylvain the FOH engineer
With over 80 inputs, a DiGiCo fibre loop system was installed in conjunction with 2 x SD racks at stage end and a mini rack at FOH to accommodate the large channel-count. Sylvain's console of choice was a DiGiCo SD5 positioned at FOH.
The most important challenge commented Richy Nicholson, was the tight timescale. Planning was key, so we worked alongside Barry Jepson (PM) and Sylvain ahead of the show to ensure there would be no surprises on the day. With such high channels counts, a very skilled crew was required to deal with the complexities of the set up and execute a practical, methodical plan resulting in flawless coverage .
Monitors were controlled from FOH. The strategic location of upstage wedges and fill speakers helped the orchestra achieve a consistent stage sound and Ben Pope the conductor, a vital link in the whole show delivery, had a shout system to help with cues and other instructions.
A mix of DPA 4011 and 4099 mics covered the large string sections, with Neumann, Sennheiser and Shure covering the rest of the orchestra, as per Sylvain's specific requests.
Lighting
Dave Eldridge and Adlib's lighting specialist Tom Webber created a design based on the requirements from DreamWorks and Barry Jepson. They were asked to specify a package to illuminate the orchestra and provide subtle but effective keylight whilst ensuring that the projection screen remained the centre of attention.
Tom worked on site with Jon Barlow who tech'd both lighting and video and dedicated lighting tech, Ash Dawson.
Adlib Touring Crew
General orchestra lighting was kept low and understated, John Henry's supplied illuminated music stands to enable the musicians to see their scores and conductor Ben Pope was lit from the back truss allowing the performers to see him clearly at all times.
Four trusses were utilised, the most upstage made up from Prolyte H40V for flying the screen and some drapes immediately behi
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
31/08/2025
Legrand | AV, a global specialist and industry leader in audiovisual solutions, returns to CEDIA Expo 2025, taking place Sept. 4-6 in Denver, with a powerful li...
31/08/2025
Global media technology company Backlight will unveil new capabilities in its Iconik, Wildmoka, and Zype product lines at IBC2025 (booth #1.D09), September 12 1...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
Adlib Lives the Dream posted: 21/12/2017 
