The Sound Of Humanz posted: 07/01/2018
Entec gives d&b's next generation' loudspeaker system an auspicious touring d but with Gorillaz.
A restless spirit of adventure has been central to Damon Albarn's creativity ever since he jumped aboard the gravy train at the beginning of the '90s. The latest stop on his colourful journey has been Humanz, the fifth studio album from his so-called virtual' band Gorillaz and the release that has spawned the act's most ambitious tour to date, featuring an ever-changing cast of special guests from Noel Gallagher, De La Soul and Albarn's Blur colleague Graham Coxon to Shaun Ryder, Jehnny Beth and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, amongst many others.
Since Gorillaz first took to the road early in the Millennium, Entec Light & Sound has been proud to play a supporting role and the ongoing Humanz tour has witnessed the fruits of recent investments in cutting edge audio technology, from major brands including DiGiCo, d&b audiotechnik and Shure, as well as the emergence of a promising transatlantic partnership.
In the second half of 2017, Entec - a long-time d&b rental house - entered into an agreement with Colorado-based Brown Note Productions to give d&b's next generation loudspeaker series its touring d but. Designed for large-scale arenas, stadiums and festivals, GSL - part of the new SL-Series - made its first touring appearance with Gorillaz at Luxembourg's 6,500-capacity Rockhal on November 1st, where the two main hangs each combined 16 GSL8 enclosures with two GSL12s, while 18 SL-SUBs lined the front of the stage.
We were very keen to start using it as soon as possible and it was immediately evident that it's a really clever design, stated FOH engineer Matt Butcher, a mainstay within the Albarn camp since just prior to Blur's 1994 Parklife tour, who has worked for the first time alongside system technician Perttu Korteniemi.
Butcher continued: My first impression was that it is very quick to rig, using the compression mode for flying, and I was bowled over as soon as we turned it on because the amount of punch you get from the low end is startling. When we first started using it we were playing bottom heavy program without the subs on and putting a little 60Hz bump in the PA just to see how much low end we could get out of it, and it was pretty staggering. We then fired up the new SL-SUB which is just on another level. I believe it's almost a hybrid of the J-SUB and J-INFRA, but the new model goes lower and is incredibly powerful whilst retaining so much clarity.
Generally speaking, with sub arrays you can lose that power alley effect down the middle, making it a little bumpy at FOH while it tails off when you move away, but I'm not finding this to be the case with GSL. I'm getting a remarkably smooth, fat and even cardioid dispersion of sub bass across the entire arena.
Right from the start of our pre-production, we made the firm decision to do everything absolutely right and not compromise the audio quality, and the results speak for themselves. A few of us have known Damon for so long that we feel able to make a lot of suggestions for improvement and he respects our opinions. For instance, we were very meticulous about assembling the kick drum samples from the various Gorillaz records so that they can be triggered live and they are reproduced so well through this new d&b system. We're achieving a very tight bottom end and great articulation on bass guitar and bass synths.
STRENGTHS OF VIRTUAL SILENCE
Powered by d&b D80 digital amplifiers, one aspect of GSL that excited both Butcher and monitor engineer Dave Guerin is the virtual absence of audio leakage behind the flown arrays.
Our first few days with the system were remarkable, Butcher said. I walked around the back and the sound just disappeared. We ended up taking the level down by 2-3dB because we no longer had to rise above the disinformation' that we had become accustomed to. We suddenly appreciated how much level usually comes out of the back of a box. Because there's no extraneous low end floating around on stage, everything sounds so much cleaner all the way down the line, so from my perspective at FOH it's a perfect situation.
Dave Guerin explained further: Even with the PA running at about 102dB at FOH, I'm hearing almost nothing from the PA itself at the side of the stage and for the first time ever, I can actually hear low end in my wedges. There is no recognisable spill from the sub array - only some reflections from the auditorium - and this is quite phenomenal.
With GSL currently in short supply due to its relative infancy, Entec fielded d&b V-Series enclosures for the PA's side hangs, with two V8s and a pair of V-SUBs (per side) reserved as sidefills.
THE SD-FACTOR
Gorillaz' production values have consistently become more complex since 2005's Demon Days Live, involving many high quality collaborations with choirs and stellar guests. The extension of Albarn's orchestral ambitions have led to additional textures and layers that, in turn, have laid down greater challenges for the audio department. It's always rewarding to come up with the solutions that make it all work on stage, commented Butcher.
It is a complicated show with so much going on at any one time. Our core line-up consists of drums, electronic percussion, guitar, bass, two keyboard players, six backing vocalists and Damon who plays piano, guitars and keytar. We also have the five-piece Hypnotic Brass Ensemble with us as well as a five-piece string section, and that combination is a first for us tonight at the O2 [in London]. We're effectively shoehorning them into the mix because we have pretty much reached the limits of what is possible with an SD7 but, for me, it's the best control surf
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The Sound Of Humanz posted: 07/01/2018 
