XTA’S ORCHESTRAL MANOUVRES
IN HAMPSHIRE

Photo: courtesy of XTA Electronics.

Audio Product Stories Published: 21 September 2004
During the summer, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra performed a series of outdoor classical spectaculars at some of the most important stately homes in the UK including Wilton House, home of the Earl of Pembroke, and Osborne House, favourite residence of Queen Victoria. With the dynamics of a full symphony orchestra, every part of the audio processing needed to be as transparent as possible.

Skan PA supplied XTA DP226 loudspeaker management for the series, as part of the overall system. Skan’s L’Acoustics dV-DOSC system was set up 12 a side, with two subs per side. XTA DP226s were used for the main system EQ curve, which was then fine-tuned each night to account for variations in the venues or environment.

Front of House engineer, Rob Hodgkinson, explains: “I had the basic set up of the system already programmed into the DP226s and as we moved from place to place, if I found I was doing one particular thing frequently, I would add that in as well.

“I used XTA’s AudioCore software to manage the system and my set up was mainly a simple left and right. On one occasion I had a centre cluster for infill and a delay tower, so I used AudioCore for zoning there as well as for zoning the side fills.

“I really like the DP226s because they’re so easy to use. I actually had quite a lot of points to EQ the system and you don’t even notice they are there because they sound so good.

“When you’re working with an orchestra, instruments like cellos and contra bass can feed back when you crank them up, but with this system you can go in very tight and accurate, which you couldn’t do with a standard parametric.

“I try to run everything as flat as possible on board and make sure that the system sounds good. If that’s the approach you’re going to take, then really good system EQ is very important. I used this in conjunction with Smart Pro, which I left on 1/6 octave resolution most of the time. This meant that I could very accurately smooth out the response with the XTAs. I really enjoyed the season. It was all very good fun and the XTA’s performed as well as the orchestra.”

Source:

XTA Electronics

 

 

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