A one-off event at the SSE Wembley Arena in London, DreamWorks Animation in Concert featured music and memorable moments from DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon and others, with music performed live by The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
Presented by DreamWorks Animation, CineConcerts and The MJR Group, sound, lighting, rigging and large-format video projection were all supplied by Adlib as a full production package. Project Managers Dave Eldridge and Richard Nicholson co-ordinated all the technical elements working with tour manager Barry Jepson, MJR Production Manager Leanne Powell, Technical Manager Curtis King and Creative Director Nathan Stone.
The show completes a hattrick of noteworthy orchestral works serviced by Adlib including the Harry Potter Film Concert Series and La La Land UK tours. At FOH were engineer Sylvain Denis and CineMuse’s Marko Ambachtsheer.
An L-Acoustics K1 System was specified for its popularity and ability to deliver quality audio for arena shows and events, and compriseda careful combination of L-Acoustics K1, K2 and Kara loudspeakers. The main hangs were 12 L-Acoustics K1 per side, with four Kara -downs and side hangs of eight K2 elements per side, with Kara also used for in fill and out fill.
The low end of the spectrum was covered by the new L-Acoustics KS28 subs, six per side which were groundstacked in front of the stage. The system was driven by L-Acoustics LA12X and LA8 amplifiers and one of Adlib’s standard Lake LM44 control racks was used for zone control, EQ and signal distribution.
With more than 80 inputs, a DiGiCo fibre loop system was installed in conjunction with two SD racks at stage end and a mini rack at FOH to accommodate the large channel- count. Denis’s FOH console of choice was a DiGiCo SD5.
‘The most important challenge was the tight timescale,’ says Richy Nicholson. 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 Denis’s specific request.
More: www.adlib.co.uk
