Running from October to March each year, the Riyadh Season celebrates the capital of Saudi Arabia, its culture and its people. It is one of the initiatives that forms Kingdom’s Vision 2030, a set of social and economic reforms designed to enhance the quality of life for citizens and residents, and boost economic and tourist activity.
The mot prominent Saudi landmark of 2021, Boulevard Riyadh City was the pride of Riyadh Season 2021/22. Built from the ground up by local companies, the zone contains nine areas, each with its own programme of events, as well as restaurants, cafés, boutiques, gardens and games centres. Special features include the largest cinema in the Kingdom, an electric car circuit, a skating rink and four theatres. To guarantee experiences in keeping with the ambitious nature of the complex, each theatre is equipped with a V-Series sound system from d&b supplied by A/V specialist 7Hertz.
7Hertz was approached by Sela, a leading events management company based in Saudi Arabia that been delivering the Riyadh Season since 2019 and was responsible for designing and specifying the systems destined for the new theatres. ‘Our relationship with Sela goes back a long way,’ says 7Hertz Panaging Partner, Chadi Masri. ‘We’ve known the technical director, Hicham Bitar, and the head of audio, Samer Atallah, for some time now and have built up a relationship of trust over the years. They know that we always do our best for our customers. When this project came along, they had already more or less made up their minds that it would be d&b.’
‘Having used d&b on a number of different events worldwide and visited the company headquarters in Germany for seminars and training, we were already very familiar with the brand,’ explains Technical Director, Hicham Bitar. ‘For this project, we required a solution that covered all the bases: extremely high quality, modern, flexible enough to handle all types of performance and rider-friendly. During the Season – and even beyond now that the Boulevard Riyadh City is a permanent structure – we have different artists coming in with a different show every week, so it was imperative for us to have systems that we are proud to present to any engineer and that all engineers are happy to use. d&b was a very easy choice.’
Sela decided on d&b V-Series line array systems throughout due to their performance and versatility. The two largest theatres (Bakr Al Shaddi and Mohammad Al Ali) range in capacity from 600 to 900 seats and sport LR hangs of ten V8 and two V12 per side, supported by a pair of centrally flown large format SL-Sub cardioid subwoofers. Four T10s and two Y7Ps act as front and side fill respectively, and four M4 stage monitors complete the line-up.
The two smaller theatres (Al Andaleeb and Kawkab Al Sharq) are set up in cabaret style with guest seated at tables for an integrated dining and entertainment. Here, Sela opted for LR arrays of three V8 and a single V12 per side, and a pair of centrally flown medium format KSL-Sub cardioid subwoofers. Once again, front and side fill is from four T10s and two Y7ps respectively with four M4 stage monitors for foldback. d&b’s ArrayProcessing technology is used throughout to optimise performance across the listening zones of each theatre.
‘It was, and still is, very challenging for sound designers to deliver the same audio experience for every seat in the house, but d&b made it easy for us with their ArrayProcessing technology, a combination of filters and delays for each cabinet that makes great sound even better, in terms of both minimum SPL variation and frequency response,’ Samer says.
The ArrayProcessing functionality is also particularly appreciated by Hicham Bitar, for whom it was a top priority when it came to choosing a system. ‘ArrayProcessing enables us to achieve the absolute best possible sonic performance, even in a difficult venue,’ he observes. ‘This turned out to be especially important as we were working to extremely tight deadlines, and specifications were changing right up until the last minute. However, d&b’s ArrayProcessing technology not only ensures that we’ll get the best out of the system, whatever the environment.’
It isn’t just the ArrayProcessing functionality that attracts Samer Atallah to d&b. ‘You can get amazing sound out of a d&b system in no time,’ he says. ‘What’s more, they are very efficient in terms of SPL output to weight ratio – other manufacturers would need to double the weight to achieve the same SPL, which is an important difference when facing rigging load limitations. Also, I love the tools provided by d&b to help us do our jobs well, from accurate software for design and control to processors that can interface with all audio protocols, allowing us to create everything from traditional systems to breath-taking immersive audio configurations. d&b gives us everything we need to design amazing-sounding systems, even in the most challenging of spaces.’
Logistically, the project was challenginh for a number of reasons: ‘Our friends at 7Hertz and their integration partner, HiFi Service, worked incredibly hard to make sure that everything came together seamlessly,’ says Hicham. ‘The world was still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, so supply chains were still disrupted, whilst onsite, changes to building design were happening quite late in the day, which naturally has an impact on requirements further down the line. Nevertheless, despite the supply challenges and the tight deadline, together we delivered a fantastic project that does justice to the raison d’être of the Riyadh Season; namely a celebration of the Saudi people and its culture, using the best materials available to deliver the highest quality experience to visitors.’
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