Will Young recently completed a 22-date UK tour supporting his latest album 85% Proof, with London-based production company Britannia Row Productions providing an Outline PA system. The set-up featured 36 Butterfly elements for mains, six Mantas for fill and eight DBS 18-2 subwoofers, with Outline T-Nine amplifiers and Lake LM26 controllers.

‘The requirements were very specific,’ says FOH mixing engineer, Davide Lombardi. ‘His music varies from a quiet ballad to disco songs, so dynamics are very important – every person in the audience needs to be able to clearly listen to his voice. The mix and coverage needs to be very balanced, regardless if it is the front row or the last one.

‘When I was offered the Outline Butterfly system, I did not hesitate because I knew it could give me what I needed. The physical size of the box and the weight helped avoid problems with rigging and sight line issues and yet it delivered a big sound without compromising dynamics or volume control.’

‘This kind of tour was a challenge every day due to the different size venues and acoustic considerations,’ adds system engineer, Alessandro Cestaro. ‘I often had to adapt and modify the main PA system design configuration to accommodate the different room acoustics and coverage needs. I found Butterfly was a great choice as it’s a simple and quick system to rig in different environments and it’s extremely reliable and precise in terms of coverage and throw.

‘Since we had to set up in many different kinds of venues, from little old theatres to bigger auditoria, to wide arena-style rooms, my goal was to give Davide the best balanced system for him to mix on without compromising the coverage of the room. To make it all work I often had to split the main system using ground stacks and flown arrays, and sometimes with additional side hangs as well.’

‘This was the first time I had used the Outline Butterfly on tour and I have to say I was very positively surprised by the performance,’ he adds. ‘Once I started to know the behaviour of the cabinet and array I discovered it offers linearity and balance from very low up to the highest show volume.’