Keeping it clean: d&b SL-Series out on the latest arena tour with Tame Impala.
Australian psych rockers Tame Impala have hit the road on the “Slow Rush Tour” picking up where things left off before the pandemic and playing throughout the US and Mexico.
A band known for their incredible live shows and pursuing the best sonic experience for the listeners, Adam Round, Tame Impala’s FOH engineer, selected the d&b GSL and KSL-Series.
“With a variety of challenging arenas and amphitheaters, the cardioid SL-Series does such an awesome job of eliminating unwanted noise at the rear of the loudspeakers,” states Round. “This directivity gives us much more clarity in these large reflective spaces. It also allows us to process things in ways we couldn’t before because the volume back on stage is now greatly reduced. The d&b SL-Series is a truly remarkable sounding system and has a huge amount of horsepower. Whenever the band hit some of those low notes it really shows off what the SL-SUBs are capable of.”
Tom Worley of Worley Sound, owner and director of the Nashville based sound company, has partnered with Solotech Nashville to provide a d&b audiotechnik GSL and KSL-Series loudspeakers for the current Tame Impala Tour. “The tour schedule is predominantly made up of large hockey arenas with a few large amphitheaters, so we needed the horsepower of the GSL as the main hang but felt the flexibility and efficiency of the KSL was better suited to cover the sides of the arenas.” states Worley.
The SL-Series is the flagship loudspeaker system for d&b which is engineered to provide precise broadband directivity control across the entire bandwidth, delivering quiet stages for the performers, maximum art for the audience, and minimal noise for those beyond.
“With d&b's ArrayCalc simulation software coupled with ArrayProcessing we have achieved improved uniformity throughout the venues,” says Worley. ArrayProcessing is a unique d&b technology which optimizes the performance of a d&b line array to deliver consistent tonality and level balance throughout the entire vertical coverage area of the line array. “Worley system engineer Justin Lenards has a great understanding of ArrayProcessing and together with Adam, they are achieving great results in some challenging environments.”
The main hangs consist of 14 x GSL8 over 4 x GSL12 per side, 12 x KSL8 over 4 x KSL12 per side for side hangs, 16 x SL-SUBs, 8 x Y10p and 4 x V12 loudspeakers are used for fills, 48 x D80 amplifiers and a DS10 drive the system all controlled by R1 Remote Control software. “The sub array is setup as 8 stacks of 2 x SL-SUBs spaced at 8' centers, says Lenards. This allows us to have greater control of the sub array while still providing maximum impact throughout the arena. The Y10Ps for front fills are centered on each sub stack, elevated on a small riser which is the perfect height for the listener without creating any site line issues. We are using the V12's just in case the audience extends the main coverage.”
Worley Sound is providing a DiGiCo Quantum 7, used by Adam Round at front of house and a DiGiCo Quantum 5 handling the band’s on-stage requirements, mixed by Rafael Lazzaro.
