Mount Fuji concert deploys a monumental d&b system.
Mount Fuji, Japan provided a mountainous backdrop for a truly monumental concert when domestic superstar Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi dominated an equally gigantic stage to sing for a live audience of 100,000. Famed for such large scale spectaculars, Nagabuchi is uncompromising when it comes to presentation, most especially in the realm of sound. One good reason why Mr Yoshikawa, President of Nagabuchi’s long time audio supplier Two Mix, took a personal interest in the system design for this massive audience.
“His knowledge and familiarity of the artists’ musical program was a defining factor in what was achieved at Mount Fuji,” explained Paul Ras from Education and Application Support at d&b Japan, who supported the extensive commitment of equipment by Two Mix. “We were using d&b’s new software tool, ArrayProcessing, to achieve true democracy for listeners with equality of level distribution and tonal balance across the entire audience. The first time ArrayProcessing had been used for an audience of this size, this was a complex soundfield by any measure. We were also tasked by production to eliminate any noise pollution to the neighbouring communities.
“The total coverage area was 300 metres deep from the front edge of stage, by 260 metres wide. The huge width demanded a PA three systems wide: a main stage left and right, outer left and right, and far outer left and right. These positions were repeated at the two delay points.”
In total over 230 top cabinets were deployed (mainly J-Series, with V-Series for the first delay, then J again for the second delay) and over 100 subwoofers (a mix of J-SUB and J-INFRA), some flown and with a 68 cabinet sub array at ground level.
“We were helped by the regimented audience area,” continued Ras. “For a high energy show we were able to select the full Glory processing within ArrayProcessing across the entire system. ArrayProcessing presents a sliding scale between Power and Glory, Glory representing the maximum sonic benefits, whereas Power maximizes level over all areas at the expense of some tonal sacrifice. In an open field environment it is generally possible to select the full Glory setting. This was a perfectly balanced outcome in every sense.”
