d&b Soundscape generates natural sound for Queen Rock and Symphonic tour through France.
The Queen Rock and Symphonic Show has been created to honor and celebrate the legendary rock band, Queen. This extraordinary show has toured in many countries around the globe, giving Queen fans everywhere an opportunity to enjoy the band’s unforgettable hits live.
Hundreds of thousands of people globally have enjoyed this rock and symphonic spectacular since its premiere in 2000. It features international stars, a rock band, and a symphonic orchestra and celebrates the band’s greatest hits including ‘We Are the Champions’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘We Will Rock You’, and more, which makes it a must-see for any Queen fan. With over 80 performers on stage, this concert is truly worthy of the world of symphonic rock.
For the show’s recent performances in France, B Live Group, who designed the system, selected the d&b Soundscape to ensure quality sound for all audiences and enhance the faceted nature of the music to guarantee an exceptional experience.
“Originally, production did not specifically ask to have Soundscape, but they were extremely happy with the idea,” says Boris Jacquier-Laforge, System Tech. “When they first heard it, we explained what we were doing and they immediately heard the difference.”
With the d&b Soundscape, the creative possibilities move far beyond stereo and L/C/R loudspeakers, delivering amazing audio imaging, sound clarity, and control that is aligned with the visual aspect of any performance. This is made possible by using the DS100 Signal Engine with the En-Scene software module, which enables independent positioning of up to 64 sound objects.
For the Queen Rock Symphonic show, a d&b Soundscape 180 frontal solution was designed to create a more linear, natural sound that does not overpower the intrinsic nature of classical music.
According to Vincent Mahey, FoH Engineer, the main challenge for this production was mixing Queen’s rock ‘n’ roll sound with that of a symphonic orchestra because it makes for such a large volume of sound. The d&b Soundscape allows different sounds to blend together and allows everyone in the audience to have the same sound experience with true sound localization and even coverage.
“This is a real revolution in terms of sound management and smoothness, and a real revolution in terms of dynamics,” says Mahey. “I think it opens up very interesting prospects. It is not only a matter of spatialization; it’s mostly the general consistency.”
The d&b V-Series was chosen as the main system for the show due to its broadband directivity control to low frequencies.
Jacquier-Laforge elaborates: “We have front speakers, with five identical ten-deep V arrays with six V8s and four V12s at the bottom and a central sub. We have used two arrays of six V-Subs, for directional sound and to avoid sound pollution on the stage. Then we have a front array for the first rows, with eight Y10Ps. And then, just to open up the sides, we used two little C6s.”
d&b Soundscape has been designed to immerse audiences into live performances no matter the size or location of the venue. It lent itself well to the environment of a Zénith arena and the crew were delighted with the outcome.
“We help the audience discover the music, especially at classical orchestras, where it is often a little de rigueur to say: 'Classical music is not supposed to be amplified,' " says Jacquier-Laforge. “We’re in Zéniths, we want to set up a sound system, how can we do it well? Here, we have a sound system solution for listening to a classical orchestra without hearing the system. d&b Soundscape is really powerful.”
