PHOTO : BRUNO DESTOMBES PHOTO : BRUNO DESTOMBES
Bleue ( Patrick Watson ) performing at SAT during MUTEK 21
Pelada in Place des Arts ’ Cinquième Salle
or more iPads may be connected and used simultaneously .
“ It ’ s a very flexible and scalable system , so you can do very large and very small shows ,” explains Meyer Sound Technical Support Specialist Josh Fehrmann . “ Spacemap has been around for almost 20 years now , but with Spacemap GO ease-of-use is something we really focused on . To get it up and running and configured is a simple process : update the firmware on your Galaxy , name the Galaxy , put it in Spacemap mode , and then you open up the free iPad app to configure the system .” That requires essentially two button pushes , he adds , to set which inputs and Galaxy processors you ’ re going to use . “ Then you press another button and it does all of the inner linking and connecting for you .”
I usually do one-hour training sessions to do an overview of the app ,” he continues . “ By the end of the hour the engineer usually has the iPad up and running and is already moving sound around .” The main challenge , he adds , is grasping the concept that it may be used with just the existing speaker layout in mind and / or “ abstracted to not look like the space at all . Once you grasp that concept you can make it do a lot of weird and fun things .”
The software has been in the making for a while and is intended democratize the use of immersive sound tools . Previously , the price of admission in terms of the infrastructure required and the level of expertise needed for programmers typically limited the use of similar technology to large-scale shows . The idea with SpaceMap Go is to make it easy to access and use in any venue equipped with Galaxy – making it a lock for venues in which surround systems are not usually deployed , which may range from small- to middle-capacity clubs , to large venues , to installations of all descriptions .
SAT with its 360-degree surround dome ( on which video was projected throughout the performances ) is a unique space and did present some challenges owing to the fact the 50-person audience was seated essentially on the floor in beanbag chairs – an effort to showcase the video component of the shows ( and provide physical distancing ) for the audience .
That impacted the choice of consoles and loudspeakers , with the requirements being a system that provided a compact footprint while delivering the necessary “ punch ” overall , particularly in the low / mid frequencies where the heart of electronic music beats . “ It was important we didn ’ t block the video ,” says a representative from OneWave , “ so we ground-stacked four Meyer Leopards and one 900 LFC sub per side .” Three additional 900-LFCs were also deployed , along with eight Ultra-X40s as surround elements .
Audio engineer Sam Dieulangard has mixed during MUTEK for five years , but this was his first time at SAT , where he mixed FOH and monitors on a Digico SD11 for artists who did not have their own engineer . “ The dome , acoustically , is really particular , but also – with a seated audience on beanbags – the low / mid vibrates directly into the body , so we had to adjust for that . It was totally different for the audience than for me standing .” He also invited artists to listen to the FOH mix from the audience ’ s position . “ I asked them to do that because I needed them to give me less bass , and once they felt it , they understood .”
The need for a compact yet powerful mixing platform led to the choice of Digico consoles in both SAT and Cinquième Salle . “ In both rooms , we didn ’ t have much space but we had quite a number of inputs and the SD11 and SD12 can do up to 80 inputs ,” OneWave ’ s representative explains .
Given the projections for the dome and the large video crew , which included multiple camera operators and producers , Clear-Com FreeSpeak II wireless intercom figured heavily into the workflow for the shows and was requested specifically by the video team . “ It was plug and play and easy to use ,” says OneWave ’ s rep . Wireless has been an issue for years , but this system is very reliable , so that took a huge load out of our workday .”
At SAT , one Galaxy 816 was used for Spacemap GO and fed two Galaxy 408s that were used to tune the PA . As the engineers mixing at SAT had no previous experience with the software , several maps were pre-programmed for their use – all relatively simple and closely reflecting the room ’ s existing loudspeaker layout . Even so , there was
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