Icelandic artist Björk recently brought her Cornucopia tour to the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and the Chase Center in San Francisco, and as with the previous tour dates, UK-based d&b audiotechnik partner Southby Productions deployed a Soundscape system powered by the En-Scene object-based mixing and En-Space room emulation software.
Cornucopia, based on Björk’s 2017 album Utopia, is a theatrical performance production directed by Lucrecia Martel and Björk with co-creative director James Merry. The end goal was to utilize sound as a creative tool to increase audience engagement and immersion. Björk designed the show starting with system trials in a small studio situated in a lighthouse on a remote Nordic Island before moving to larger rehearsal spaces to evaluate the scalability of Soundscape.
For the West Coast shows, the team deployed a 180-degree Soundscape system to align with the size of the venues. The team also utilized a new tool, En-Snap, the result of a d&b partnership with Gareth Owen Sound, that enables cue-based control within the Soundscape environment. The software tool connects directly to the d&b DS100 signal engine and stores the parameter values of all 64 sound objects and any En-Space room emulation setting as an En-Snap cue.
“Soundscape is key to giving the audience the experience they expect from a Björk show,” says Jack Blenkinsopp, system tech for the tour. “Everything in these shows from the visuals, to the stage presence, to the audio experience is quite special and Soundscape heightens the experience. There are a lot of moments in the show where we have positioned the sound objects to match their position on stage for instance the reverb chamber. It really draws the audience in towards the performance, and what is happening on stage whether that be Björk, the flutes or the choir. No other tool captures the audience so authentically like Soundscape.”
John Gale, the front of house engineer on the tour, explains that he was focused on ensuring the smooth transfer of the system between shows: “My biggest concern was ensuring we could scale the system, the LA venue and San Francisco venue were totally opposite, we were coming from a theatre to an arena in a short period of time. Yet the system performed exactly the same. I believe no matter where you are sitting there’s really good coverage with the Soundscape experience.”
The control system and stage package for the Cornucopia tour were provided by Southby Production, comprised of elements that were used on a previous European arena run, while the main loudspeaker system components were supplied by Eighth Day Sound.
“Soundscape is integral to the Cornucopia Tour, the system is complex in its capabilities, yet its flexibility and scalability means we can deploy it all across the world,” concludes Chris Jones, director at Southby Productions. “Everyone is blown away by the results of Soundscape and the popularity of the system has cemented Southby’s place as one of the global specialists for Soundscape solutions.”
