After six years, six albums and hundreds of tour dates, Il Divo has made remarkable progress in bringing opera to the mainstream, with several number-one releases backed up by performances with Barbra Streisand, Céline Dion and Toni Braxton.
Now the quartet is back for another world tour, backed by a powerful system headed by Meyer Sound line arrays and loudspeakers provided by UK-based Capital Sound.
The system comprises left and right arrays of 18 MILO line array loudspeakers each, with side arrays of 12 MICA line array loudspeakers each and a center hang of six M’elodie line array loudspeakers, along with four UPA-1P loudspeakers for fills.
Low frequencies are covered by 12 700-HP subwoofers, and a Galileo loudspeaker system with three Galileo 616 processors provides system drive and processing.
As Capital Sound’s Paul Timmins explains, the system will accompany Il Divo across three continents on more than 100 show dates.
“Capital Sound has worked with the band on their earlier tours, providing sound for their European shows,” Timmins says. “But this time around they’ve asked us to cover the full tour. The consistency factor is quite important for them, and by carrying the Meyer Sound system throughout the tour they’re assured of great sound every night with no surprises.”
FOH engineer Chris Pyne relies on the Meyer Sound system and Galileo DSP to ease the time crunch of a jam-packed touring schedule. “We’re covering a lot of distance between cities, and on many days we’ve ended up with some very tight setup times,” says Pyne.
“The MILO and MICA line arrays are quick to hang and focus using MAPP Online Pro (acoustical prediction program), and between the SIM®; 3 (audio analyzer) and our presets stored in the Galileo, we’re able to configure the system for each room without a lot of messing about.”
