R&B star Usher brought his Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in August to a new level with a VIP immersive experience utilizing Meyer Sound technology.
Ushh: Backstory Pass, the immersive pre-show experience at a Las Vegas residency, is a production that takes guests through musical eras and moments throughout Usher’s career. It’s the latest milestone in a career that has included eight Grammy Awards, 100 million album sales worldwide, roles in feature films and on Broadway, and number one hits across three consecutive decades.
Sound design is by Steven Zeller, whose audio production credits include Cirque Du Soleil’s R.U.N: The First Live Action Thriller and tours with Cirque Du Soleil’s Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities and Waitress: The Musical, in addition to projects at Las Vegas’ Naked City Audio, where he is part owner.
“I wanted to first and foremost bring our immersive director Allegra Libonati’s sonic visions to life,” says Zeller. “I wanted audiences to feel different depending on which environment they were in.”
Zeller used Meyer Sound’s Spacemap Go spatial sound design and live mixing tool to create immersive mixes of pre-recorded music. “Spacemap Go was an excellent tool for expressing my ideas through my sonic environments in a quick and user-friendly way,” he explains. “We used Spacemap Go for the ‘Hall of The Future’ room, where we needed the sonic elements to float and spin over audience members in order to create a dreamlike environment.”
The experience is supported by a range of Meyer Sound loudspeakers, including UPQ‑D2 and UPQ‑D3 full-size loudspeakers, ULTRA‑X40 compact loudspeakers, and UP‑4slim and UPM‑1P ultra-compact loudspeakers, supplemented with 750‑LFC, 900‑LFC, and 1100‑LFC low-frequency control elements and managed by Galileo GALAXY Network Platforms.
Specing the systems was a collaborative effort between Avila, Zeller (who had extensive experience with Meyer Sound systems through his work with Cirque du Soleil), and Michael Maxson, Meyer Sound’s Director of Strategic Applications.
“Meyer creates boxes and creative processing solutions that give designers flexibility to create with minimal limitations,” says Zeller. “It’s been made even easier with programs like Spacemap Go, which lets me grab an iPad and immediately go to work. I’ve been a major fan, since my start as a technician at Cirque all the way to today.”
“There were a lot of elements in this show that required each unique space to be flexible between time periods,” Zeller explains. “In our ‘Jazz Club’ environment, not only did we have singer Skye Dee Miles’ band performing ’30s-style all the way to ’80s-style arrangements of Usher’s songs, there were these futuristic transitional sound effects that would interrupt parts of their set. I needed boxes that were able to give me the freedom to do all of this. The Meyer ULTRA-X40s and 750-LFCs were the right choice in this tight space.”
“We had a nightclub scene that required punchy and full low end in a tight space, so I used Meyer 900-LFCs for this,” he adds. “Another scene has elements where the audience is encouraged to look inward and be introspective. Not only was song choice critical in this environment, but we utilized Spacemap Go in order to amplify this dreamlike space.”
The backstage experience and the main show are connected through story and sound: The Colosseum at Caesars Palace houses a Meyer Sound system anchored by twin arrays of LYON loudspeakers. “Because of Meyer Sound’s broad product range, the team was able to scale systems to meet the demands of each unique experience,” says Maxson. “We go from large-format line array loudspeakers to ultra-compact installation speakers, and everything in between.”
Avila brings a veteran producer perspective as one half of the Avila Brothers, the songwriting and production team behind hits by Usher, Janet Jackson, Gwen Stefani, and countless others. This mindset, he explains, drives his high bar for sound reinforcement. “We treated the show like we’re producing a song,” he says.
