The recent “Because Music Matters” concert series set up in partnership with the Luxembourg Ministry of Health to evaluate how future concerts can be presented safely, held at the 1,200-capacity club space at Rockhal (Luxembourg’s Centre de Musiques Amplifiées) with a range of safety and testing measures in place, was supported by the venue’s first use of its new Adamson Systems Engineering IS-Series house system, temporarily deployed in a unique configuration specifically for the event.
When ongoing renovations – including a new balcony – are complete at the club, the IS-Series rig will be deployed as a stereo system utilizing 10 IS10 array modules and three IS119 subwoofers flown per side, two IS219 subs ground-stacked per side, and six IS7P loudspeakers as fills, all powered by Adamson D-Series amplifiers (two pairs of D120 and D80 for the IS10, two D200 for the subs, and three D40 for IS7P).
The safety-first Because Music Matters shows required an ingenious change to the system configuration to keep the audience socially distanced audience while still connecting them to the live performances from artists such as Glass Museum, Cleveland, C’est Karma & Francis of Delirium, Fusion Bomb, and Claire Parsons & Klein.
“For this set up we could easily adapt it to provide 360-degrees of coverage because of the wide but precise 110-degree horizontal dispersion the loudspeakers provided,” says Michael Flick, Audio System Engineer for Lumicon SARLS. “We were able to address all the seats around the stage using four hangs of five cabinets each.”
Rockhal’s decision to unveil the new system in a 360-degree set up helped provide their customers with an exclusive experience, with the event team committed to bringing back the sense of shared energy and emotion that is core to any live concert/
That’s been a preoccupation at the Rockhal since the venue shut down in March 2020, notes Olivier Toth, Rockhal’s CEO: “From then on, we made ourselves and the venue ready to be reactive and to develop different scenarios. So, when cultural institutions were allowed to open in January, we decided to bring it on with a series of exclusive, intimate performances showcasing a very specific setup of our room and, of course, our new Adamson system.”
Granted, some in attendance were uncertain how effective this particular configuration would be. “I decided to visit the show to listen to Claire Parsons, who I know from my work as a mastering engineer,” says Marko Schneider of Imagion AG/Skywalk Mastering GmbH. “I was skeptical when I found out it was planned as a 360-degree concert with a central stage, but it was really impressive, very studio-like, and with amazing resolution in the highs.”
Given the success of the shows and the reviews of the system, the consensus at the Rockhal is that the Adamson IS-Series system is a step forward from their previous audio infrastructure. “It’s powerful, precise, and pleasant-sounding,” Rockhal’s Sound Engineer Franck Chainais concludees. “The bass is punchy. The midrange is present without being overly aggressive. The treble is very clear and it reproduces vocals in a very natural way. Also, there’s a real feeling of presence. One gets the impression of being one metre away from the speakers even when they’re 15 meters away.”
