The new Chapiteau outdoor stage at the annual Cully Jazz Festival in Switzerland, this year marking its 40th anniversary and attracting crowds in excess of 70,000 over nine days, was equipped with the L-Acoustics L-ISA immersive sound platform in support of live performances.
For the entire 40-year run, Cully Jazz Festival has called on local L-Acoustics Certified Partner TMS, to provide audiovisual technology, this time including L-ISA. “The main reason we chose to deploy L-ISA immersive sound for the festival is because jazz as a genre thrives on natural-sounding amplification of acoustical elements, and L-ISA greatly contributes to achieving this natural feeling,” explains Benjamin Bard, project manager at TMS. “We were already in a great position, as the acoustics of the main venue are remarkably well-controlled, which made L-ISA even more effective, and significantly enhanced the overall sound quality.”
To accommodate the L-ISA configuration, the festival designed a new, higher tent for the main stage. Despite the new Chapiteau being three times bigger than that of past years, the tent had a strict, limited maximum load, which TMS needed to consider when designing the system.
“In addition to the load limits, our goal was to design a system that would perfectly fit the varied styles of the performers,” added Bard. “While Cully is primarily a jazz festival, the performances go beyond the traditional jazz trios, even featuring rock sets like Stéphane Eicher this year. L-ISA immersive sound technology was the perfect solution to accommodate the diverse range of performances, captivate festival-goers and foster deeper connections between artist and audience.”
Bard and his team worked with L-Acoustics application engineer Jean-Charles Schmid to design a 5.1 L-ISA configuration of five hangs of six Kiva II topped by two SB15 subwoofers spread across the stage. Two hangs of three KS21 subwoofers were flown behind the Kiva II frontal system. Nine X8 coaxial enclosures were spread across the stage lip to provide spatial fill, while X15 provided on-stage monitoring for artists. The whole system was driven by 15 LA12X amplified controllers.
“From the first demonstration for festival management, to the design phase, and through to setup, calibration and show support, we received outstanding assistance from Jean-Charles Schmid and L-Acoustics.” Says Bard.
Before the event, Bard and Schmid reached out to sound engineers and crew members to ensure they were prepared to work with the L-ISA technology. Bard: “Adoption of brand new technology can prove challenging, especially when the audio crew is such a big one, but L-Acoustics went above and beyond to make sure every engineer was trained, had access to the material and the support they needed to feel comfortable before the show.
“The audience feedback on the sound and the overall experience was excellent. In fact, in my 30-year career in audio, I have never had such amazing feedback from an audience. Everyone who is used to coming to the festival felt a significant upgrade in sound quality this year.”
