SOUNDSCAPES
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Most music venues are sports venues. They’re not built for music or art. This was built for immersive experiences in cinema and performance”
be in sync with the music, in real time. During a live show, we can’t just press play and let the visuals go from there. What if U2 decided to do an extra riff, or bring on a special guest?” Sphere’s first residents also emphasised how it was built for creativity, so the visuals needed to enable rather than restrict their artistic vision. U2 frontman Bono explained in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe: “Most music venues are sports venues. They’re not built for music or art. This was built for immersive experiences in cinema and performance. There are no speakers; the entire building is a speaker. So, wherever you are, you have the perfect sound plan.” This highlights the degree of creative responsibility of those heading up the venue’s visual capabilities.
“We needed to enable creatives to change the content on the fly,” describes Kirkup, “so that it is always blended well with the music of the show. To do this, snappy rhythmic edits and some extra looping segments were developed, and our software helped to swap them in whenever needed.” POWERFUL PARTNERSHIPS An enormous variety of other technical partners were involved with construction of Sphere, including Saco regarding the installation of two of its signature features. Those were its 160,000 sq ft interior LED display plane and also its 580,000 sq ft exterior, which is called the Exosphere. “Sphere’s LED displays redefine the meaning of immersive,” asserts David Dibble, CEO of MSG Ventures. “On the interior, never had an LED screen combined this immense scale and field of view with this level of clarity. At the same time, the exterior is a dynamic canvas that has already become a real global landmark.” 7thSense, the company behind the in-house media server and pixel processing systems powering internal and external LED displays, has worked with the MSG team since 2011, when the company’s award-winning technologies were used as part of the Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes in New York. Since then, 7thSense and MSG have produced several other project installations. “We trusted the team to work closely with us and push their tech even further to meet the unique demands of Sphere,” continues Dibble. “The result is an experience that takes audiences from just watching content on an LED screen to feeling like they’ve been transported to new places,” he concludes. “With the opening of Sphere in Las Vegas,” expands 7thSense CTO Richard Brown, “we were excited to introduce our new Performer range including the Actor media server, the Juggler pixel processor as well as Conjurer – our generative media solution. “Developed over several years with a focus on the evolving landscape of video technology – and considering the new, challenging workflow requirements
BRINGING HOME THE BACON U2 wrapped up its first leg of the U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere residency in November 2023 – with unprecedented box- office results. Figures from the Billboard Boxscore reported that U2’s 17 Sphere shows grossed $109.8 million and sold a whopping 281,000 tickets.
associated with a project the size of Sphere – these products are intricately designed to leverage SMPTE ST 2110 IP video streaming. “7thSense’s Juggler pixel processors handle combining playback media with other video sources to create overall compositions that tell larger-than-life immersive stories. The integration of these products into Sphere is a leap forward in our journey of innovation. I am immensely proud of our team and everything we have accomplished to help bring Sphere to life.” Without a doubt, the completion and launch of Sphere marked an evident
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