10 CONCERTS & TOURING
Routledge designed a circular stage for Zayn and his band to populate. “It wasn’t in the round, but his fans were nestled into him. He came up on a lift, and we had roller drops surrounding him with projection, and a huge wraparound screen behind him.” This was made of ROE Visual Vanish V8 panels and fed signals via a Disguise GX 3 media server. ARRI supplied the camera system. SOUND TAKES CENTRE STAGE Zayn’s musical talent speaks for itself – and on Konnakol , this was to remain the main attraction. “His voice is extraordinary,” exclaims Routledge. The audio, therefore, had to do it justice. Clair Global provided the sound system, blending a DiGiCo Quantum 5 with two Universal Audio Apollo x16Ds, two Fourier Audio transform.engines, as well as products by Rupert Neve Designs for the front-of-house set-up. For loudspeakers, they selected d&b audiotechnik’s KSL Series for its scalability, full-bandwidth directivity control and on-stage rejection. “DiGiCo consoles are my go-to,” begins Lee McMahon, FOH engineer on
tour’s audio at home. “Having the ability to prep shows is fantastic,” he admits. The sound system blended into the background, letting the visuals lead while giving fans what they came for – Zayn’s voice. “The music must work in tandem with all other elements,” notes McMahon. Zayn doesn’t use in-ear monitors, “so a lot of thought goes into keeping the stage sound as clean as possible.” Thanks to the stage’s circular design, fans could get up close and personal – but this meant that they’d be right
Konnakol , who worked with Clair Global and system engineer Anthony Kappel on the audio design. “The flexibility is one of the top selling points for me; I love that it’s a blank canvas, and I can make the show sound how I want it to.” The set-up also afforded redundancy ‘using multiple DiGiCo DMI cards’ on a Dante network. “Not that we ever hope to use the backup – but given the stakes, we had to have an option in the event of hardware failure.” McMahon purchased his own Fourier transform.engine, so he could plan the
Though the Konnakol Tour had its own distinct aesthetic, with a green and amber motif, all the tech served to enhance the music above anything
Powered by FlippingBook