CHESSINGTON, UK — Celebrated Italian tenor, Andrea Bocelli, has delivered his latest live offering through an L-Acoustics L-ISA immersive spatial audio system, an all-encompassing sound experience taking fans through three decades of operatic and orchestral excellence.
The tour’s core sound engineers all began their careers with UK tour supplier, Britannia Row Productions. FOH Engineer Davide Lombardi, Systems Engineer Alessandro Cestaro and Monitor Engineer Stefano Serpagli, describe the rental house’s partnership as a familial experience.
Davide begins: “I started in the Britannia Row warehouse in early 2000s; Britannia Row and particularly Bryan Grant, gave me my first opportunities in the international live music business, so when there is a chance to work together, it’s always a real pleasure as it feels as though I’m coming back home.”
The FOH Perspective
During this time, Davide has worked with some of the most amazing artists on earth, but with Andrea Bocelli it goes beyond being proud: “It’s a real honor, and an intense responsibility.”
Working with first-rate classical musicians and performers, Davide says, comes with the added pressure to deliver top-tier sound in real-time. “I need to ensure that every aspect of the performance, from the PA deployment to the microphone placement, supports the emotional depth that we want the audience to experience. It’s challenging and incredibly rewarding, especially when the final product is so beautifully captured with a standing ovation.
“Using cutting-edge technologies such as L-ISA, elevates the overall production quality and shows a commitment to delivering the best possible experience for the audience,” he adds.
Davide goes on to explain that for this artist, a tangible connection to his audience is key: “Spatial audio can help create a more immersive, ‘personal’ feel, even in large venues, deepening the sense of intimacy, particularly in the quieter, more reflective moments of a concert. L-ISA makes it possible for the instruments to be positioned in the sound field to mirror their actual placement on stage, making the audience feel completely immersed in the music, rather than listening from one vantage point.
“Andrea’s style is very rooted in classical music, but with a modern twist. His music blends pop and opera, so my goal is to understand that fine line and give each song the depth it deserves, highlighting the delicate, nuanced moments of the orchestra and his voice, such as the emotional crescendos in his operatic sections, without compromising the quality of his performance.”
To harness these sonic desires, Davide operates a DiGiCo Quantum 7 with two Bricasti M7 Stereo Reverb Processors, one for the orchestra, another for the singers, yet he declares his FOH mix will never sound “good enough” if the P.A. is not well deployed, leaning on Britannia Row’s expert crew for pinpoint precision and engineering assistance.
Overcoming Challenges
“Every tour has its challenges, but this is one of a kind. On stage we have a 69-piece orchestra and a 60-piece choir, over 100 condenser microphones and around 4-5 guests per show, plus Andrea himself. The attention to detail is mandatory. One small change can make a big difference, and as we play between stadiums and arenas, it’s my duty to ensure every single member of the audience has the best experience possible, from the front to the back row. With my systems engineer Alessandro Cestaro, we already know what to do to achieve what we want – without even having to speak about it.”
The L-Acoustics L2/L2D deployment is an L-ISA wide configuration. “We’ve also side hangs to cover the areas where the scene wasn’t reaching,” begins Alessandro. “We have KS28’s centrally hung in a gradient configuration to provide excellent cancellation on stage and smooth coverage across the audience area. There are also X8 point source speakers used as spatial front fills and KS21’s as ground subs.”
Left and right ground stacks comprising more KS21’s plus A10’s for out fills to cover areas behind the 180°line. The team also used KARA II as a delay system to support coverage in the highest parts of the larger venues.
“We’ve always wanted to use L-ISA on Bocelli, and we found the perfect opportunity for our UK tour, knowing that Britannia Row could support us like only their team can,” he continues. “And of course, they delivered. From the early stages of the project, Josh Lloyd [Head of Engineering] and his team helped us with designing a system that could truly meet our requirements, one which would also be fast to deploy.”
With the 100+ condenser mics on stage, having the least possible spill from the PA is always a key goal for this team. He adds: “Using L-ISA was a whole new experience, and being able to calibrate the system gave Davide the starting point he needed in the same amount of time a traditional L-R system would take, thanks to the Britannia Row team, who were mind blowing.”
In monitor world, Stefano was initially asked to help Davide mix the orchestra and effectively re-build the set-up from scratch. In the three years since, the relationship has gone from a FOH ‘co-mix’ to a more standard FOH/Mons set-up.
Monitor World
“I’ve worked with Davide for years now, and not only do we share a very similar way of working, but we’re close friends too,” Stefano says. “I love the fact that we have different orchestras, guest artists and soloists in each city and territory we enter. Consistency is the biggest goal; touring with Bocelli is more like a never-ending series of one-offs and the expectation is very high.”
Stefano has 12 wedge mixes and 12 IEM mixes on a typical show. “This is sufficient to cater for Andrea, guest sopranos, soloist musicians and guest pop artists. This also includes wedges mixes for conductors, orchestra keyboard, drums and bass player. 90% of the show is fully live and score led by a conductor, so most of the mixing is done on wedges. IEMs are for the ‘pop’ part of the show, where the orchestra is accompanied by some backing tracks and clicks. This is also where the conductor and rhythm section of the orchestra switch to IEMs.”
Bocelli has an LCR array of small d&b audiotechnik E8 wedges. He furthers: “The center wedge is purely for dry vocal, and the outer stereo pair then has everything else: vocal reverb, piano, some handpicked orchestral elements for certain pieces and some backing track for the ‘pop’ numbers. It’s all subtly mixed as he feeds a lot from the live orchestra and natural ambience created by the PA mix.”
Stefano also chooses DiGiCo, a Quantum 7 for this run but the Q852 and 338 models also suffice. “The Q7 surface is my favourite, and my outboard is justtwo Bricasti M7s for Andrea and a soprano reverb. IEMs are Shure PSM1000’s and wedges are a mix of d&b E8s for front line wedges and L-Acoustics X12s. The PSM1000’s along with Axient RF mics and packs are the best sounding and most reliable when it comes to RF,” he adds.
A Job Well Done
Stefano also notes that this tour has been tailored to the crew’s exact needs. “We’ve received constant support from Tom Brown, Britannia Row Productions Account Executive, and the whole team. It gave me peace of mind that everything was being thought through, allowing me to focus on my job.
“I’ve worked with Britannia Row and Clair Global for several years and it’s always like coming home. The standard of the service is very high and reliable – from prepping the package to the choice of crew. It’s always a smooth journey where we’re well looked after. We do use varying suppliers around the world, and Britannia Row are the highest standard around. It’s always a pleasure to be able to work with them.”
For more info, visit: www.britanniarow.com
