BRESCIA, Italy — Italian soundco Cipiesse Produzioni per lo Spettacolo supported folk-rock artist Tracy Chapman’s recent performance at the Piazza della Loggia using an Outlinearray loudspeaker system for the 40-by-90 meter outdoor seating area. The Outline Butterfly system consisted of 14+14 Hi-Pack units per side (each equipped with four 8-inch woofers and a 3-inch compression driver). For the bottom end, Cipiesse used 7+7 Outline Victor Live subs and LAB 21 infra-subs — two units positioned near the center.
The crew used a cardioid configuration for the cabinets to keep the stage clear of excessive low frequencies. Four Outline Micra II enclosures, installed in the edge of the stage, were used as front-fill systems. Outline T7s amplified the signals fed from a Digidesign console.
Marco Riva, head of Cipiesse, who served as production manager, credited the audio crew for carrying out the equipment setup in “record time,” and Giancarlo Paladini, free-lance system engineer working on behalf of Cipiesse, was impressed with the overall quality of the sound.
“What the arrays fed out was so exact that the concert seemed to ‘breathe,’” Paladini said. “After the first 15 minutes, such a great entente had been created between Chapman and the audience,” Paladini added, noting the “limpid clarity” on the mid-high frequencies and “warmth” on the low ones.
“The small number of Hi-Packs fielded didn’t stop us from working with a considerable safety margin, since the rig was running at 50 percent of its potential,” Paladini added, noting “no peaks of gaps at any frequency.”
For more information, please visit www.outline.it.
