The Warehouse Sound Services Ltd provided an advanced audio solution for Edinburgh International Festivals spectacular opening event.
Aberdeen Standard Investments Opening Event, LA Philharmonic at Tynecastle celebrated the start of the 2019 International Festival and was attended by a capacity crowd of 15,000 people.
The 2019 International Festival opened in style with a spectacular concert from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Gustavo Dudamel, which celebrated Hollywood film music.
A stage replicating the Hollywood Bowl, where the LA Philharmonic famously perform every summer, was recreated in Tynecastle Park, the home of Hearts football club.
The LA Philharmonic brought authentic gleam and glamour to the grandeur of Hollywood film scores in this year’s Opening Event, featuring classic movie music from the Golden Age of Hollywood by Korngold, Herrmann, Waxman and a selection from the best-loved film composer on the planet, John Williams.
During this free family-friendly concert, Gustavo Dudamel and his orchestra took over Tynecastle Park stadium with music from Star Wars, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, E.T. and many more.
As a key supplier to the International Festival, The Warehouse provided the sound for the event, commissioned by the Festival’s Head of Technical John Robb and Technical Coordinator Callum Howie.
Front of House sound was mixed by hire manager and sound engineer Douglas Martin, who had flown to Los Angeles the previous week to attend a performance and meet the orchestra at The Hollywood Bowl. Douglas has extensive experience of mixing orchestras and works for many leading producers worldwide. He was joined at Tynecastle with crew from The Warehouse consisted of Aidan Thomson, Graeme Brown, Simon Meadows, Marc Freeman and Kieran Blair.
The Warehouse has worked with the International Festival for nearly three decades. Each year the opening event becomes more exciting and challenging than the last. This year, The Warehouse provided an Adamson loudspeaker system. The system consisted of Adamson E15 line array loudspeakers on main left and right hangs, Adamson S10 loudspeakers for under hangs, Adamson S7 for front and side fills and Adamson E119 sub-bass loudspeakers all powered with Lab Gruppen amplifiers running Lake Processing. The show was mixed on a Digico SD10. Microphones included over 60 Neumann KM184 as well as a selection of DPA, Shure and Sennheiser.
The sound mix received wide acclaim from both the LA Philharmonic, the audience and attending media.
Derek Blair, Director of The Warehouse commented: “We were delighted to be asked to do this concert and knew right from the start what a very special event this was going to be. The LA Phil are a really exceptional orchestra with a very talented and charismatic conductor. For this unique event the sound had to be equally spectacular, I think this was achieved very successfully with Douglas mixing the sound and the Adamson loudspeaker system. The Opening Event always puts a huge spotlight on Edinburgh, it’s a world-class event that we are so proud to be part of.”
