TW Audio spreads its wings at The Bird's Nest
Published: ASIA
CHINA: Guangzhou Ruisheng Lighting & Audio Equipment Co Ltd recently deployed a TW Audio sound system at Beijing National Stadium, also known as The Bird’s Nest, when Chinese pop star Sun Nan presented and performed live at the Flying Bird Graduation Party concert. As this marked the first time that a TW Audio solution was utilised at the stadium, Ruisheng chose to hold a seminar the day before the concert, demonstrating to over 200 sound engineers and professionals from the local area how a TW Audio system can be used for large-scale shows at the venue.
The Flying Bird Graduation Party was thus named due to being one of many projects that together formed Chinese Youth Graduation Season 2016, and saw Sun Nan perform in addition to other Chinese artists as well as bands from various universities. Attending the show was an audience of 15,000, with the crowd filling the stadium floor and lower tiers on either side. As the second and third tiers of the venue remained empty, sound reflection was going to pose an issue that needed rectifying with directionality.
To ensure even coverage, the concert’s sound system designer, Song Duoduo, and Ruisheng’s technical director, Chen Yunyong, made use of acoustic simulation software before selecting 36 Vera 36 line array elements to cover the floor and rear of the stadium, flown in an L/R configuration. A further six Vera 36 per side were deployed for side-fill and four T24N loudspeakers provided front-fill.
A total of 16 Vera S33 and 12 BSX subwoofers were also called into action, as was a Midas Pro 9 digital mixing console, an AKG DMS800 reference wireless microphone system and 42 of Powersoft’s K3 DSP+AESOP DSP amplifiers. The Bird’s Nest’s internal LAX speaker system handled the stage monitoring.
‘TW Audio has superb directionality, incredible SPL and an amazing ability in acoustic power transformation,’ commented Mr Song. ‘Its strong consistency makes it a great line array system. The configuration design of the sound system provided clear, rich and authentic sound quality.’
The seminar conducted on the afternoon before the concert comprised an outdoor demonstration by TW Audio’s technical director, Augustine Edwards, an introduction to the manufacturer and its history, a look at its products and their features, reference projects and a detailed look at the setup for the Flying Bird Graduation Party show itself.
The distance from the main PA system to the last row of the audience seating area was 150m, requiring an SPL of 120dB, while not distorting the musical performances. This was examined as part of the seminar, with some attendees believing that it might not be possible to achieve. ‘It was realised both in theory and reality,’ enthused Ruisheng general manager Chen Jianwei. ‘We invited all our guests to listen outdoors.’
‘The manufacturer wanted to use this opportunity to showcase its products’ features and sound quality,’ concluded Mr Song. ‘I believe this was a good way to promote the brand.’