The live performance rounds of the third season of M-Net’s The Voice South Africa opened at the Mosaïek Teatro in Roodepoort on Sunday 19 May – introducing South African audiences to the splendour of L-Acoustics’ ground-breaking Immersive Sound Art (L-ISA) technology for the first time.
The Voice is an international franchise of televised singing competitions that provides a platform for previously unknown musicians to be mentored by some of the best recording artists in the industry throughout the show. Based on a reality show The Voice of Holland, broadcast in 2010, The Voice was adopted by an American network in 2011, and Talpa has successfully franchised the show internationally.
While there are several singing competitions in the reality television genre, what sets The Voice apart is that, unlike rival shows such Idols and The X Factor, it focuses on singing ability alone. The iconic “Blind Audition” phase of the show has coaches facing away from those auditioning – so that the only factor that is taken into consideration is, literally, the voice.
With pure music at the heart of the production, it is very fitting that Multi-Media Event Trading, one of South Africa’s most respected audio-visual and technical services suppliers, decided to deploy the very best possible audio technology for the live performance rounds of this season of The Voice SA.
ETECH had the opportunity to speak with the engineers, designers and programmers that have made the third season of The Voice South Africa arguably one of the most technically outstanding televised live performances that M-Net has ever delivered for audiences both in the venue and at home.
AN AUDITORY REVELATION
Speaking at a media briefing ahead of the first live performance of The Voice South Africa, Multi-Media director Chris de Lancey explained the immensity of the investment for the company. “Multi-Media recognised a while back that we needed to upscale our audio inventory to bring it in line with the world-class technology that we have in our other departments. In conjunction with some very supportive partners, and because we were looking for the best solution available on the market, we set our sights on the L-ISA system by L-Acoustics.”
L-Acoustics’ revolutionary L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound Technology dramatically increases loudspeaker resolution, to provide a natural and intelligible soundscape that expands panorama and elevates sonic realism. The power of L-ISA is that the audience is fully immersed in sound from all directions to provide a hyper-real experience.
“A traditional set-up incorporates an array of speakers placed on the left and right of the stage. To achieve a stereo effect, multiple inputs such as vocals, instruments and backing tracks have to be combined into the left and right speaker feeds.” De Lancey explains. As a result, only a small portion of the audience in the venue experience true stereo sound – depending on where they are seated. “By contrast, L-ISA can accommodate not the normal two, but rather up to 96 channels of audio and plays them out in a custom, multiple-speaker set up,” he says. “This patented technology, demonstrated at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) and Prolight+Sound earlier this year, allows for sound elements to be individually placed within a 3D environment, enveloping the live audience in sound and allowing the audience to hear and see where Talent are on the stage.”
L‑ISA technology is enabled by a comprehensive hardware and software ecosystem that adds new tools including the L‑ISA Processor and the L‑ISA Controller to the familiar performance and reliability of L-Acoustics loudspeakers, amplified controllers and prediction and control software. Multi-Media’s Adriaan van der Walt, one of South Africa’s leading sound engineers, and Chris Pugh, a leading systems engineer from DWR Distribution, were the first South African engineers to attend L-Acoustics L-ISA training at the L-Acoustics head office in France.
THE SOUND OF TEAMWORK
Speaking to ETECH in a recent interview, van der Walt says that he has followed the development of the L-ISA system since it first entered the market and was delighted to be selected to attend the L-ISA training programme.
“The training was two-fold: it took the traditional role of the sound engineer and split it in two. It mirrored the international touring model of having a dedicated mixer and a separate systems engineer. This is because there are so many decisions to make, and the workload is overwhelming for one person and begins to be counter-productive.”
Pugh of DWR Distribution is a specialist systems engineer and was also selected to attend the training. “While Adriaan focused on the mixing, I was provided with extensive training on the systems engineering aspects of the L-ISA system,” explains Pugh. Reflecting on the L-Acoustics L-ISA training programme, Pugh says: “It was a lot of information to take in over a short period. However, the information was delivered in such a way that I have been able to adapt quite quickly.” Pugh goes on to explain that he has been able to augment his skills as a systems engineer through the experience. “Basically, the foundations are the same as what I have been doing as a systems sound engineer for years – just on a much larger scale.” He adds that the support that he received from L-Acoustics has made all the difference in ensuring that L-ISA’s first deployment for Multi-Media was a success. “L-Acoustics sent one of their support experts to assist in getting the system installed and calibrated, which was very helpful,” he says. “Adriaan and I have worked closely to ensure that the very high standards set by L-Acoustics for their systems were met for The Voice South Africa, and it has been great to see the results of our hard work.”
“I am ecstatic with what we have achieved with L-ISA for The Voice South Africa, especially as this is the first time that fully immersive sound technology has been used for The Voice franchise internationally, and certainly for the first time in South Africa.”
Chris de Lancey Director of Innovation, Multi-Media
Reflecting on his involvement with L-ISA, Pugh gives credit to the Multi-Media team, stating that Adriaan and all of the Multi-Media technicians are a pleasure to work with. “I am so pleased that Multi-Media now has the L-ISA system, and the skills needed to deploy it, available for the South Africa market. I am excited to see immersive sound technology being used in South African theatres and for live events, particularly for the classical and jazz genres, in the years to come.” De Lancey echoes Pugh’s sentiments, stating that “Adriaan has achieved outstanding results with the L-ISA system. He has gone well beyond the call of duty on this production, and I am incredibly excited about what we will achieve with L-ISA on future projects.”
