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TPi
hit the M11 to Cambridge to
follow the fortunes of
Daniel's kid sister on her
first headlining tour... and
to grab an earful of
Turbosound's new Aspect
loudspeaker system on its
debut outing.
It
may have taken a little longer
than her brother Daniel to
earn her own slice of fame and
chart glory, but thanks to
major hits such as 'These
Words', 'Single' and 'I Bruise
Easily', and her top-selling
debut album, Unwritten,
Natasha Bedingfield is now
firmly entrenched in the
public psyche as one of
today's freshest UK pop
talents.
After
a year or more of making cameo
appearances at summer
roadshows, showcases and
festivals, she's now out there
on her own headlining
production tour with a
vivacious, ballsy show that's
been visiting a wide variety
of UK venues, including our
port of call, Cambridge's Corn
Exchange - a venue high on
atmosphere, but frustratingly
low on parking
spaces!
Bedingfield's
Unwritten UK tour was notable
for the touring debut of
Turbosound's
recently-introduced Aspect
loudspeaker system. Being the
first touring system to emerge
from the Sussex-based company
since the Flashlight and
Floodlight systems were
introduced over a decade ago,
this was always going to be a
tour that TPi took seriously.
The
Aspect series incorporates
many patented concepts and is
capable of generating peak SPL
in excess of 146dB with very
low distortion. It utilises
proprietary transducers, which
operate over four frequency
bands divided between the
system's modular mid-high and
low frequency enclosures, and
which all feature
high-stability neodymium
magnets. These offer greater
efficiency and thermal
stability, together with lower
power compression and a
reduction in overall weight.
Key
to the system are the Polyhorn
waveguides that are employed
for design's high frequency
and highmid frequency bands,
and comprise
equal-path-length,
multi-section waveguides that
create a phase-coherent
wavefront.
The
unique Polyhorn concept allows
individual wavefronts to
coincide seamlessly with the
physical curvature of an
array. This approach minimises
comb filtering effects between
adjacent cabinets and is
responsible for the system's
tightly focused point-andshoot
directivity - it's intuitively
adaptable to the largest range
of room size and audience
coverage requirements, with
easy scalability from small
clubs and auditoria, to the
largest arenas and stadia.
Aspect
also features integral flying
hardware, and offers
dramatically rationalised
transportation - the
dimensions of the
identically-sized mid-high and
LF enclosures have been
carefully chosen to optimise
truck packing in American and
European vehicles. An install
version of the system at the
Student Union venue of
Belfast's Queen's University
has already produced
consistently excellent
results. But how was it going
to fare on the road and,
crucially, was it going to
live up to the standards set
by the classic Flash/Flood
combination?
Being
a single truck tour with
Stardes' vehicle rammed to the
hilt, the prospect of
accommodating Turbosound
technology in a more compact
form was a motivating force
behind FOH sound engineer
Antony King's suggestion that
this might be the perfect
opportunity to give Aspect a
touring trial. Roly Oliver and
Bryan Grant of the tour's
sound contactor Britannia Row
Productions were in agreement,
and Turbosound supplied the
system for the entire length
of the tour. The universally
positive feedback from the
crew and Bedingfield's
management will certainly have
contributed towards Brit Row's
evaluation of the system.
King
himself appeared extremely
pleased with the decision to
trial Aspect. He said: "I like
it. It's a very interesting
system that fits together
well, flies nicely and sounds
crystal clear - what more do
you want? It has a great top
end that's pleasing to the
ear. I've used Flashlight and
Floodlight a lot in the past
and I've always been a fan. It
wouldn't be fair to compare
Aspect with Flash/Flood
because they are such
different systems, but it
definitely has that very
characteristic Turbosound
quality and sounds like it
could never have been designed
by another
company."
The
touring PA was split into an A
and B system, with 12 TA-890H
horizontal tops in the A
system and two TA-890H
vertical tops in the B system.
There were additionally 18
TA-890L 2 x 15" bass bins and
two compact TQ-445DP active
fill/delay boxes.
At
the Cambridge Corn Exchange,
the system configuration
included a ground stack per
side, each with TA-890L basses
stacked two wide and three
high, with two TA-880H tops
above pointing 15°
downwards for the near-field,
and one TA-890H infill with
the horn flare rotated - this
arrangement covered the
majority of the downstairs
audience. Two tops and a pair
of basses were pointed at the
balcony, with two more tops
below them to project to the
back of the room. For
Cambridge, the only additions
to this configuration were the
two TQ-445DPs to fill the
front of the balcony, owing to
the ill-advised glass screen
that the designers of the Corn
Exchange installed several
years ago. Perhaps someone
should have a word!
Because
of the Polyhorn design,
running the top boxes two wide
provides precisely 50°
dispersion, which is roughly
equivalent to four wide of
Flashlight. King was
impressed: "I think Aspect's
dispersion is actually a
notable improvement. With
Flash/Flood, you could always
walk in and out of the sound,
but with Aspect there appears
to be a much wider and even 05
APRIL TPi coverage."
Tour/production
manager Craig Duffy was also
enthusiastic: "The system
sounds great but what was
fantastic from my point of
view was the level of support
we had from Turbosound for the
whole tour with at least one
and sometimes two or three of
their people on the road at
all times. For us, on a
limited budget, it was like
having extra crew which we
could ill afford.
"We've
had some interesting venues to
work in with a real variation
of flying options and ground
stackonly venues. So for the
Turbosound guys, it really
gave them a chance to see the
system working in a whole
variety of situations and to
get their hands dirty again."
Both
Antony King and monitor
engineer Jon Lewis were mixing
on new Yamaha PM5D digital
consoles - both were the
PM5D-RH recallable head amp
version containing the same
circuitry as the PM5000 and
AD8HR remote mic pre-amp.
King
commented: "This is a great
desk and the one I'm using is
loaded with some very useful
dbx plug-ins. It's relieved me
of the need for outboard
devices, apart from an Avalon
VT-737SP valve pre-amp
compressor on Natasha's vocal
- everything else is already
within the PM5D. I'd used the
PM1D quite regularly and I
find that the new desk sounds
warmer and fatter, which is
particularly noticeable on
drums. It has a much rounder
sound than the PM1D, which I
guess is the result of the
different pre-amp."
King
chose Shure Premier Series UHF
wireless Beta 58A mics for
Bedingfield and her backing
singers (the same model chosen
by brother Daniel on his
latest tour), and others in
King's mic specification
included a Shure Beta 57A on
Dave Glass' Marshall guitar
amp, Audio-Technica AT4050s on
Glass' Fender guitar amp and
drum overheads, a Shure SM91
and Beta 52 on kick drum,
SM57s on snare, SM98s on toms,
an A-T 4051 on hi-hat and a
further Shure Beta 52 on Pete
Martin's bass rig.
System
amplification came in the form
of Turbosound-badged MC2
T-series units - two T25s and
three T45 models in each of
the four AMP-890 amp racks -
with processing handled by XTA
DP224s and DP226s.
Over
in monitor world, Jon Lewis
combined inear monitoring with
wedges. Five Shure PSM-600 IEM
systems were provided for use
by Bedingfield, her backing
vocalists Mpho Skeef and
Stephanie Mead, drummer Josh
McKenzie and keyboard
player/MD David Tench.
Reinforcing these on stage
were five Turbosound TFM-450
wedges, a TQ-425DP active 2 x
15" drum fill sub, two TA-880H
Aspect traps for side fill and
four TA-880L 2 x 15" subs.
Although
lighting was supplied by
Entec, with Simon 'Boff'
Howarth heading the crew, LD
Dave Gibbon was using a number
of items from his own
collection of technology,
including six Robe Spot 250
XTs and an Avolites Pearl 2004
console. Gibbon decided to buy
the XT 250s after using them
last year on the Tony Hadley
vs Peter Cox tour and other
events. "There's absolutely no
doubt that they are the most
reliable and cost-effective
fixtures available for the
type of work I do," he said.
For
this tour, he chose the 250
XTs for their small size and
large brightness. With just
the one truck available for
the entire production, the rig
had to pack tidily into its
own small area in the trailer,
as well as being adaptable for
anything between student union
and club venues and theatres.
Gibbon's creative brief within
these parameters was to make
it look as big and go as far
as he could.
The
250 XTs are the workhorses of
the rig, mounted on the rear
truss and used for rear beams,
upstage colour sweeps and
effects and contrast work.
"The optics are excellent," he
said. "They're definitely
amongst the brightest fixtures
currently available for the
money."
In
addition to the 250 XTs,
Gibbon specified four Robe
ColorSpot 1200 ATs for the
front truss - giving good and
even stage coverage right
across the space - and two
upstage on floor-mounted
Manfrotto stands, adding some
low, back-lighting dynamics to
the stage look. These were
particularly effective in the
moodier moments of
Bedingfield's fast paced
performance.
The
Pearl 2004 console operated by
Gibbon is actually the second
he has purchased. His first
was bought two years ago, and
is currently out on the
four-month Hadley vs ABC tour,
being operated by Andy
Emmerson. "I love the Pearl
for all those elements that
everyone else does," declared
Gibbon. "It's the best console
for live operation, the most
buskable, reliable and easy to
programme. You just can't beat
it for small to medium shows
of all types."
The
decision to buy the second
desk was taken when Gibbon
found himself in the middle of
designing and specifying
lighting for both the
Bedingfield and Hadley tours
which were due to run
concurrently. In addition to
knowing the desk inside out,
it was an obvious move to get
another console and have it as
a constant production element
taken everywhere. So even if
fixtures and rigs change
around as they move to
different territories or use
house systems, with the Pearls
on-board, Gibbon and Emmerson
are always running the show
from familiar consoles.
As
well as the Robe fixtures,
Gibbon's Pearl was controlling
six Martin MAC 600s, six James
Thomas Pixellines, eight bars
of six Pars, four 4- cell
Moles and seven ETC Source
Four profiles.
Bedingfield
herself has taken a keen
interest in the visuals and
how the show looks from the
audience's perspective. "We
discussed colours and looks
extensively for the first few
shows," says Gibbon, as the
show was fine tuned during its
first week.
After
completing her first
headlining UK tour, Natasha
Bedingfield was straight off
to Europe for three weeks
before visiting the USA and
Canada for a promotional
jaunt. On the evidence of
audience reactions to her
debut album and tour, this was
only the start of what should
prove to be a phenomenal year
for the Bedingfield family.
Article
reproduced with kind
permission of Marc Cunningham
and Total Production
Photography by Louise
Stickland & Phil
Dent
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