eclipse supplies Sevens
Published: MEA
UAE: eclipse Staging Services was called in to supply audio, lighting and rigging for the recent Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens. It was the third year running that eclipse has supported the event.
‘The audio element carried on in the same vein as in previous years, which were traditionally handled by Nocturnal and before that, Redeye,’ said eclipse head of audio, John Parkhouse. ‘We went with the same tried and tested and long standing formula of using a large amount of flown point source speakers to the main arena on pitch one.’
Pitch one was covered using 78 Electro-Voice SX300 speakers with hanging brackets and mixed on a DiGiCo SD11. ‘Having worked on this event for a number of years already, it was really great to be given the opportunity to mix sound for pitch one with so many people attending, it was a really great experience,’ said eclipse audio technician, Darryl Jay Violeta.
‘The SX300s are really a very robust speaker and have been the speaker of choice for the Sevens for many a year,’ added Mr Parkhouse. The addition of more seating for an extra 5,000 people this year meant we simply added more speakers than last year to maintain coverage. The pitch one system stadium rig went in lightning quick too, the whole process taking four days, where it has traditionally taken seven days to complete in the past.’
Pitch two was covered using eight Nexo 1210s and two of the French manufacturer’s CD18 Subs.
Away from the rugby, eclipse also supplied the Rugby Rocks stage. ‘It’s the second year we have used d&b J-Series although this year we engaged full Array Processing,’ noted Mr Parkhouse. ‘The concerts were well attended for both nights, a good few thousand people at the very least and I have to say how much of a pleasure it was to mix FOH on this incredible system. I put a few “toys” into a drive rack such as the Tube-Tech CL1B inserted for bass, the Avalon SP747 inserted over the master bus, TC Electronics M4000 used for vocal reverb as well as a multitude of plugins from the Waves Live bundle. The Rugby Rocks concerts sound was intentionally big for a fitting end to each of the days sporting proceedings. It’s always a really fun atmosphere.’
The lighting for the Rugby Rocks stage was ‘a neat setup’, with a variety of Martin and Clay Paky moving heads, explained project manager Shaun Donsen. ‘The rig was designed and operated by our lighting technician Vinod Raveendran, and it worked well with our 15m x 8m ground support. The lighting was well treated by Vinod and added great atmosphere to the stage and Rugby Rocks feel.’
Comms for the event was courtesy of the rental company’s new Clear-Com FreeSpeak radio kit. ‘It was good to see our new FreeSpeak put to good use in a stadium environment,’ said Mr Donsen. ‘We had no issues and clarity through the headsets was great throughout the whole stadium.’