“I believe that this type of complex, such as Sphere, where everything is taken into consideration from day one, before the room is built, will develop over time,” he asserts. “And the focus will be as much on audio as the visuals. There will be more and more rooms already equipped with good systems for everything as a fixed installation. This will also reduce the quantity of systems that travel all over the world for touring.”
“We have seen L-ISA adoption in the major high-profile residencies where artists want to elevate the production level as budgets are a little higher and there is time to create a bespoke show,” Vaissié adds. “We have seen audio become more of a creative tool and that represents a new era for audio where it’s not only about getting the message heard and intelligible, but the ability to give a new canvas to creators. It remains a slow adoption, but any disruptive technology is expected to take time.
“But it’s not only in concerts; it’s also in theatres. On Broadway we’ve seen David Byrne’s Here Lies Love and The Outsiders by Cody Spencer, both nominated for Tony awards’ best sound design this year, using L-ISA technology and that is a game changer for sound designers.”
Outside of the immersive world, our focus shifts towards the wider trends sculpting the pro audio landscape, particularly post-pandemic.
“The first trend is the return of live music,” says Guillaume. “After Covid, artists and the public wanted to live those experiences again together, so that market has more than doubled since the pandemic. The other big trend is the wish to bring more sustainability to events. Having venues already equipped so artists can tour them without carrying their own systems all over the planet will certainly be key. As it will be key for festivals. The industry is working very hard to improve the sustainability of live events, as this is a big demand from the public.”
“We have been really surprised by the strength of the touring market,” Vaissié reinforces. “The way people and the industry have responded has been amazing. The installation market and the appetite of clients for a premium audio solution is increasing. The market is moving toward a more premium solution and clients that maybe five or 10 years ago would not have considered L-Acoustics are now asking specifically about the quality of the audio experience.”
As for the biggest challenges facing both L-Acoustics and the industry in general, these largely lie, unsurprisingly, in the fallout of the pandemic.
“With the rebound of touring we’ve seen an increase in ticket pricing,” Guillaume states. “We don’t see a stop to this increase, and it could lead to a point where the public will not be able to come to shows. I think the industry has to be cautious about not going too far in that direction.
“During the pandemic we also went through the supply chain issue. That has improved since then, but it remains fragile, and we are paying a lot of attention on ramping up our production. We need to find the right people to do that, and it takes a lot more resources than before the pandemic.”
“Managing growth rate is a challenge from a supply chain viewpoint,” says Vaissié. “Also, people and education – our industry as a whole has a shortage of talent, so we are spending a lot of time and effort on developing educational resources, things like education platforms, online training, authorised training centres. Education is a big focus for us.
“We also just had the dawn of the L Series. There will be more products coming into this line and we are really excited by the adoption of the product, which is very encouraging for the future in terms of noise pollution, directivity, pure sound quality, and sustainability in terms of packaging and truck weight, and the time it takes to get the system up and down.”
As hectic schedules draw our time together to a close, we bid our farewells and speak loosely about the 40th anniversary celebrations that await over the coming weeks and months. But before we take our leave, there’s just enough time for Vaissié to highlight one of the big opportunities he sees on the horizon.
“I would just like to mention the type of services that we see as a big opportunity for us,” he signs off. “We have seen huge evolution from a software standpoint, which allows us to evolve what we do in terms of services and applications in the cloud. One example is what we are doing with our AI-powered translation services with Mixhalo, which we are starting to offer to corporate clients. This is potentially very disruptive in terms of technology combining with loudspeakers in order to provide individual experiences in different languages for different participants. That is the type of application we think will create even more opportunities for our clients.”
This disruptive approach has been largely responsible for the market-leading position L-Acoustics has enjoyed for the past 40 years. On the strength of what we’ve heard today, the next 40 look set to follow suit.