L-Acoustics L Series and L-ISA tech combine for first time with Coez & Frah Quintale

Italian hip-hop duo Coez & Frah Quintale recently took the stage at Florence’s Nelson Mandela Forum for a show-stopping immersive live performance that combined L-Acoustics’ L-ISA spatial audio technology and its recently launched L Series speaker for the very first time.

In support of Coez & Frah Quintale’s Lovebars tour, the Florence show saw audiences immersed in the pair’s music via a specially designed 5.1 immersive L-ISA audio system, which also features, for the first time, L-Acoustics’s L Series speaker technology.

Compact, lightweight, and using up to 60% less material (wood, paint, steel) to build, the L Series is designed to occupy 30% less space than other products capable of the same output, minimizing trucks and lightening the carbon footprint of the tour. The system was comprised of 10 x L2 and five x L2D, 24 x K2, 28 x KS28, 14 x Kara II, with LA7.16 and LA12X amplification. It was based around a 5.1 scene system that used two L2 and 1 L2D per hang, with eight KS28 in two hangs of four flown behind the central L2/L2D hangs. The rest of the KS28 were ground stacked in front of the stage. The K2 were used as out-fills with a combination of Kara II on the stage lip used for spatial in-fill.

"The use of L-ISA itself was a huge upgrade in terms of spatialization, focus, sound impact and sound definition," said sound designer for the tour, Valerio Motta. "Adding L2 to this system was like adding the icing on the cake, L2 gave a huge improvement to the show from many points of view: less audio on stage, easy assembly, light weight which is very important in a L-isa system where there are many hanging clusters."

According to Tom Laveuf, who also worked on the sound design and audio component of the show, the coming together of L-ISA and L Series made for a perfect fit.

“In many ways, L Series was developed with L-ISA in mind, and this duo performed exceptionally well on their first tour together,” Laveuf told Headliner. “Coez and Frah Quintale are hip-hop artists with a very reactive audience, and the most important aspects of the genre are the vocals, and the beat. It was obvious to me that the whole of the audience was unified in the experience. The energy was spread through-out the whole crowd. It wasn’t just the centre of the floor, or the area closest to the stage. You could tell that every fan was hearing, and therefore feeling, the same things.

“L Series was designed for rapid deployment and lower margins for error, as well as with unobtrusive physical design and integration into the set,” he continued. “It brings homogeneous clarity and fosters shared experiences throughout the audience. L Series is a vast general advancement in the quality of concert sound reinforcement, and these features also make it more feasible for our industry to adopt L-ISA technology’s live immersive format… which is the way of the future.”

For Coez & Frah Quintale, the opportunity to incorporate immersive elements into their live show enabled them to create an intimate environment in what was a significant step up for the pair in terms of venue size.

“I was a little afraid of the size of the arena, because other shows I've seen in my life, they could be a little cold,” Frah explained. “In my opinion, with this system, even at the level of sound involvement, it allowed the vibes and the atmosphere that you can create in smaller dimensions, which I was used to, to be brought to a bigger level.

“And aside from putting a bit of a flag on a new technology and being able to say that we did it first, we know now that our investment, rather than being on fireworks on the stage, will be more about the quality of the sound and the music.”

The added sense of intimacy brought to the tour by the L-ISA technology is something that Laveuf too was keenly aware of.

“Using a 5.1 configuration, the technical crew was able to spatialize the mix and immerse the whole of the audience in the same experience, which in turn helped the artist feel closer and more connected with each individual,” he stated. “This is why we created L-ISA, to reconnect what is lost when fans are separated from the artists they so admire by thousands of other fans, barricades and barriers, a stage that is over two meters high by 30 meters wide, and all the tech in the middle.”

Laveuf also noted that the level of engagement between the performers and the sound system did not go unnoticed by the team of audio technicians and engineers.

“Coez & Frah were so engaged in the choice of an L-ISA immersive experience that they took time out of their show to explain the technology to their fans every single night,” he said. “They themselves felt the difference, and wanted their audience to understand it. I believe they also feel that it is the way of the future, and that this is simply a better way to experience live music.”

"They found a connection with the audience that was different than usual and this allowed them to experience the concert at another level," added Motta. "Furthermore, having the stage almost silent thanks to a cardioid system like the L2 made things a lot easier for both of them and also for the monitor engineer.

"I believe that many people who saw the concert noticed the difference and I also believe that this tour was only the beginning and that it kicked off a period of experimentation in Italy that L-ISA and L-Acoustic will certainly be part of."

As for the future of immersive live shows, Laveuf feels says he feels immense pride not only in what has been achieved on the tour, but also in bringing the power of immersive audio technology to a new audience.

“I’m really proud of what we accomplished,” he concluded. “With our partner Agora, we were able to introduce this technology to a new fanbase in a new genre in Italy. L-ISA has proven to be a very effective way to reinforce classical music, which is something that has been done for a long time in Italy (Ennio Morricone, Orchestra del Maggio Fiorentino in Sienna, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, and more). But with this tour, we have introduced it into a new genre, on a touring level, and this I hope will excite other creatives, engineers and managers to take a step into this new direction of audience/artist experience.”

PHOTOS: Top Luigi Rizzo, centre Tommaso Biagetti