An L-Acoustics audio system was supplied by Italian rental company Agorà for Ennio Morricone’s 60 Years of Music world tour.

The team decided to use the system, designed by Scott Willsallen of Auditoria Pty, working alongside Sherif El Barbari, director of L-ISA Labs, and Venturi for both the Bologna and Milan dates of the tour.

At the 8,600-seat Unipol Arena in Bologna, an A/B comparison was conducted between a conventional stereo system, which featured 12 K2 per side and an L-ISA system featuring five rows of 12 Kara across the stage.

The L-ISA system was also used at the 12,700-seat Mediolanum Assago arena in Milan, with five arrays of 12 Kara across the stage. This was completed by two side extensions to widen the imaging, with the central cluster also including two arrays of four KS28.

“Our normal L-Acoustics configuration works extremely well. But in places such as arenas, it’s difficult to achieve exactly what we want," said Morricone’s long time recording and FOH engineer Fabio Venturi.

"Since the very first concert, we’ve been looking at ways to make the performance sound even more natural. When I listened to L-ISA, I felt that it offered a more natural and detailed sound. I discussed the system with the production team, and we decided we wanted to use it.”

For the 240° audience seating, two side hangs of eight K2 and five additional Kara for front-fills were used.

Frederic Bailly, applications engineer at L-Acoustics said: “The Agorà team had an opportunity to ‘rehearse’ the L-ISA rigging deployment for the first show in Bologna. For the Milano show the next day, we ran into an unexpected challenge, as the fixed central scoreboard was not documented in the blueprints and we had to lower the PA system by one metre.”

Added Floris Douwes, producer and managing director of the tour’s production company GEA: “The system worked perfectly for both dates and was an overall positive experience. The L-ISA system guarantees an immersive sound for the entire audience, which is a tremendous improvement, and offers much more transparency of sound than with conventional stereo line-array systems.

“I think this system is particularly exciting in arenas and large halls, as it enables the entire audience to enjoy an amazing sound experience, even those who are in seats that wouldn’t receive ideal sound with conventional systems. Audiences get to enjoy a sound that is far more natural and organic in terms of the position of the musicians and instruments on stage. This system brings the orchestra much closer to the audience, making the experience much more immersive and enjoyable!”

Ennio Morricone was also-pleased with the system, stating: “The L-ISA multi-channel system adds a sense of space to the sound. This has made it possible for Fabio and Agorà to reproduce my performance with a surprisingly realistic sound image of the orchestra. More than ever before, there was a clear feeling of being enveloped by the music.”