d&b finds its sweet spot at the Bird’s Nest

China:

More than 60,000 fans per night experienced immersive audio during Silence Wang’s 10-show residency at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium in August, with d&b Soundscape deployed across the venue. The Age of Romance world tour marked what d&b audiotechnik describes as its largest Soundscape deployment in a stadium environment to date. The system was supplied by OST Productions, a Chinese specialist in sound solutions for large-scale concert touring.

The production brought together d&b audiotechnik’s Greater China office, its local and global EAS teams, OST Productions and Wang’s long-standing sound designer, Jin Shaogang. The latter has worked on major concert tours, broadcasts and national events, including chief sound design for the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.

The loudspeaker design comprised seven frontal hangs of KSL8/12, with two SL-SUB hangs flown behind. A further 22 hangs of GSL8 were positioned around the stadium’s ceiling bowl for the 360° Soundscape system. Twenty-two groups of V10P provided two rings of fills, alongside an additional SL-SUB array. More than 150 KSL8 cabinets completed the design as outer fills, side fills, rear delays and side delays, and ArrayProcessing was applied across the loudspeakers.

Shaogang highlighted the combination of Soundscape and d&b’s SL-Series loudspeakers, particularly their directivity and control of low-frequency spill. “The d&b SL-Series is exceptionally beneficial when used with Soundscape. With its full-range directivity, there is remarkably little energy emitted from the rear of the cabinets. When 360° arrays and delay speakers share the same trusses, this precise pattern control prevents low frequencies from spilling backward into the delay zones, audience seating or backstage areas, preventing unwanted bass bleed across the entire stage.”

He also described the system’s coverage and spatial performance: “Soundscape dramatically expands the stadium sweet spot, from around a third of the venue to an impressive 60–70% of the entire audience area. Its performance in spatial imaging, layering and depth delivers an immersive experience that traditional stereo simply cannot match.”

The system centred on d&b’s DS100 signal processor, which was used to manage spatial positioning, object latency and loudspeaker layouts. “In a stadium-scale Soundscape 360 system, every listener should be able to follow sound in motion with precision,” explained Sam Wang, head of mobile sales and senior system engineer at d&b audiotechnik Greater China. “By optimising loudspeaker layouts through Function Groups and managing object latency with the DS100’s delay mode, we minimise phase interference across the system. This preserves accurate spatial positioning, smooth panning and consistent localisation throughout the venue. Audiences experience coherent dynamic movement and rotational audio effects that remain stable, clear and engaging across the entire listening area.”

The German manufacturer’s Create.Control software supported the programming workflow, with more than 400 snapshots and 300 animations prepared in one month. “Create.Control lets us move fast,” said Lucchi Federico Tobia, responsible for Soundscape enablement at d&b audiotechnik Greater China. “With more than 400 snapshots and 300 animations programmed in just one month, speed and simplicity were essential. Songs can be built quickly, automation keeps the show running smoothly and offline programming means projects can be prepared in advance, then scaled to any venue. For touring productions, it makes complex Soundscape workflows efficient, flexible and easy to adapt.”