DSE’s Serge Weber comments on the sound design aspects of the general public area: “The goal was to cover the general public area with a sound system which cannot be visually obtrusive and must demonstrate a long-throw capability.
The priority was clearly given to the air show flying displays and a traditional placement of the PA system from the front (taxiways and runway/flying display side) was not an option. In order to satisfy the coverage needs – the dimensions of the area represent the size of almost three stadia- we ran computer simulations using the SOUNDVISION acoustic software to determine the exact configuration of our KUDO system. This year and for the very first time, we effectively approached the sound design with a Line Source Array as opposed to a traditional distributed system in the previous years.
“It was then established that the system should be installed right behind the tribune with a main alignment of six Maxi Towers of six KUDO elements each and an ancillary cluster of 12 KUDO elements located a little further away in the AIRBUS A380 taxiing area. Each KUDO tower was 10 meter high, with intervals of 31 meters in between towers. The KUDO system louvers were set at 50_ for the top boxes aiming at a distance of 75 meters and 110_ for the bottom ones for the short throw needs. I must say that with KUDO, the SPL has reached an incredible regularity and that the system intelligibility is amazing. Spectators at both ends of the coverage area enjoyed a clear and precise sound. The feedback on sound quality from the show organisation was excellent.”
