RCF GTX Amplifies Ligabue for Seven Concerts at the Verona Arena

Following great success with the "30 years in one day" summer event in 2022, which gathered over 100,000 people at the RCF Arena, Ligabue reconfirmed his trust in RCF choosing the new GTX 12 line array system for his residency in the evocative Arena di Verona in Italy.

Verona, Italy - The Roman amphitheater, pride in the city's historic center, ranks as one of the most popular musical destinations in 2022, exceeding 600,000 paying spectators in a single season. Ligabue, who hadn't been on the Verona Arena stage for nine years, had led the concert season with seven sold out shows. The RCF GTX 12 line array, acclaimed by the public on the RCF Arena lawn, is back on stage among the marble steps of the Verona Arena.

At the FOH mix position, we meet Simone Squillario, recently hired for the concerts at the venue and the entire European tour of Ligabue. “I had complete confidence in the production team to be able to express myself freely in terms of sound, so apart from the artistic indications received from Ligabue’s producer, Fabrizio Barbacci, I was free to choose the system setup. The only condition, to which I agreed, was to use the SSL L550 console, already used in the past for Ligabue shows. This mixer has an exceptional and extremely musical sound.”

The control room setup includes an SSL L550 desk with double Waves server (for some plug-ins), two Distressors for the bass group and the dry vocal channel, four channels on the transient designer used on the snare and tom groups, two Waves MaxxBCL outboards used one on the console’s group of the band, and one on the group of the vocals. The two groups (defined as Stems in the SSL) are united in a matrix that routes to the audio system. A Mac with DiGiGrid MGB takes the Madi stream from the desk for virtual soundcheck and recording.

System designer Emanuele Morlini followed the entire RCF system for the Verona Arena project and coordinated a system set up on a permanent basis for the Niccolò Fabi concert in the same amphitheater. "After the system's success at the RCF Arena and at the Olimpico in Rome, we brought the GTX here to the Verona Arena. We wanted to fully understand what the new systems' strengths are, as it is still in the testing phase, and not commercially available yet. We will continue to test GTX until we are 100% sure of the system’s performance, particularly for the rigging features. We are very happy that Ligabue appreciates the sound, and we are honored by the trust he has in RCF," comments Morlini.

The audio system consists of 18 GTX 12 modules [2x9] as well as two 12-module sides, all amplified with new XPS 16KD amplifiers. The XPS Series was recently introduced to the market, but the 16 kW four-channel amplifiers have been thoroughly tested in large events and important fixed installations in international arenas and stadiums. All subwoofers on the floor are double 21" active TTS 56-A, with ten HDL 26-A positioned as front fills for the front rows. On stage, all monitors are TT 45-SMA plus a TTS 36-A sub as a drum fill to reinforce the signal in the drummer's headphone monitors. All loudspeakers are connected via RDNet for control and optimization and to a Dante network via four DX 1616 processors.

"Thanks to the excellent work of Emanuele Morlini, the GTX convinced me both in terms of precision and transient response. Regarding SPL, it is very powerful and adapts very well to our sound. The concert has heavy rock moments for three guitars with consistent bass, drums, and acoustic moments. I also found it very effective for the final rendering of the voice, which was always up front and present without being out of the mix,” comments Squillario. "Since the first day with Emanuele, we made some minimal corrections to adapt the mix done in rehearsals. After the first few minutes of setup, everything was perfectly translated with the same timbre and balance we had decided together with Fabrizio. I am also fully satisfied with the coverage. Every audience seat was served with precision and good volume, with no loss of detail.”

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