Don't forget about the Audio Spotlight...

[u2wedge]

Remember this?: http://forum.interference.com/t94326.html

 

[RademR]

i remember this, if they actually got it worked out for this tour, that would be great.

 

[impy13]

I'm not sure what all this means.

What could be done with something like that?

 

[cmb737]

I am not sure what the advantage or application would be in a rock concert. I read they are interested, but for what purpose? Besides because they can.

Ideas? Guy in 312 row 14 seat 1 hears Bullet the Blue Sky while everyone else hears silence?

I think that U2 would be more interested in using the technology involved to better their overall sound distribution within a venue, rather than limiting it.

 

[u2wedge]

I am not sure what the advantage or application would be in a rock concert. I read they are interested, but for what purpose? Besides because they can.

Ideas? Guy in 312 row 14 seat 1 hears Bullet the Blue Sky while everyone else hears silence?

I think that U2 would be more interested in using the technology involved to better their overall sound distribution within a venue, rather than limiting it.

someone said the same thing about having lights at a concert once....

and this IS a way to better distribute sound. U2 obviously was interested in checking out the technology, they flew the company to a Staples Center show to see how they could make it work.

Holy smokes....

 

[cmb737]

someone said the same thing about having lights at a concert once....

I don't think that was actually ever said.

Actually what I was trying to find out was a good application for this technology in an arena concert venue. Haven't heard one yet, has anyone?

 

[u2wedge]

I don't think that was actually ever said.

Actually what I was trying to find out was a good application for this technology in an arena concert venue. Haven't heard one yet, has anyone?

Well, if U2 went through with the development and implementation of this technology, I'd expect you'll find a solid example in a few days...

 

[cmb737]

great. good discussion about it. and the point of the thread is now, what?

 

[u2wedge]

great. good discussion about it. and the point of the thread is now, what?

You're the one who chimed in with the ignorant comments, fyi.

 

[u2wedge]

cmb, I'll spoonfeed a part of the article to you since you obviously didn't read it:

Can you give an example of what U2 might apply the Audio Spotlight to?

One of the things that has been brought up repeatedly is essentially a choreographing of the musical instruments, particularly Edge's guitar or some of the extra sound effects and having it fly around the auditorium or stadium, much like they do with light shows. Right now, you have a light show and all sorts of interesting patterns around, the light is beaming by the audience, its going up and down and all sorts of things. You can do something very similar with sound with the Audio Spotlight, and that's what U2 are really interested in doing. I had also proposed a foot controller for Edge to use onstage so that he could control where the sound goes. All that is still under development now, but it is certainly a promising application.

Keep in mind this was from a couple years ago or so...

 

[cmb737]

That's interesting...but I am not sure it would be very stimulating. Ya know? You wouldn't hear it until it passes you by...I don't know..maybe it would be cool.

Seems like a bit of trouble for a semi-cool effect.

What I was trying to say, and probably poorly, was that instead of using the technology to beam little bits of sound to small portions of the audience..that U2 may in fact be trying to use the overall technology in conjunction with their PA system to be able to fill in holes, correct problems that occur in large venues. Thinking more globally with the technology as opposed to thinking of it as an effect.

Maybe we are both right.

I did read the article however, I was simply looking for a concrete example of an application and discussion following. The article didn't give an example of what The Edge, for example, could use it for and stated that mostly its use is best in small spaces and homes. Wasn't sure how that would, and could, translate to 20,000 people in an arena.

 

[u2wedge]

That's interesting...but I am not sure it would be very stimulating. Ya know? You wouldn't hear it until it passes you by...I don't know..maybe it would be cool.

Seems like a bit of trouble for a semi-cool effect.

What I was trying to say, and probably poorly, was that instead of using the technology to beam little bits of sound to small portions of the audience..that U2 may in fact be trying to use the overall technology in conjunction with their PA system to be able to fill in holes, correct problems that occur in large venues. Thinking more globally with the technology as opposed to thinking of it as an effect.

Maybe we are both right.

I did read the article however, I was simply looking for a concrete example of an application and discussion following. The article didn't give an example of what The Edge, for example, could use it for and stated that mostly its use is best in small spaces and homes. Wasn't sure how that would, and could, translate to 20,000 people in an arena.

I think that's were the part about them flying the rep to the venue comes in. They wanted to see if they could make it work, and who knows, maybe they did, maybe they didn't.

I guess the point of my post was to remind that this 'audio spotlight' technology may be part of the visual/audio spectacle that has been mentioned for this tour.

I would imagine that if Edge could make this work we'll see it in the show, or hear it I should say.

 

[zoo99]

try to think of dozens of audio spotlights rapidly scanning the crowd not just one but perhaps a hundred zooming all over the place, every time you get hit you get zapped with an explosion of sound. Think of an audio spolight combined with a light spotlight , it might be something we hear of next week !

 

[ouizy]

As in other technologies U2 will probably push this one to a place that no one on this thread has thought up. They did that with LEDs and they will most likely do that with this.

I am not sure the technology is yet ready to be used on an application of this size, and it definitely will not be used in the outdoor show, so if the band decides to use it, it would be indoors only, taking away some percentage of probability of its use as they would not want to change the show leg to leg.

That said, I remember readig a thing where there was going to be some kind of "Edge Feature" during the show, and if I had to guess (as I cannot remember any tour when ther was an Edge Feature) the Audio Spotlight would be used at this point.

I do not believe that it will be used to "fill in holes int their audio system" due to various reasons, mostly because that is not why it was invented, and their long standing audio conasultants Clair Brothers probably would not hear of it.

If it is there at all it will be in a novel use and something that I do believe will blow us away...

 

[elfyx]

i just wanted to mention or maybe correct a misconception about the technology. the way i understand it is that, being holographic in nature, not only could you focus audio strictly on one person so that one person and only that person hears it. but- you can also create a directional, vectorized sound as well.

for instance, say for whatever reason u2 wanted to simulate a helicopter flying around the arena. at the near end of the arena the heli would sound close and loud, but at the far end it would sound more distant. not only that, but when the heli moves, you would get the traditional "doppler" effect. so the technology could be used such that everybody hears the audio, but everybody hears it in relation to where they are. the number of cool effects that could be imagined here are numerous! imagine Edge was playing Vertigo and gets to the bridge. The notes could literally "rain-down" from the ceiling. When he's playing the harmonics, the sound could literally "fill-out" the arena. say he wanted to use the "power-outage" effect at the end of the harmonics. the sound could appear to "fall" to the floor.

i think it will add a lot to the show, but i also think it could be way overused and thus get kind of irritating as well. i think the key is reserved, intelligent use.

 

[chango]

this has kind of been done before... you have to have a quad speaker setup and then you use a directional joystick thingy to move the sound around.
the artist who comes immediately to mind who used to use this technology was thomas dolby. on the flat earth tour there were all kinds of weird sounds moving around the theater... the most striking of the bunch being the sound of footsteps, coming from the stage, out to the left side of the theater, then coming right behind me, then to the right, and then back up on stage. really, really cool stuff.
i'm sure this is a newer technology than that, but it's most likeley the same idea. i believe pink floyd's done it before, too. i also heard that super furry animals had a quad set-up for the rings around the world tour and would do stuff like this.
should be fun to hear.

 

[jedwardm]

In the 80's, heavy metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen would perform with a row of Marshall amplifier stacks that stretched from one side of the stage to the other (probably 50 total). The sound tech. had the system set up so that only the amps in the vicinity of Yngwie were "live". As he moved from stage left to stage right, his sound was right there with him. It was actually an interesting effect. He would even "point" his guitar at the audience and "sweep" the entire venue from one side to the next.

 

[Canadiens1131]

I'd assume the Audio Spotlight would be used more for sound effects and backing tracks.

For instance, think of actually hearing the jet airplane from the Beaufitul Day video fly over your head.