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Faith, CODA and Clarity
In recent years Paloma Faith has become something of a national treasure...
Currently one of the UK's brightest stars, singer-songwriter and actress Faith is everywhere. Her infectious retro style supports a career that has spawned four double-platinum, award-winning albums, the latest of which, The Architect, debuted at number one. The UK leg of the tour to promote The Architect took place in the spring of 2018, playing at the country's largest arenas and receiving excellent reviews. Paloma Faith had a message to share with her fans on The Architect Tour and thanks to a CODA Audio System, that message was delivered with exceptional power and clarity.
There were seven trucks on The Architect tour, only one of which was needed to carry the entire audio inventory, something that FOH engineer Andy Williamson and Stage Manager Duncan Ladkin initially found hard to believe.
"We've got one truck of PA to do the O2 Arena which is kind of amazing" exclaims Ladkin, with Williamson adding "We've got an entire arena system, not just the speakers…we've got the speakers, the subs on dollies, the fills strapped to them so they don't have to move… rigging, amps, cables…everything flat-packed in a forty-five footer and there's eight foot of space in the back of it – I couldn't believe it!"
The system consisted of two main hangs of 11 x AiRAY, 8 x ViRAY with 4 x SC2s and two side hangs of 11 x AiRAY, 8 x ViRAY with 18 SCP subs positioned left, right and centre in blocks of 6. Powered by 52 LINUS 10 amplifiers, it wasn't just the ease with which the system fitted in the back of a truck which left an impression on those present. Ultimately for all the practical and economic benefits of its compact, space saving handleability, the system was chosen principally for its capacity to deliver optimum audio to every seat in the house, something which everyone agreed, it effortlessly achieved, every night.
The first thing about the system that struck Williamson was the quality of the subs, declaring that the low-end was the tightest he'd ever heard. Addressing the system as a whole, he was equally impressed:
"It's just so clean – anything you do, you hear and so it makes you a better engineer because you hear absolutely everything! It's really responsive and the subs are super fast. Basically, it sounds like a huge, big hi-fi, it goes up in the air super quick, it comes down super quick and takes up almost no truck space, so right away it's a winner – the fact that it sounds phenomenal is just a double whammy!"
System Tech James Coghlan sums up succinctly:
"I've had the CODA system out on three tours and every single time it's been a fantastic speaker cabinet to use. It's compact, it's loud and it sounds really nice!"
The tours that Coghlan references have encompassed everything from quiet acoustic material, through orchestral music to full on rock and roll without any compromise. Savings on time and space translate to reductions in budget, whilst the compact nature of the speakers reduces the impact on the visual elements attached to virtually every contemporary arena show. One of the stated themes behind Paloma Faith's The Architect Tour tour, was 'revolution' something that most certainly synchronised well with her choice of CODA Audio.