Psalms of David Festival, Poland


The Opportunity

Held last September in the small Polish town of Kolbuszowa, the 5th Psalms of David Festival was a celebration of Jewish and Christian scripture, set to a soundtrack of classical music. The open-air event, which was hosted at Kolbuszowa’s sports stadium, saw performances from Poland’s largest youth symphony orchestra, the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, as well as dozens of individual performers and soloists.

To ensure every note rang clear among the audience, which had to adhere to Covid-19 social distancing rules, the organisers needed a cutting-edge sound system. To this end, they recruited JBL Professional’s distributor ESS Audio, who worked alongside TJT Music and renowned touring company Master-Ton, who designed a powerful JBL Professional sound system.
The Solution

The core of the sound system was 24 JBL Professional A12 dual-line array loudspeakers, arranged side-by-side in clusters of 12 modules. The JBL Professional A12 is a favourite among touring companies thanks to its modular design, portability, and unparalleled performance. These were accompanied by 16 JBL VTX G28 subwoofers, arranged in two clusters of eight speakers. The JBL VTX G28 lends itself well to one-off touring events, thanks to its ground-stackable design and lightweight frame. In the case of the 5th Psalms of David Festival, these subwoofers delivered exceptional bass response, with baritone solo vocal performances registering loud and clear.

To help the performers keep track of the show, the implementers deployed two JBL V20 three-way line array elements as near-field speakers. In place of individual monitors, small-size loudspeakers were deployed within close proximity of the performers, with the JBL VTX M22 placed near soloists and orchestra leaders, and the VTX F12 positioned by the event’s choirs.

On the back-end, the implementers used the versatile Crown IT4x3500-HD amplifiers, which boast built-in DSP, four routable inputs, and support for all the major connectivity protocols, including analog, AES, CobraNet, HiQnet and Ethernet. Mixing monitoring was performed on Soundcraft Vi3000 and Vi7000 consoles. The Soundcraft Vi3000 packs a full complement of digital and analogue inputs, while it allows for simple on-the-fly visualisation and adjustments. Additionally, the Soundcraft Vi7000 builds upon that solid foundation, with optional 96KHz processing, BSS DPR901ii Dynamic EQ, and support for even more audio channels.

The Impact

Despite the unusual circumstances caused by the pandemic, the 5th Psalms of David Festival was a huge success, delighting those in attendance, with the show expected to be broadcast on TV and released on Blu-Ray in the near future.

“2020 was a difficult year for the professional sound industry, with only a handful of events taking place. The 5th Psalms of David Festival was our biggest show in Poland, and we were determined to make it a success” ESS Managing Director Witold Karalow said. “We worked with TJT Music, which deployed its newly-purchased JBL VTX A12 system to great effect. The performance of the Harman brands, powered by Crown Amplification and the Soundcraft Vi series, was outstanding. Everyone at the event — us included — had a blast!”

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