Outline GTO for Mike & The Mechanics at Royal Albert Hall

Mike & The Mechanics, the multi-million selling side-project formed in 1984 by Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford, recently played London's Royal Albert Hall to launch the 2011 Hit The Road tour. Featuring a new lineup which includes UK R&B star Andrew Roachford; the tour coincides with the release of the group's first album in six years, entitled The Road.

Concert production for the tour is being handled by Britannia Row Productions, who deployed an Outline GTO-based system for the Royal Albert Hall, the second outing for the Italian manufacturer's new flagship technology in the legendary venue. The main system comprised left and right hangs of twelve GTO elements, with three Outline Mantas underhung from each array plus three along the stage lip to cover the near-field. Side-hangs of thirteen Outline Butterfly elements covered the bleachers while an under-stage array of Outline Subtech 218 subwoofers provided low frequency reinforcement.

Britannia Row's Bryan Grant was at the show and said afterwards, "This venue is not the easiest in which to create a system design that provides even coverage and, especially when full, it is necessary to deliver full-range coverage of more than 270 degrees in the horizontal plus around 50-60 feet in the vertical. The GTO system providing the bulk of the L&R mix sounded just as good as we've come to expect, and the fact that we could easily integrate other products from the Outline range to create a commonly-voiced system to cover the whole room made it relatively easy to get this right."

Front-of-house engineer and producer Matteo Cifelli, whose many production and engineering credits include Tom Jones, Blue, Zucchero, and Il Divo said, "I have used Outline Butterfly on numerous occasions, always with great results and so it is always my first PA choice when I'm on tour, but this was my first show with GTO. Its development from Butterfly was immediately evident as it has the same punch, intelligibility, and tight coverage pattern, but GTO provides noticeably more energy: almost a Butterfly system on steroids, yet its 'detail' gives me the sensation of mixing in a studio environment. Mike & The Mechanics is not a loud band, but GTO's headroom and effortless power enabled me to create a very dynamic and well controlled mix with plenty of space for everything. A 'op-of-the-class' speaker, I'm very impressed."