Leading comedian, actor and presenter Romesh Ranganathan recently completed a series of seven stand-up shows in UK arenas as part of his Hustle world tour, with event production specialist Adlib supplying a CODA Audio VCA system for the run of shows.
Ranganathan’s set, which has drawn much critical and commercial acclaim, led Birmingham Live critic Richard Gutteridge to declare that, ‘I laughed so much my face hurt…’
For Ranganathan’s Hustle tour, Adlib made the decision to supply a CODA Audio system based around the company’s flagship AiRAY line array. Adlib has previously deployed CODA systems for tours by many of the leading lights of British comedy, including the likes of Russell Howard, Joe Lycett and Jack Whitehall. And according to system tech and audio crew chief, Jethro Hall, the system was an obvious choice.
“The CODA system is tried and tested for this kind of show and has proved itself time and again,” Hall explained, describing the system’s suitability for standup tours of this nature .
“It’s got lots of output, is very flexible and scalable and is easy to work with. The enclosures are ultra-compact which makes them ideal for minimising the impact on sight-lines, and when you add excellent high-frequency throw and clarity, it’s just perfect for the job.”
For the larger venues on the tour, including London’s O2 Arena, the system was made up of a main hang (per side) of 12 AiRAY at 90° and four CiRAY downfill, side hang of 4 AiRAY at 120° and 14 CiRAY, and four SCP sensor-controlled subwoofers (per side) in endfire.
A combination of APS, HOPS8 and G712 was specified to provide in-fill, front-fill and out-fill, with three hangs of ViRAY at 120° deployed as delays. The system was powered by 27 CODA Audio LINUS14 DSP amplifiers. For the smaller arenas on the tour, the system was easily scaled for optimal performance.
Hall continued: “The system sounded great - very clear and powerful - and was easy to handle and tune, all of which made for a very enjoyable series of dates.”
FOH engineer Dennis Fernandez agreed, hailing the power and precision of the CODA system deployed for Ranganathan’s latest outing: “Intelligibility is absolutely essential in comedy, as is the ability to deliver clarity to every corner of an arena - the CODA system delivered effortlessly on both of these counts,” he commented
Global sales and marketing director for CODA Audio, David Webster, also added: “We’re delighted that CODA Audio has once again been selected as the go-to choice for a major arena comedy tour in the UK - it’s also great to see all the elements of our VCA family (ViRAY, CiRAY and AiRAY) working together to allow maximum flexibility when configuring the system for different arenas.”