Cricket, deeply ingrained in the fabric of modern-day India, transcends the status of mere sport; it’s a national fervour and a unifying force binding together millions of hearts and souls. At the forefront of this cricketing frenzy stands the Indian Premier League (IPL), a spectacle that not only epitomises the spirit of the game but also redefines entertainment on a grand scale.
On 22nd March, as the curtains rose on the 2024 season, the cricketing universe converged at the historic MA Chidambaram Stadium, and the stage was set for a grandest of spectacles, an extravaganza of unprecedented musical entertainment.
Bengaluru-based Reynolds Sound & Lighting Services took the honour of staging the excellence.
SIA brings you an exclusive of what and how they did it:
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The IPL, with its unique blend of cricketing prowess and star-studded entertainment, has consistently captivated audiences worldwide. The 2024 season only upped the ante, as it promised to be the grandest yet. With Bollywood celebs like Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff, music maestros like Sonu Nigam and AR Rahman – apart from the renowned Swedish DJ / record producer Axwell – set to light the stage, the Opening Ceremony was a certain nightbuster.
A prelude to the exhilarating cricketing battles that lay ahead, the grand Opening Ceremony unfolded amidst a symphony of lights, sound, and electrifying performances, with over 370 million viewers tuning in from across the globe, and a live audience of more than 40,000 spectators, the event lived up to all the hype that the tournament’s ceremonies have come to be known for.
Noticeably, central to the mesmerising experience that enthralled the audience, was the emphasis on production quality – as organisers spared no expense in crafting a visual and auditory feast for the senses.
Spearheading the technical wizardry behind this extravaganza was Reynolds Sound & Lighting Services – one of India’s most reputed solution providers – who were entrusted with the task of orchestrating a seamless fusion of sound and light.
“The iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium is an imposing venue; and with the 2024 IPL season set to be the grandest yet, our team at Reynolds was fully engaged,” recounts a team member. “We’re no strangers to mega-productions, and our team’s wealth of experience and innate knowledge in audio and lighting was on full-display for this project,” the exec explains. “We came together to craft a technical plan that not only met the monumental scale of the event but also left the audience in awe with its exceptional performance and unparalleled experience.”
According to him, the countless number of hours of meticulous planning and execution proved worthwhile as they witnessed the breath-taking experience enjoyed by both the spectators.
With the heartbeat of any grand production lying in its sonic experience; team Reynolds rose to the occasion as they meticulously crafted a thorough audio architecture that was designed to envelop every corner of the stadium in a pristine soundscape.
Before setting afoot their install design plan, the team did an extensive analysis of the entire expanse of the stadium to determine the desirable throw and coverage outputs to cover roofed-seating area as well as the open-air setting of the venue. The team then roped in state-of-the-art technologies to weave around an immersive sonic experience.
Audio Immersion
At the heart of the massive audio architecture was the 36-unit contingent of the KSL line array modules from d&b Audiotechnik, deployed in stacks of 4 units each, strategically positioned to cover the entire seated audience area and galleries. Complementing this was a strategic deployment of 16 units of the XSL line array modules to ensure superlative sound quality in crucial areas such as VIP lounges and team dugouts.
Furthermore, Reynolds employed an astutely crafted fill reinforcement solution that featured 16 units of the MSL4 long throw powered loudspeakers strategically placed around the stage and backstage areas to guarantee a thoroughly consistent sonic experience.
Adding depth and resonance to the overall soundscape was a 16-unit strong ensemble of cardioid-patterned SL-SUB subwoofers from d&b Audiotechnik that is further augmented by as many as 24 units of the end-fire 700HP subwoofers from Meyer Sound.
“It required a meticulous calibration of beam-steering audio architecture to derive a deep bass resonance while ensuring least possible disturbance to the players on the pitch,” explains the Reynold’s rep.
It was quite but natural part of the game to treat the artistes and performers – who had come to rev up the crescendo of Inaugural Ceremony – with world-class audio gear to echo their pulsations. Reynolds, therefore, roped in six units of MJF 212A loudspeakers serving as the primary stage foldback solution, along with sophisticated in-ear monitoring systems from Sennheiser and Shure.
Further enhancing the sonic aura wirelessly was the provision of Axient Digital Wireless Microphones from Shure. A multitude of Hollyland solid comms formed the backbone of uninterrupted and clear coordination between critical event crew members.
Playing central to the seamless control and distribution of audio signals was the deployment of the acclaimed SD10 and SD5 digital mixing consoles from DiGiCo, connected via a redundant Optocore loop with a pair of SD Rack offering as many as 112 inputs and 89 outputs.
Team Reynolds also ingeniously leveraged the DANTE AoIP protocol to facilitate uninterrupted and stable signal distribution and control, thereby ensuring enthralling performance across the entire audio spectrum.
“Considering the scale and the expanse of the audio set-up requirement, and knowing the high-profile aura that the IPL tournament Ceremonies carry, we knew from the word go that we would need not only a very comprehensive audio infrastructure but also ensure its seamless and sustained signal distribution,” explains Selwyn Remedios of Reynolds Sound & Lighting Services. “We were able to achieve the objective by leveraging the capability of DANTE AoIP with a combo of 6 units of the DS10 audio network bridge from d&b Audiotechnik and 4 units of the SWP-1 switch from Yamaha,” he elaborates.
According to him, this combo of network mesh was connected with multimode fibre via custom built HMA patchbays and cables imported from Van Damme Cables, that allowed them to assure full-redundancy and exquisite stability.
Visual Spectacle
While the audio experience set the stage alight with its immersive brilliance, the visual spectacle was equally mesmerizing, thanks to Reynolds’ expert commissioning of a mammoth entertainment lighting infrastructure, where the team deployed as many as over 2000 lighting fixtures and 24 high-performance lasers across the stadium to create a visual extravaganza of unprecedented magnitude and impact.
From the captivating RGBW LED PARs to the dynamic moving head beams and washes, team Reynolds brought to place its expertise to calibrate a multitude of lighting fixtures crafting a truly magical and sensational visual spectacle. The breath-taking deployment included:
- As many as 800 units of RGBW LED PARs, 100 units of LED battens from Montana
- 200 units of PR 330 moving head beams, 36 units of AQUQ 480 BSW spots from PR LIGHTING
- 200 units of HYDRO BEAM X12 moving head beams from AMERICAN DJ
- 120 units of CYAN 6000 XE moving head washes from SILVERSTAR
- 60 units of X-FRAME BSW sharpys from CLAY PAKY
- 48 units of COLLIDER FC RGBW strobes from EK Lights
- 36 units of ESPRITE moving head profiles from ROBE
- 20 units of DIAMOND BACK moving battens
- 4 units of 2.5 follow spots from EMLITE
- 3 units of the industry standard grandMA 3 full-size lighting controller console from MA Lighting
With a view to guaranteeing impeccable stability and redundancy across the lighting set-up, Reynold’s leveraged the Art-Net communication protocol to facilitate seamless signal distribution.
“Considering the magnitude of the lighting setup and the enormous number of fixtures required to do justice to an event of this scale, ArtNet was the only logical path for distributing signals to all the fixtures around the stadium,” explains Selvin. “We deployed our newly acquired Netgear Pro AV line of switches with 10Gbps uplinks to ensure smooth operation and failsafe networking,” he elaborates.
According to him, each of these Netgear Pro AV switches in-turn fed the meticulously positioned Art-Net nodes from Elation, which then ran the DMX to the fixtures.
Finally, in the grand tapestry of the IPL 2024 season kick-off, Reynolds Sound & Lighting Services shone as the connecting vibe, orchestrating a symphony of technical wizardry that transcended the boundaries of mere entertainment.
