The ancient temple of San Miguel in the city of Cuenca in the mountains of east-central Spain provides a stunning backdrop for ‘Luz Cuenca’, a fully immersive sensory experience offering an artistic expression of the cultural wealth of the city.
Drawing on the city’s history which is closely linked to art – and especially abstract art – Luz Cuenca is a multimedia exhibition that combines artistic lighting techniques and a dramatic orchestral music score with 2D and 3D projection mapping.
Digital immersive experience specialists, Ibercover Studio, were in charge of production and content design for Luz Cuenca.
They turned to leading AV experts Fluge Audiovisuales to design and supply a high-quality sound system for the project, and the team had no hesitation in specifying KV2.
“Ibercover Studio asked us to design an immersive, robust and high-quality audio system as a key element of the overall immersive experience combining sound, light and projection mapping,” explained Jesús Catá, AV project engineer at Fluge.
“The main objective was to effectively and uniformly reproduce sound in space at low volumes.
“The required SPL levels were not particularly high since the acoustics of the church play an important role in the sound environment, giving more importance to quality rather than pressure.
“We selected KV2 systems because they are outstanding when it comes to delivering high-quality, detailed, transparent sound at low SPLs, and that’s not easy to do.”
Designed by sound engineer Poti Martín, the system comprises twelve EX26 2-way active loudspeaker systems evenly distributed along the walls of the nave.
With its 100 x 100-degree horn, the EX26 provides wide, even coverage, superb vocal intelligibility and high-quality musical reproduction.
A further two EX26s reinforce the upper gallery level. Low end reinforcement is provided by eight EX1.5 subwoofers distributed in pairs either side of the altar, plus a further pair left and right slightly further down the nave.
Due to the immersive character of the room, each loudspeaker receives independent audio signals which are sent via Dante, track by track, from the Watchout 6 video playback system and then processed and distributed to the loudspeakers via NST Audio DSP matrices.
Finally, custom white housings were designed for all the loudspeakers to minimise any interference with the video mapping.
“The synergy between the EX26 and the compact EX1.5 subwoofer for the reproduction of the entire sound spectrum in a completely flat manner, with no drop-off at any frequency, is unique,” continued Catá.
“You can hear absolutely every detail of the music exactly as it’s meant to sound, even at low SPLs. However, this doesn’t mean that it won’t reproduce higher SPLs with the same degree of success – indeed, in addition to Luz Cuenca, the system will be used for many other events with more demanding level requirements, and we know it will sound just as good.”
VISUAL CONTENT
For the content 20 x Barco G60-W7 projectors running under a Dataton WATCHOUT multi-display system illuminate the interiors of the church, using Pixilab Blocks for overall control.
The WATCHOUT system runs on four custom servers to deliver content to the projectors, ensuring an immersive experience with seamless mapping of the architectural features on the church walls and ceiling from a single production interface.
The laser light source of the projectors brings outstanding image quality to the visuals. The projectors are compact which enables integration in the church architecture, with minimum impact on the historically significant space.
“The Barco G60-W7 projectors are a highlight in the installation,” said Fernando Carabias, Product Technical Manager at Fluge Audiovisuales. “Their exceptional performance and versatility empowered us to craft a mesmerising visual spectacle within the historic confines of San Miguel Church, reshaping the boundaries of cultural immersion and elevating the cultural significance of the San Miguel Church to new heights.”
