zactrack Audio Tracking with d&b Soundscape at Jazzopen 2023
- Nov 3, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
The Jazzopen is one of Germany’s most renowned jazz festivals, bringing international stars from jazz, soul, pop, rock, and beyond to Stuttgart each year, including Deep Purple, Grace Jones, and Beth Hart. zactrack SMART was used to automatically track voices and instruments, with audio delivered through a d&b Soundscape immersive audio system.
The zactrack SMART setup at Jazzopen 2023 consisted of ten Anchors, mounted at different heights along the sides of the stage to transmit tracker signals to the SMART server. “We positioned the Anchors this way to ensure that each Tracker always had a clear connection to at least four receivers,” explains Patrick Röling from NEMEDIA, an event planning company specialising in zactrack applications. “Four Anchors are required for 3D tracking.”
How to track Artists in an Immersive Soundscape
To fully leverage the benefits of automated position tracking with zactrack for audio, Jazzopen 2023 used an immersive sound system for the first time. Instead of a traditional left-right setup, five loudspeaker arrays were distributed across the width of the stage to reproduce sound objects in d&b En-Scene software, including the tracked artists. The result was a realistic representation of the stage, with the visual and acoustic position of each sound object perfectly aligned.
Once the positions of the moving artists on stage were captured and calculated by the zactrack SMART system, the raw positioning data was sent via the OSC network protocol to d&b audiotechnik’s DS100 DSP signal processors and integrated into the Soundscape system.
“The live positioning turns static sound objects into dynamic ones,” explains Patrick Röling. “This allows us to create added value for the audience. However, we don’t equip every musician with a tracker – only those who actively move around the stage.”
The largest number of trackers – ten in total – was used during electro-swing artist Parov Stelar’s performance with his band. “There was a lot of action on stage during Parov Stelar’s show. The musicians, including several vocalists and horn players, were constantly moving around. Combined with zactrack and Soundscape, it was simply wow!”
Seamless Integration of zactrack and d&b Soundscape
Marco Fußhöller, Application Support D.A.CH at d&b audiotechnik, was equally impressed by the possibilities for integrating zactrack with d&b Soundscape: “The interaction between the two systems was completely seamless and straightforward. After a quick alignment on the shared zero point within the coordinate system and the IP addresses, you’re ready to go. If, for example, the guitarist moves to the centre of the stage for a solo, the corresponding sound objects follow, ensuring that the acoustic localisation remains accurate for the audience.
With the zactrack system, the FoH engineer no longer needs to constantly watch the stage to manually follow moving sound objects and can instead focus entirely on the mix.”
zactrack & Soundscape: Connecting Movement, Sound and Audience
In addition to providing reliable technical performance, Patrick Röling believes they also contributed to the overall artistic experience: “Once the artists understand what zactrack does and the benefits it provides, it also has an impact on the dynamics and energy of their performance.”
In the past, the combination of zactrack and d&b Soundscape has delivered impressive results in major U.S. musical productions such as MJ The Musical. At Jazzopen, automated audio tracking on this scale took another step into the live concert environment.
“The dynamic sound experience allows the audience to follow the artists acoustically as they move across the stage, even from seats where they may not always be clearly visible,” concludes Patrick Röling.
All photos © Jörg Küsters
Read the original article (in German) here.
