d&b Soundscape sets a new record with Silence Wang at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium.
The power of d&b Soundscape has helped to deliver an unforgettable live sound experience for Chinese music superstar Silence Wang. During August, the performer’s Age of Romance World Tour played a 10 shows consecutive shows at Beijing’s iconic Bird’s Nest stadium, in what is believed to be the largest ever d&b Soundscape deployment in a stadium environment to date.
Supplied by OST Productions, one of China’s leading national specialists in sound solutions for large-scale concert touring, the system succeeded in bringing immersive spatial audio to more than 60,000 audience members on each night of the unprecedented run.
The Commitment to Quality Sound
Silence Wang (‘Wang Sulong’) is one of China’s most successful contemporary singer-songwriters and music producers. With 12 studio albums since 2010, he has built a huge following across China and Chinese-speaking audiences internationally. He recently entertained his global fanbase with a series of major arena shows across Asia, North America and Oceania.
However, with this most recent landmark run of performances, Wang set a new benchmark, becoming the first original singer-songwriter to undertake a residency employing Soundscape at this scale at Beijing’s National Stadium. Bringing this impressive system to fruition required close collaboration and trust between the d&b Greater China office, d&b’s local and global EAS teams, OST Productions and Silence Wang’s long-standing sound designer, Jin Shaogang.
As one of China’s most distinguished live sound designers and producers, Shaogang has many major concert tours, broadcasts and landmark national events (including chief sound design for the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony) to his credit. As Silence Wang’s chief sound director, he is known for his commitment to premier sound systems, delivering mixes of exceptional detail and balance, while preserving vocal clarity.
The Sound Designer’s View
Commenting on this experience, Shaogang says, “The d&b SL-Series is exceptionally beneficial when used with Soundscape. With its full-range directivity, there is remarkably little energy emitted from the rear of the cabinets. When 360-degree arrays and delay speakers share the same trusses, this precise pattern control prevents low frequencies from spilling backward into the delay zones, audience seating, or backstage areas, preventing unwanted bass bleed across the entire stage.”
He adds, “Soundscape dramatically expands the stadium sweet spot, from around a third of the venue to an impressive 60–70% of the entire audience area. Its performance in spatial imaging, layering, and depth delivers an immersive experience that traditional stereo simply cannot match. The moment the lights come up, and the music kicks in, you instantly feel an overwhelming sense of grand impact and vast spatial openness. I believe artists will use Soundscape wherever venue conditions allow.”
The 360˚ Soundscape System
Driving the system is, of course, d&b Soundscape’s central processing engine, the DS100. Highlighting its vital role, Sam Wang, Head of Mobile Sales & Senior System Engineer at d&b audiotechnik Greater China, explains, “In a stadium-scale Soundscape 360 system, every listener should be able to follow sound in motion with precision. By optimising loudspeaker layouts through Function Groups and managing object latency with the DS100’s delay mode, we minimise phase interference across the system. This preserves accurate spatial positioning, smooth panning and consistent localisation throughout the venue. Audiences experience coherent dynamic movement and rotational audio effects that remain stable, clear and engaging across the entire listening area.”
This record-breaking SL-Series system design begins with a main frontal system of seven hangs of KSL8/12, with two hangs of SL-SUB flown behind. Providing the 360 Soundscape are 11 hangs of GSL8 strung along the ceiling bowl. Then come twenty-two groups of V10P providing two rings of fills, and an additional SL-SUB array, while the system is completed by more than 150 KSL8 cabinets as outer fills, side fills, rear delays and side delays. The entire system has its performance optimised via d&b’s ArrayProcessing.
Support from d&b audiotechnik
Throughout the project, experts from d&b’s Education & Application Support (EAS) teams, both in China and further afield, made significant contributions to the design, refinement and use of d&b Soundscape.
Eric Zhou, Senior Engineer, EAS, d&b audiotechnik Greater China, comments, “ArrayProcessing is a key requirement for every show here. It delivers consistent coverage and tonal balance across the entire venue, ensuring every listener hears the performance as intended. When multiple loudspeaker arrays overlap, especially during dynamic sound panning, AP maintains seamless transitions and a stable listening experience. The result is greater clarity, consistency and control across even the most complex sound reinforcement environments.”
d&b Soundscape enabled with Create.Control
Key to this implementation of Soundscape was d&b’s Create.Control software, designed to simplify and expand the creative use of d&b Soundscape. “Create.Control lets us move fast,” explains Lucchi Federico Tobia, responsible for Soundscape Enablement at d&b audiotechnik Greater China. “With more than 400 snapshots and 300 animations programmed in just one month, speed and simplicity were essential. Songs can be built quickly, automation keeps the show running smoothly, and offline programming means projects can be prepared in advance, then scaled to any venue. For touring productions, it makes complex Soundscape workflows efficient, flexible and easy to adapt.”
Joe Rao, Director of EAS for d&b audiotechnik Greater China, concludes, “The scale of this project demanded both precision and flexibility. By integrating Soundscape with the stage design, we created a 360 audio environment that connected audiences throughout the venue. Success came not only from the technology, but from close collaboration, careful system optimisation and the ability to adapt quickly. Tools like Create.Control allowed us to programme, automate and scale efficiently, while maintaining the localisation and sound quality needed for a venue of this size.”
This was a milestone application for d&b Soundscape, demonstrating how immersive audio can scale from intimate performance spaces to the world’s largest concert productions in the most iconic stadiums.
