KUWAIT: Egyptian pianist and composer, Omar Khairat, and his full orchestra of 50 talented instrumentalists, made a return to Kuwait after a four-year absence. The concert, held at the end of last year at the nation's premier multipurpose indoor hall, The Arena Kuwait, was an evening that captivated audiences with Khairat’s emotive musical compositions, amplified by an L-Acoustics Kara sound system that was delivered by the L-Acoustics Certified Provider in the Middle East, NMK Electronics Trading.

The audio system for the event was expertly designed and supplied by Kuwaiti rental company, Al Lailak. The company's co-founder, Yousef N. Al Saedi, a seasoned sound engineer with over 15 years of experience, was contacted by the show organisers to create an audio system that would meet the specifications outlined in the musician's technical rider.

"One of the key requirements was to design a system that would offer evenly distributed sound throughout the entire venue, which can accommodate up to 5,800 people," explained Al Saedi. "Another challenging aspect was addressing the reflections from the venue’s glass balconies."

As a loyal customer of NMK for many years, and having recently invested in an additional stock of 24 K2 systems with A10 and X8 loudspeakers, Syva systems, 5XT speakers, as well as X12 and X15 monitors, the Lailak team was confident that the L-Acoustics sound system would meet all of the client's requirements.

By utilising L-Acoustics Soundvision 3D design and mapping software, the Al Lailak team performed virtual placement of the cabinets, while viewing the coverage of each particular hang and matching time delay where needed. "This gave us a clear view of the audio coverage even before we entered the venue," continued Yousef N. Al Saedi.

The final system comprised left right arrays of 12 Kara each, and delay out fill delivered by left / right hangs of three Kara each. Stage monitoring was a mix of X8, X12 and X15, with stage fills catered for by single A10 cabinets positioned on tripod stands in a two at the front and two in the rear configuration. The entire system was powered by 29 LA8 amplified controllers, with control via LA Network Manager. For the VIP area, seven X12 are mounted on a 40-metre-long truss.

Al Saedi said: “L-Acoustics is what the artists and the bands want based on over 90 percent of the riders, and this is why we have been working with NMK for many years to build our L-Acoustics arsenal of products,” he added.

Following the success of Omar Khairat's musical evening, the Al Lailak team was able to secure numerous other opportunities. "The concert was widely regarded as one of the most memorable events of the season, leading to enquiries from prominent event agencies seeking to engage us as the primary audio solutions provider for their events at The Arena Kuwait,” concluded Al Saedi. “Since then, we have had the privilege of providing audio for renowned artists such as Angham, Elissa, Nabeel Shuail, Sherine, Tamer Hosny, Mai Farouq, Marwan Khoury and Amr Diab. This success would not have been possible without the outstanding sound quality of the L-Acoustics system used for Omar Khairat's event.”