CLIENT
LarMac LIVE / LGME
LOCATION
Victoria and Albert Museum, London (with touring exhibitions in Germany and Italy)
YEAR
2017
PROJECT TYPE
Touring Exhibition
Scope
Show control design and integration, immersive audio system design, visitor interaction systems
Services Provided
- →Exhibition-wide audio system design
- →Performance zone immersive playback system
- →GuidePort integration and content mastering
- →Show control programming
- →Interactive audio exhibit design and delivery
- →Touring system consultation
The Brief
Their Mortal Remains is an immersive, audio-visual retrospective charting the history of one of world’s most iconic bands. First opened at London’s V&A in 2017, the exhibition explores Pink Floyd’s creative legacy through rare artefacts, interviews, soundscapes, and striking visuals.
Auditoria were brought on board to design and implement the show control architecture, performance audio systems, and interactive installations that would bring Pink Floyd’s sound world to life for a wide range of audiences.
The Challenge
Exhibition visitors experience content through multiple modalities, ambient room audio, personal GuidePort headphones, and shared immersive experiences. The challenge was to ensure that each of these audio layers remained distinct, balanced, and cohesive across the exhibition journey.
The mix of bespoke rooms, touring requirements, and varied audience behaviour meant that the audio systems had to be as reliable as they were flexible, supporting daily operation at a major museum while preserving the technical detail expected from an exhibition of this calibre.
Our Approach
At the heart of the exhibition was the Performance Zone, where visitors were fully immersed in a 20-minute loop of music and video, culminating with Comfortably Numb from Pink Floyd’s Live 8 reunion performance. We specified an 18-channel immersive playback system using Neumann KH420 active studio monitors in a split 7.0 lower and 7.0 upper array, plus overhead channels and seven KH870 subwoofers for full-range impact.
Across the rest of the space, we designed a multi-zone ambient audio system to underscore the exhibition narrative with a continuous, atmospheric track composed from Pink Floyd textures and motifs, ensuring that visitors without GuidePort devices still experienced a musically rich environment.
For the GuidePort system, we worked closely with Robert Genereux from Sennheiser to define the trigger points and content locations. We also took on the task of mastering and balancing the GuidePort audio material, ensuring optimal clarity and consistency across the distributed wireless headphone system.
A popular interactive element was Mixology, which allowed guests to explore the individual components of the track Money. We created three standalone stations, using QLab to play back multitrack audio and video while Formula Sound Cue-18 mixers enabled users to adjust EQ and levels for each instrument. The resulting mix was broadcast locally via the GuidePort system so that other visitors nearby could hear the real-time changes.
Technical Highlights:
Audio Design
Performance Zone
- 18 x Neumann KH420 studio monitors in immersive 7.0 lower and upper arrays
- 7 x Neumann KH870 dual 10″ subwoofers
- Multi-channel playback loop including Comfortably Numb from Live 8
Ambient Audio System
- Multi-zone exhibition-wide loudspeaker system
- Custom ambient track using Pink Floyd stems and sound design
GuidePort Integration
- Worked in collaboration with Sennheiser to locate and configure system triggers
- Audio content professionally mastered and balanced for transmission quality
Mixology Interactive Stations
- 3 x QLab-based playback systems with multitrack stems of Money
- Visitor-controlled mix via Formula Sound Cue-18 analogue mixers
- Passive signal distribution to local GuidePort identifiers for live audio monitoring
The Results
Their Mortal Remains became one of the V&A’s most successful exhibitions, with glowing reviews from critics and fans alike. The audio experience was widely praised for its depth and detail, enriching the storytelling without overwhelming the artefacts or visuals.
The control systems proved exceptionally robust, supporting months of daily operation without issue, and the exhibition’s audio design was successfully replicated for international touring versions in Germany and Italy.
From immersive moments to interactive playback, every element was carefully curated to ensure the music of Pink Floyd remained at the centre of the experience, visceral, vivid, and undeniably iconic.
Acknowledgements
Our Client
A huge thanks to Nick Levitt from LGME and Ian from LarMac for getting us involved in the project.
Our Team
Bobby Aitken led the project with some technical support from Scott Willsallen and Luis Miranda.
Our Supplier
We worked with multiple suppliers on the project including Sennheiser who were excellent to deal with.
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