Janet Jackson extended her 10-show residency at Resorts World Theatre with six more shows in May. The residency, which follows her 94-show Together Again world tour, is heard via the venue’s L-Acoustics L-ISA system. Pictured here is FOH Caram Costanzo at the show’s DiGiCo Quantum338 console, with the venue’s K2 and Kara arrays in the upper background.
Janet Jackson is pop royalty, a mega-star who has sold over 180 million records worldwide throughout her four-decade career. With multiple Grammy, Emmy, and Golden Globe Awards to her name, plus myriad other accolades for her infectious dance hits and beloved acting roles, she is undeniably one of the world’s most influential and enduring entertainers. When Jackson announced in late 2024 that she would be following up her 94-show Together Again world tour with an intimate 10-date Las Vegas residency at Resorts World Theatre – home to a permanently-installed L-Acoustics L-ISA Hyperreal Immersive Sound design – tickets quickly sold out. Due to overwhelming demand, Janet Jackson: Las Vegas has been extended with six May shows, giving more fans the chance to experience her magnetic performance style through L-ISA spatial audio technology in a show that feels simultaneously intimate and explosive.
Los Angeles-based producer and FOH engineer Caram Costanzo, known for his decades-long work with Guns N’ Roses, continues to handle the house mix for Jackson’s residency, a role he assumed in May 2024, before her Together Again tour. Will Foley, who also joined her audio crew at the same time, is similarly reprising his duties as systems engineer for the spectacular production.
“When I learned about Janet’s Resorts World residency, I immediately embraced using L-ISA’s full capabilities,” Costanzo recalls. “I quickly worked with David Brooks from L-Acoustics to arrange learning time with the technology. At the L-ISA Studio in Westlake Village, with James Rudder, we built the show template, stepping back from my left-right tour mix to fully explore the immersive surround sound capabilities. Janet’s music is perfect for L-ISA – her stellar, high-powered studio productions demanded we create that same standard within the L-ISA environment.”
Costanzo’s primary objective was to create a powerful yet elegantly clear audio experience for the audience. “L-ISA’s greatest attribute is that it gives the mixer and audience the most sonic clarity available today – more so than any other audio system available from any manufacturer.”
Although many of the songs from the Together Again tour were carried over, some featured new arrangements in the set. “The staging and production are redesigned for the massive 152-foot-wide stage. The show is an over-the-top Las Vegas performance, and the criteria was to create a sight-and-sound spectacle for the entire audience,” he adds.
“My experiences with L-ISA have been wonderful since first listen as it’s easy to create a special song-by-song experience across the field. The theater’s seven frontal arrays allow me to create a template within the seven-array soundscape and then add instrumentation and effects on a song-by-song basis. I then incorporate the rear surrounds or effects, mults, and especially adding more sonic intensity when appropriately called for. Everyone has been very positive comment-wise within Janet’s camp, and Janet is happy with what she’s hearing out front and the feedback she’s been given.”
“Audience response has been overwhelmingly positive as well,” he continues. “I give credit to the entire audio crew – including systems engineer Will Foley and Brandon Andreasen, the venue’s head of audio – as well as everyone I’ve worked with at L-Acoustics. They’ve all been critical in the process of creating a whole new audio experience for listeners. L-Acoustics has truly set the standard for immersive experiences with L-ISA. It’s an incredibly innovative environment, and if I had my way, I would only mix on this L-ISA system moving forward!”
