CASE STUDIES

Unite Your AudienceThe Martin Audio Experience

Touring

Martin AudioAt Martin Audio we believe that uniting audiences with exciting sound creates shared memories that sear into the consciousness delivering more successful tours, events and repeatedly packed venues.

We achieve this by an obsessive attention to detail on the professional sound system’s acoustic performance, frequently challenging convention and involving a sophisticated mix of design, research, mathematical modelling and software engineering, to deliver dynamic, full-frequency sound right across the audience.

With over forty years of touring and installation expertise to our name, Martin Audio offers a wide range of premium professional loudspeakers so customers can be assured of selecting the right system for their chosen application, whether it’s a small scale installation or a festival for over 150,000 people.

Martin Audio was founded to manufacture live performance loudspeakers for the supergroups of the ‘70s, allowing such bands as Pink Floyd, the Who and Supertramp to play to larger audiences and be heard properly for the first time. Since then, Martin Audio has earned a reputation for supplying superb sound systems across the spectrum of sound reinforcement.

Renowned for integrity in design, technical excellence and longevity of its products, Martin Audio offers a comprehensive range of touring speakers suitable for every

In the summer of 2014, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen took Steely Dan’s “Jamalot Ever After” tour across the U.S. and, with OSA International, Inc. providing Martin Audio’s Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) sound system.

Steely Dan has a reputation among audiophiles and throughout Pro Audio for their fastidious attention to sound production, so much so that many FOH engineers and system techs use a Steely Dan track to tune a system. When it comes to live sound, their expectations for the PA are no less demanding.

Returning to mix Steely Dan is Mark Dowdle, whose extensive credits include Elton John, Gloria Estefan, Fleetwood Mac, Tina Turner and Jackson Brown, to name just a few. Last year’s tour included a stop at Ravinia Festival in Chicago, where Dowdle mixed on two 7-box MLA arrays, the first year of a new OSA installation and the first new PA in a decade at North America’s oldest music festival.

type of venue, uniting audiences in the process. Our award winning MLA series offers the latest performance providing the combination of superlative audience coverage and consistency with direct control for hard cut-off areas and reduction of noise pollution.

With a global network of committed MLA partners and a proven track record, means whether it’s a local tour or a world tour the quality, performance and support for the system is assured.

CASE STUDIES

2

Pink Floyd, Earls Court 1973

Steely Dan’s Pursuit of Perfection with MLA

Touring

Late last year, Steely Dan’s road manager, tour sound icon Robert ‘Nitebob’ Czaykowski, introduced Walter Becker to MLA at a demonstration at New York’s Manhattan Center, where they were able to walk around and hear the evenness of its response and coverage. Steely Dan often plays theaters, where the mix position is usually at the back, beneath a balcony. “I go out there every day and listen to it; that’s part of my gig,” Czaykowski said. “What really knocks me out about MLA is that you can really control it so it’s not splattering off a back wall or cluttering up in the lower balcony.”

Present also at the NYC demo was Jim Risgin, Vice President for OSA –owners of the largest inventory of MLA in North America. With offices in Chicago, Las Vegas and now also Nashville, OSA have built an impressive reputation and client list providing complete technical services to some of the largest corporate, sporting events and concert tours in the U.S. The NYC demo was followed by extensive research from Mark Dowdle to confirm that the system would deliver the desired performance, and as a result Steely Dan added MLA to their tour.

Across the demanding 56-stop tour, MLA showed its versatility, control and overall sound performance credentials. Dowdle points out that the MLA provides extremely even front-to-back SPL as well as evenness of frequency response throughout the listening area. “The coverage is very smooth, especially its shading,” he said. “You can walk up on the PA in the front and it sounds just like it does in the back of the room.”

Dowdle also mentions an improvement to the stereo

field. “Everything is more defined, so that automatically translates into the stereo field being more discernable,” he said. “MLA gives me dynamic range, clarity and definition so that I’m able to position and layer sounds in the stereo field which you can really hear where they all are.” He adds that the MLA’s sound is extremely coherent and is very responsive from a mixing standpoint. “You make a small fader move and it’s immediately noticeable.”

Furthermore, Dowdle is surprised by the constant comments from the audience. “I’ve been mixing for a long time and usually nobody ever says anything. This particular tour I’ve had more response from the audience than any tour I’ve ever done in my entire career, and it’s always been very positive and it’s always been very poignant. That’s in large part because of MLA allowing me to get it exactly how I want everywhere in the room.”

OSA crew chief and MLA system engineer Martyn ‘Ferrit’ Rowe is well known from his tenure at Martin Audio as an MLA product specialist before leaving to work for OSA as Director of Engineering. The Steely Dan tour travels in two trucks, carrying consoles and backline (including a Steinway grand) in one, and lights and PA in the second. “We’re carrying 26 MLA and 2 MLD down-fills, as well as 18 MLA Compacts, plus 8 MLX subs and 6 W8LMD used as front-fills,” Rowe explains.

The tour played Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena and New Orleans’ UNO Lakefront Arena using the 14-box MLA main arrays and 9-box MLA Compact side arrays that they carry. “The LA Forum was the only venue on our 56-show itinerary where we had to add PA,” said Mitchell

CASE STUDIES

3

Steely Dan

Keller, Steely Dan’s production manager for the fourth year running. “It’s quite impressive that on a two truck tour we can carry enough PA to do arenas.”

The rest of the itinerary ranged from sheds and theaters to casinos. “The smallest venue was Humphrey’s in San Diego, putting in two subwoofers and ground stacking six MLA per side,” Rowe explains. “We recently did four shows in a row with single point hangs using ten MLA enclosures.”

As well as MLA’s flexibility and scalability, Rowe is keen to point out the simplicity of its operation. “It’s like fly by wire; you tell it what you want and the software produces a custom preset for your system and the room,” he said.

CASE STUDIES

Mark Dowdle, FOH Engineer – Steely Dan

“This isn’t auto EQ, you still have control over all the decisions that are being made, but the computer is doing the heavy lifting for you.”

So, coming full circle, what did Fagan and Becker make of the sound quality? According to Dowdle, “Both have come out into the audience on a number of occasions and have always been positive with their feedback and what was going on.

“More often than not Donald will come out and listen and frequently comments, ‘It sounds great,’ which is probably the highest compliment that I could ever receive in my career.”

4Steely Dan

Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire Tour With MLA

CASE STUDIES

5

Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire recently wrapped up their co-headlining “Heart and Soul Tour 2015” of amphitheaters, casinos and arenas with a Martin Audio MLA system provided by Delicate Productions of LA and San Francisco.

One of the main challenges for the tour besides scaling the PA system for different venues was the fact that both bands open and closed each show with “greatest hits” medleys featuring 21 musicians and vocalists on stage at the same time. With back-to-back hits such as Chicago’s “Free,” “Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?,” “25 or 6 to 4” and EWF’s “September,” “Sing a Song” and “Shining Star” for the closing medley, the audience was left with a guaranteed nostalgic thrill ride as their show conclusion.

All well and good, but the crews were faced with the challenge of finding and maintaining 47 clear active channels of wireless for the musicians and vocalists during the medleys plus mixing for both bands without too much volume.

As Nate Lettus, FOH engineer for Chicago who had mixed with a MLA Compact system on a previous tour explains, “The biggest challenge for the medleys and the shows in general is overall volume, trying to keep everything under

control. We have a lot of energy onstage and can end up with a big powerful sound and these bands don’t sound that good at really high volumes. I find my levels are pretty consistent, especially with the Martin Audio MLA system.

“The boxes sound really smooth from bottom to top,” Nate adds. “I’m actually rolling off some high end because there’s so much of it, which is good because I’d rather have more than less. We’ve got plenty of low-end with six MLX subs per side that are tight and punchy. The show just sounds so good and I’m barely doing anything, my inputs are just high passed and my outputs are barely touched on a day-to-day basis.”

Typically, the MLA setup for amphitheaters is either 12 or 14 MLA and 1 MLD (downfill) cabinets per side with 6 to 8 MLA Compacts for outfills and side hangs. Six MLX subs per side are ground-stacked on the floor or the stage depending on space in the venue or sightlines. For the arenas, the system included 16 MLA per side, a side hang of 12 MLA Compact and a 270 degree hang of 10 MLA Compact.

This tour was the first time Earth Wind & Fire’s FOH Terry “TJ” Jackson mixed with the MLA system. “The first day I heard the system it sounded really clean with a lot of high

Chicago amd Earth, Wind & Fire Tour

CASE STUDIES

6

end,” he points out. “A high fidelity type sound, which I really like. It’s easy to get the vocal out which is very important. I would definitely recommend the speakers without question. They’re very controllable and sound really good, I’d put them on the rider.”

Considering the problems Chicago’s Monitors Engineer Scott Koopman and his EWF counterpart Terrence Chism had coordinating and mixing close to 50 wireless frequencies and controlling ambient noise on stage, the MLA system was a welcome addition.

“You’ve got a lot of microphones on stage with the potential to pick up ambience,” says Scott, “especially in a venue

where FOH is mixing louder than normal and we’re getting a lot of crowd noise or the room is naturally loud. The sound can get messy really quickly. Using the full MLA system greatly improved rejection on stage, especially from the sub-bass, which is a huge deal with Chicago because it’s hard for the horn players to find their pitch when there’s a lot of sound washing up on stage. They feel they have to play over it which often causes more problems.”

In addition to the MLA system, DiGiCo SD10 (Nate) and Soundcraft Vi6 (“TJ”) consoles were used for FOH. For monitors, Scott combined a DiGiCo SD10 with Sennheiser G3 in-ear wireless and Shure SR4D wireless systems while Terrence used a DiGiCo SD5 with Sennheiser G3 in-ear systems.

Asked about the delicate wireless balancing act Scott explains, “I’m self taught and have my own way of getting the job done, but in this day and age with the FCC buying up all the frequencies, it’s getting really hard to find and maintain clear channels. In the world of monitors Terrence and I live in, that’s the hardest part of the job.”

Summing up about the system, Delicate MLA Audio Tech Kyle Anderson concludes, “MLA is a great sounding box right off the bat and makes a lot of things easier. It does the processing for me, so once I get my angles, set it up and do my optimization, it pretty much sounds good everywhere in the room. I’ll still do some time aligning and adjust a few EQ settings for the room in the software. But once you put that stuff in, everywhere you tell it to sound good will sound good.

“Here’s a good example of how the software can help out. There was a top tier for the Pepsi Center at the side hang which we hadn’t expected to be sold so we didn’t cover that zone. But when I found out that the ticket sales grew, we were able to splay the coverage upwards for that whole area just by using the DSP and software as the show was happening. You can’t really do that with any other speaker that I’ve used. It’s a real advantage to change the coverage quickly without changing the angles on the boxes or redeploying the speakers.”

Chicago amd Earth, Wind & Fire Tour

CASE STUDIES

7

Avett Brothers Triumph at Red Rocks With MLA

Currently touring the US with a Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker system provided by SES (Special Event Services) of Winston Salem, NC and Nashville, TN, the Avett Brothers recently sold out three nights at the challenging Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.

Commenting about the different venues on this tour, SES Vice President Jeff Cranfill says, “This time of year, it’s everything from large format sheds like Red Rocks to smaller theaters and, as we move into the fall and winter, arenas. When it comes to the Avett Brothers, you name it and they play it.”

Formed in Concord, North Carolina in the late 90s by brothers Scott (banjo) and Seth Avett (guitars), the band also includes Bob Crawford (double bass) and Joe Kwon (cello), with Mike Marsh (drums), Tania Elizabeth (violin) and Paul Defiglia (keyboards) as touring members of the band.

An eclectic mix of bluegrass, country, punk, pop melodies, folk, rock, honky-tonk and ragtime, the Avett Brothers are hard to categorize, but are generally defined as “Americana.” A popular mainstay on the touring and festival circuit, they’ve produced chart albums that include I and Love and You (2009), The Carpenter (2012) and Magpie and the Dandelion (2013).

The Avett’s encompass an unusually wide dynamic range during a typical performance, which adds to the challenge

of adapting to different venues throughout the tour.

As SES System Engineer Andrew Steelman points out, “They’re not a highly compressed band that lives in a pocket during the show. They go from very loud, aggressive, in your face rock, to acoustic guitars, banjos, a cello, violin and small high fidelity stringed ensembles. In terms of dynamics, it’s a constant rise and a fall, and then another rise and a fall, and you’re on the edge of your seat the entire show.”

Because MLA has smaller format compression drivers, the system offers the engineer a more neutral canvas that’s very responsive to the smallest EQ changes, making it a perfect partner for the dynamics of the band.

The Martin Audio MLA system has proved pivotal in coping with the specific challenges that Red Rocks presents. Known for the short distance from FOH to the PA and a limited trim height to the top of the system, Red Rocks also has an audience area extends out roughly 300 ft. from the front of the stage with a 105 ft. vertical climb to the top seats about 60 ft. above the roof of the venue.

Detailing the challenges, Steelman points out, “You’re so close to the PA at Red Rocks that sometimes when you make changes to correct the sound at FOH, where there is usually a lot of high end and low mids coming off the system, it can have an adverse effect at the top of the hill. Also, you’re at much higher altitudes where there’s

Red Rocks Amphotheatre, Colorado

less dense air for sound to travel through and you’re very susceptible to winds blowing through the audio at the top of the venue.

“With MLA, we were able to walk the show at the highest seats and see that the people were enjoying the show and they were as engaged as those down in front, even in the quieter moments, which really made me satisfied with the system’s performance. MLA covered every seat in the venue and helped us accomplish what we needed to in that environment, which is to have an Avett Brothers show translate to every seat in the house. I’d have to say it was one of the best sounding shows I’ve heard at Red Rocks.”

For the three sold-out shows at Red Rocks, SES deployed 16 MLA and two MLD (Downfill) enclosures with 6 ground-stacked MLX subs per side.

Expanding from Red Rocks to MLA’s overall benefits during the tour, Cranfill adds, “It goes without saying that Martin Audio speakers sound good. What’s especially useful for

us is that the system can scale from a large amphitheater like Red Rocks down to a small theater and still maintain that performance level with high quality audio and the ability to put the sound where it needs to be. Regardless of where the band is performing, MLA keeps the coverage so consistent and non-intrusive on the stage that they don’t even notice the difference.

“Ultimately, the sound quality at Red Rocks was great for the band at all three sold out nights. The same goes for Sturgill Simpson who opened on Saturday night. As far as country music goes, he’s definitely one of the new country pioneers out there whose music and style of playing is a perfect fit for the Avetts with a wide range of dynamics that translated extremely well throughout the venue and fully engaged the audience from the front seats to the back seats.”

In addition to MLA, MLA Compact were used for outfills in several venues: “It’s really good how you can get both systems to voice well with each other,” Andrew explains.

CASE STUDIES

8

Red Rocks Amphotheatre, Colorado

CASE STUDIES

9

“You can go back and forth seamlessly between the two systems and sometimes it’s very difficult to discern whether you’re listening to MLA or the MLA Compact.

“Mixing consoles for the tour included a pair of Midas PRO6’s with DL371 DSP racks and a DL431 24-channel 5-way mic splitter. The two consoles have their own head amp control via a digital split and the combination of the MLA and Midas consoles is like a match made in heaven.

“The control we have with MLA is especially helpful in situations where we’ve been in civic centers with lots of concrete and metal surfaces,” Steelman concludes. “When a band’s dynamics rises and falls as much as The Avett’s, having MLA be able to project at long distance and eliminate some of those surfaces is as simple as going into the software and getting rid of it with a few keystrokes. It’s

quite a nice tool to have in the arsenal without having to sacrifice something somewhere else.”

Justin Glanville, the Avett’s FOH Engineer, feels “the MLA’s strengths really show up in large areas where there’s a long throw, like Red Rocks, the Brooklyn Bowl or the Garden In Boston. It’s still really clear up top and seems to be very steerable for the Systems Engineer, which is great in those spaces because you’ve got to reach every seat so that everyone can feel the show.

“The system has smooth, warm quality that works well with the band. An Avett Brothers show is acoustic instruments for the most part, there are a few songs with electric guitars but it’s mostly an upright bass, cello, fiddle, banjo and an acoustic guitar. It needs that warmth.”

MLA Provides Swansong for Manilow’s One Last Tour

CASE STUDIES

10

How does a world-class front-of-house engineer support a megastar who is very particular about every aspect of music production in making his grand exit to touring a success?

Barry Manilow is back on the road for ‘One Last Tour,’ and this time he really means it. Veteran live sound engineer Ken Newman, who began working with Manilow in 1992, is mixing with a Martin Audio MLA system for the first time, engineered by Delicate Productions crew chief Phil Reynolds.

Manilow had 25 consecutive Top 40 hits between 1975 and 1983 and worldwide sales of over 80 million albums over his four-decade career. Last year’s My Dream Duets debuted at No. 4, making it his 15th Top 10 album. Meanwhile, Ken Newman has worked with everyone from Shirley MacLaine, Liza Minnelli, Engelbert Humperdinck, and Paul Anka, and ‘One Last Tour’ represents a unique

combination of best practices he’s built for Barry Manilow over the last 23 years.

In 1991 when Newman was between mixing gigs, A-1 Audio sent him out as system tech for several of Manilow’s ‘Showstoppers’ shows, with Paul Dalen mixing. When his ‘Greatest Hits’ tour was organised the following year and Dalen declined, he suggested they have Newman mix, and the rest, as they say, is history.

For Manilow’s 2015 final arena outing, Newman decided to make the change to Martin Audio’s MLA system. Delicate Productions provided the system, which consisted of 11 MLA per side with one MLD downfill cabinet. Side hangs were a dozen MLA Compact per side. Three MLX dual 18-inch subwoofers per side were used in a cardioid configuration. Front fills were W8LM Mini line array enclosures. The switch to MLA, however, was not taken lightly.

Barry Manilow ‘One Last Tour’ Concert

CASE STUDIES

11

Newman picks up the story, “I first heard about Martin Audio’s MLA from my friend Harold Blumberg, who had used it on a number of corporate events. Then I heard from various other industry heavyweights that I should check it out, so I attended a seminar at last fall’s AES Convention in Los Angeles called ‘Not Your Father’s Line Array’ focusing on the new digitally-steerable line arrays, and learned about the virtues of Martin Audio’s MLA, which sounded like just the thing for Barry Manilow’s show. I told Barry about these cool, new speakers and he said, ‘I trust you!’”

According to Newman, “The biggest challenge on the Manilow show has always been gain-before-feedback on Barry’s vocal mic, because he’s not comfortable putting the mic close to his mouth, and he’s not the loudest singer I’ve ever worked with. Those factors, combined with his desire for every aspect of his dense arrangements to be heard by his audience while keeping his vocal well on top of the mix, combine to make gain on his vocal mic a constant challenge.

“Barry also frequently talks about how the entire audience should hear everything, with no one being offended by the show being overly loud, but at the same time by the show being loud enough to be exciting and moving. So I guess you’d call that the challenge of even coverage.”

MLA is a powerful marriage of loudspeakers and software, where transducers are individually driven and optimised to deliver the summation of crystal clear sound at the audience’s ears, ensuring even and smooth coverage across the entire audience.

“The MLA system allows me to spend less time walking the room because I have confidence that coverage is uniform throughout,” continues Newman. “That allows me to concentrate on my main job, which is mixing the show and making sure the mix is everything Barry wants it to be.

“MLA doesn’t need much in the way of tuning, because we’ve already entered our target curve into the system’s software. Optimisation mainly consists of adjusting the delay times of the side hangs, subwoofers and front fills. It can be done in as little as 15 minutes.

“With MLA, the level from the front to the rear of the seating area changes considerably less than with a traditional speaker system, and the tonal quality is significantly more uniform. Those are two of the main aspects of MLA that I really love! Knowing that I’m not scorching people in front of me with up to 10 dB more level than at the mix position is very comforting. And knowing that people in the cheap seats are getting the whole mix and at a comfortable listening level is so great!”

Having worked with MLA for a number of shows, Newman really noticed the superiority of MLA when playing one venue where they had a large [industry-leading] house system, remarking, “While it wasn’t hard to make the show sound good, it definitely sounded different. Having become accustomed to the MLA system, it simply wasn’t the same even coverage throughout the venue that MLA is able to achieve.”

A final show is scheduled for June 17 — on his 72nd birthday — at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where Manilow grew up; so that should be quite the event and Newman is excited, “I look forward to MLA doing its thing and bringing the happiness of Barry Manilow to all the audience members equally!”

Delicate Productions president Jason Alt adds, “It’s a real privilege to be a part of Barry Manilow’s ‘One Last Tour.’ I worked as a system tech with Ken on Manilow at A-1 Audio, and I know MLA gives him exactly what he has always wanted out of a system: great sound, accurate representation of the music, and what only MLA can deliver, control of a system that adapts to the environment.”

CASE STUDIES

12

The Killers World Tour with MLA

The Killers Battle Born World Tour presented a series of challenges given the breadth of different venues across the globe. The need to provide consistent coverage in radically different venues ranging from Stadiums to mid-sized arenas to small theatres, casinos and ballrooms, would test the MLA system to its limits while requiring careful coordination between different MLA partners.

Thankfully, the tour was well received by enthusiastic fans and media, earning praise from Rolling Stone magazine for its “thunderous, meaty sound”, and FOH engineer, James Gebhard, exultant in praise, “As far as I’m concerned, Martin Audio has reinvented the wheel in terms of PA design with MLA, it’s just unbelievable.”

Delicate Productions shared responsibility with Capital Sound, making a seamless transition in terms of coverage, audio quality and impact. Asked if the systems were similar, Killers Front of House Engineer James Gebhard said, “Absolutely identical. Capital and Delicate worked really well hand in hand. We did some fine-tuning of the system in the UK and Capital communicated directly with Delicate about the details so they could be set up

exactly the same. It was a very quick transition from one to the other.”

Despite a long association with both Capital Sound and Martin Audio PA systems, dating back to The Strokes, it was never a given that Manchester-based sound engineer James Gebhard would automatically select the new award-winning MLA loudspeaker array as top of his tour rider for the Killers Battle Born world tour.

Seeking a flagship system for the tour Gebhard still needed reassurance about the merits of Martin Audio’s ground-breaking technology when Delicate took the unusual step of flying him out to LA — believing that once he had heard it (and tried it for himself), any alternatives would be rendered obsolete.

“Delicate flew me out for some hands-on experience and fired up a seven box hang with 12 subs in their back yard. I did the virtual soundcheck, revised my show file and couldn’t believe how clear and precise it sounded. With MLA you could hear every nuance. From that point it was hands down a winner for me,” said James.

The Killers

This was corroborated when he moved onto Indianapolis to hear the system in action with the Zac Brown Band and meet PA tech Preston Soper — an MLA devotee since first setting his hands on SES’s MLA system more than three years ago.

“With Preston I had the freedom to walk the gig right to the barrier at the back, and there was no phase shifting whatsoever. Everywhere I went the sound was exactly the same. Initially you would think, ‘Well why wouldn’t it be?’ But I have never heard anything like that before. It’s like an audio guy’s dream. You don’t have to start making compromises or second-guessing yourself, searching for holes in the coverage between PA points or the back and front of the room. You can’t believe it actually does what is says it does. It completely sold me on the system.”

James Gebhard added, “I wanted the best provider of that system and having been with Cap since 2001 they immediately made the decision to buy MLA. For a service provider to say ‘if that’s what you want’, knowing that it would require a huge financial commitment, was just amazing. It speaks volumes about the relationship we have.”

The result was identical MLA systems waiting on both sides of the Atlantic, assuring a seamless transition in terms of coverage, audio quality and impact.

The sound engineer recalled the first time he actually took charge of the system. “It was in the two-week production rehearsal with the Killers in Las Vegas — and it sounded fantastic. Even the management commented because they were interested in the sound. I have been with them for nine years but if I make a suggestion they want the full justification as to why I have changed, and what advantages it would bring. During rehearsals they said the band had never sounded so good and production manager Michael Oberg was delighted with the decision to go forward with this system.”

The touring setup included 14 MLA cabinets and two MLD down fill cabinets per side for the main PA; 12 MLA cabinets per side for the side hangs; 20 MLX subwoofers ground-stacked in a cardioid broadside array in front of the stage along with four MLX flown per side to fill in those areas. I10 Martin Audio W8LC cabinets along the stage edge are used for in fill.

MLA’s scalability also proved to be very useful for this tour, especially given the radical differences in sizes from venue to venue. As Gebhard points out, “With typical line arrays, you work an artificial X amount of boxes per side to do an arena, but because of what MLA does with all the steering, you can use less boxes for the venue. It all depends on how you predict the room, what you want to do and what the software comes up with. Whether it’s smaller or larger room, you could almost use the same amount of boxes, which definitely makes MLA a very scalable system. And the sound was literally identical everywhere we went, every day, regardless of the type or size of the room. It was fantastic. “

Another useful aspect for Gebhard was MLA’s Hard Avoid

feature. “We played around with it a lot during rehearsals in Vegas,” he recalls. “We were in a sound room with very reflective back walls and ceilings so we set it up in there, put on the hard avoids and it made the room sound incredible.”

This came further into its own playing The Killers biggest ever show at Wembley Stadium. Using Martin Audio’s Display 2.1 software all reflections or echo within the bowl were cancelled. “We used the ‘hard avoid’ setting to notch out the scoreboard and stage slapback, as some of the band are still on monitors rather than in-ears. It was only when we took the ‘hard avoid’ off that we realised just how much slapback there was and how much we had done to minimise this.”

In just a year working with the system James Gebhard already has the swagger to describe MLA as “virtually a plug and play system” such is his confidence.

And as for the support he receives, he is unequivocal in saying, “It’s the guys behind it that makes this work. The infrastructure between Martin Audio, Capital and Delicate makes my life very easy. It’s been an absolute dream, they give amazing tour support.”

CASE STUDIES

13

CASE STUDIES

14

Have a Nice Day with Stereophonics and MLAAlthough starting out more than 20 years ago in the Welsh village of Cwmaman, it wasn’t until 1996 that Stereophonics secured management, a record deal (with V2) and embarked on a world tour in support of their first album Word Gets Around.

Enter front of house sound engineer Dave Roden, sound rental company, Capital Sound Hire and Martin Audio. That three-way relationship with the band has remained intact from day one. Seventeen years on, Kelly Jones and Co. have just completed another successful arena tour to give some exposure to the recent album, Graffiti On The Train, as well as old back catalogue favourites like Dakota.

Roden retains a fierce loyalty towards Capital Sound and has never been let down by their recommendations. “I started with the old [Martin Audio] F2,” he remembers fondly, “and then moved on to Wavefront technology, the W8L Longbow and LC line arrays — and now I’m using MLA.” This tour also boasted a number of Stereos crew veterans — none more so than Harm Schopman, Dave Roden’s previous system tech, who this time around took on the role of crew chief, leaving Toby Donovan to fill the breach.

“I’ve worked with all the major systems but trusted Cap’s MLA suggestion instinctively,” said the sound engineer. “All the conversations were encouraging and although other systems were available, I sensed that the multiple benefits this product was potentially offering were very exciting — and as soon as I heard it I knew I had made the correct decision. Following a very successful tour, that’s now been unquestionably proven.”

Another who backed the decision from the outset was band manager Dan Garnett. “He was also very enthusiastic about the improvements that MLA could bring to the audio and so the deal was done,” reports Roden.

However, with production rehearsals looming, he took the precaution of assessing MLA first hand, when the Killers played the Cardiff Motorpoint — and was impressed with what he heard. Toby Donovan also partly had that Killers tour to thank — for he was able to borrow the MLA O2 room predictions taken by their system tech at the time, Mark Edwards. “Although I did a complete remeasure I found he was spot on and I used that for creating my 2D vertical slice.”

Dave Roden knows the value of having experienced wingmen like Harm and Toby alongside. “The three of us have worked together successfully many times before and it’s very much a team approach, leaving me to just make any slight adjustments I think are necessary for that particular venue. I owe the consistently high standards we achieved on this tour mostly to them.”

For the closing night of the tour at O2 Arena, the scalable MLA system was rigged 16 x MLA and 2 x MLD Downfills per side for the main hangs and 13 MLA and I x MLD for outfills. Subs comprised 14 MLX in a broadside castellated

Stereophonics

sub array, while a further 12 x W8LM Mini Line Arrays, arranged in six stacks, provided infills.

As for monitors, Adam Zindani and Richard Jones used a pair of Martin Audio’s classic LE700, while Kelly Jones relied on two pairs of LE700 — one pair in front and one pair behind. The side-fills consist of a Martin Audio 218 and W8C per side (while a separate 218 was deployed as Jamie Morrison’s drum sub.

But the real differentiator for the ‘stereosonics’ team was the sub array — with those 14 MLX subs in landscape formation (nine at the bottom, five reverse facing on the top). “Because it’s a cardioid pattern, this really helps the rear rejection,” notes Harm.

The fact that Toby Donovan doesn’t have to undertake manual zoning or climb up the back of the room with measurement mics do much to reduce the time required to optimise the system. “This system improves upon the limitations of the typical zoned approach to line array optimization and avoids the use of presets. Instead it relies on accurate predictive modelling,” he confirms.

For Dave Roden, the deployment of MLA meant a remarkable consistency in room coverage and pattern control. But his real epiphany took place at Leeds’ First Direct Arena. “Nothing has been as impressive as I heard that night at Leeds, where due to the architecture and other installed obstacles, it would be extremely challenging to focus the long throw section of a conventional system at the top of the highest tier because you need so much up-tilt. But with MLA’s facility to electronically extend the vertical coverage, we were able to hit every seat in the house to an astonishing degree.”

And as for the sub array, Dave Roden shares his system tech’s view that it sounds “amazing”. He explains, “I like to mix from the centre and with the castellated cardioid array I know I can walk anywhere and it will sound identical to my mix position. It’s also helped enormously with keeping the low end on stage controlled, which for this band is a must. They’ve been particularly happy with the results we’ve achieved on this tour.”

Mixing on an Avid Profile (with a fairly flat EQ) the average Leq at FOH was generally around 100-101dBA. “The variation was -3dB at the furthest audience points,” he noted.

Summing up MLA, he concludes, “This system is the best thing I have heard, it’s as simple as that. I have used all the other systems — and all of them can sound brilliant too — but it’s the extra facilities that the others don’t have that makes this what it is.

“The difference between MLA and a conventional line array is that this

CASE STUDIES

15

Dave Roden, FOH Engineer – Stereophonics

CASE STUDIES

16

Black Crowes Take On the Best Sounding System

In 2013, the Black Crowes celebrated a successful tour of outdoor venues with a joyous December concert finale at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.

Like the tour, the concert featured the Tedeschi Trucks band and The London Souls, with Delicate Productions of San Francisco supporting with a Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker system.

According to Smoother Smyth of Delicate, the tour included sheds ranging from 3,000 to 18,000-capacity with Black Crowes FOH Engineer Bob Coke “over the moon about the MLA system.” Setup for the tour included 11 MLA and one MLD (downfill) per side, 8 MLA Compact per side, and 12 ground-stacked MLX subwoofers.

After the initial summer tour, the Black Crowes continued to tour using local promoter-supplied systems in the fall. But because Delicate and Martin Audio MLA had worked out so well for the band during the summer, the Crowes decided to bring both back for the finale.

The challenge for Delicate was to completely rebuild the

disassembled system from scratch so that it was identical to the original touring rig and get it up to San Francisco for an 8:00am load-in and 2:00pm soundcheck with no rehearsal time. As Smoother concluded, “It required a maximum effort on our part, but was well worth it because we were getting a lot of comments the next day about how amazing it sounded. The Graham auditorium is known as a very lively room and MLA allowed us to contain and control the audio really well. It turned out to be a slam-dunk.”

Bob Coke, contacted in France where he lives and works, also had positive comments: “I was initially skeptical about the MLA system. But during my first experience with the MLA Compact at a circular bull fighting arena in the south of France––an acoustically difficult venue––I was truly amazed by the sound quality, color and coverage. An hour before doors we were told that certain sections of the seated area would be vacant. The system tech, Andy Davies, reprogrammed the venue coverage to exclude that section in five minutes. I walked the section and was amazed to hear the difference. It’s what convinced me that the theory behind the MLA system was accurate and reliable. To be able to reprogram where the sound is being

Black Crowes

sent in a venue without having to physically change how the system is flown is quite remarkable.

“We were touring with the Tedeschi Trucks Band and The London Souls,” Bob continues. ”Each band had their own FOH engineer with different criteria for the system color, but the three of us agreed that the system sounded great. In the mornings, when we were loading in the system, we would quite often hear from the local crews or local sound technicians that the MLA was the best sounding system they had yet heard in their venue. For the size and punch it can’t be beat. It’s also easy to set up and take down.”

Asked about mixing the final concert, he concludes, “The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is a really decent 7000-seater. I mixed the band for their final show LOUD––louder than the first two acts and the system as well as the venue behaved really well acoustically at that level. I was impressed by the sound of the Tedeschi Trucks band and London Souls, and how sweet the system sounded at their levels. There were a lot of people who stopped by after the show to pay tribute to the sound. The best compliment is when people talk about how great the show was––it’s a sign I’ve done my job well and that people have experienced the music in a direct way without having it ‘filtered’ through a bad sounding system or being distracted by room acoustics or a bad mix.”

CASE STUDIES

17

Bob Coke, FOH Engineer – Black Crowes

CASE STUDIES

18

MLA Reinforces Jolin Tsai 2015 Play World Tour

Pop Queen Jolin Tsai’s new album PLAY was given the highest accolade by the Chinese music industry in 2015, winning Best Mandarin Album at The 26th Annual Pop Music Awards. Soon after, her PLAY World Tour began and immediately became one of the hottest events of this year. After a highly successful 3-day debut finished in Taipei Arena, the tour ventured into Chinese mainland.

The production for the tour spared no effort. Concert directors Travis and Stacyz, having previously worked with Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga, were brought in to make an unprecedented world class audio-visual feast. In every respect, from sound, lighting, and stage design, to band, choreography, costumes and make-up, the production brought in the best teams from all over the world. Together with classic songs accumulated during her 20 years career, the Jolin Tsai tour would give her fans the most impressive experience to date.

MSI Japan, the company in charge of the sound engineering of this tour, is one the most respected sound companies in Asia. From 1998, the company introduced L-Acoustics V-DOSC, d&b J-Series and L-Acoustics K-1 systems to the Japanese performing market, but, in 2011, MSI approached Martin Audio, and introduced MLA (Multi Cellular Loud Speaker Array) to Japan after learning about the system’s ground-breaking technology.

In early 2012, MLA made its Japanese debut at the Tokyo Dome for a TVXQ concert, in front of a 55,000 strong audience. For the first time in Tokyo Dome’s history, MLA made it unnecessary to set up additional delay towers,

which not only improved sightlines it also added capacity and enabled more ticket sales. Impressively too, was that the sound comfortably reached the top floor grandstand, 150 meters away and throughout the arena, both the SPL and response were incredibly consistent at every position. Not surprisingly, the success of that concert led to MSI’s decision to fully expand Martin Audio MLA system as their main live sound system and to date they have purchased over 600 MLA speakers.

With its premier status riding high, MLA was chosen for Jolin’s 2015 Play World Tour. With more than 30 years of live sound mixing experience, the FOH engineer for the tour was Mr. Yukihiko Soga. Renounced for his work on concerts and tours including Faye Wang, May-Day, Sandy Lam, Sun Nan and many other superstars, Mr. Soka explained why MLA was selected:

“In my experience, all other array systems encounter problems with sound consistency both within a venue and on every stop of a tour. Given this tour was going to have so many different types of venues in quick succession, the time required to set up, configure and test a traditional array would not have been possible and so would have impacted the quality of the tour.

“The unique optimizing software provided with MLA and the multi cellular array design itself has perfectly solved the problems of consistent sound and system design. This means our mixing output can be delivered to every corner of the audience area with amazing accuracy and consistency, which was totally unimaginable before.”

Jolin Tsai 2015 Play Word Tour

The 2nd stop of mainland China was at Beijing Capital Gymnasium and represented the greatest sound challenge of the tour. Built during the 1960s it has undertaken both large scale live shows and sporting events. But in 2008, just before the Beijing Olympic Games, the Capital Gymnasium was reconstructed to accommodate audiences of 17,500 and since then has been well known for the challenges of sound design and acoustics for live shows. Couple this with a tour production that has a four sided stage facing out to grandstands on all sides, it was required that the sound should reach the audience in various directions with constant SPL and coverage. In addition, the main mixing area was less than 10 meters away from the stage, which placed a great challenge to the rigging and testing of the whole PA system. Finally, there was a lot of time spent on the production of the stage itself with all its special effects and mechanical moving parts, that naturally meant there was even less time for the rigging and testing of the sound system.

The easy, fast setup and testing of the MLA system showed its clear advantage in the face of such adversity, as MLA system engineer, Yasuhiko Watanabe, explains: “Traditional array design would have meant predicting a result first, and then making tweaks in the software, and then having to wait for the software to carry out another scheme, and so on again. The repeated process wasted much time and the system engineer would lose patience. But MLA Display software just reverses the sequence. You

start with what you want to achieve and the software works backwards to calculate automatically what combination of enclosures and DSP parameters for each individual acoustic cell delivers the desired outcome. As mixing engineers and system engineers, we only need to consider the artistic results, and leave the technical details to the computer. This is a great innovation of workflow, and is a blessing for system engineers and mixing engineers.”

Mr. Soka added, “The intelligent optimization process evaluates configurations of candidate arrays against various target functions – such as frequency response, flatness, and sound leakage into non-audience areas. With the powerful calculating capability, we can retain full control over the house curves and remain the ultimate judge of sound quality.”

The sound design consisted of an array of 11 MLA and 1 MLD (for down fill) on each flank of the 2 sides of the stage facing the wider grandstand, plus an array consisting of 9 MLAs on each flank of the 2 sides of the stage facing the narrower grandstand. There were also 3 MLX sub speakers on each flank on every side of the stage.

Along with Mr. Soka and Mr. Watanabe, other crew included Mr. Hitoshi Adachi who was in charge of the monitor mix, and Mr. Lu Guohao from MSI Japan Taiwan providing support for artists and stage sound. Due to the importance of this tour, Mr. Shuzo Fujii, the chairman and founder of MSI, and Mr. Motoshige Nishio, the general manager of MSI, would both accompany the tour throughout but it was also the opportunity for them to develop a new alliance.

As Mr. Nishio explains, “MSI will keep expanding business in Asia, especially in China, since the performing market in China is going so well the future is limitless. So for this reason, MSI has formed a strategic alliance with Pacific Budee, and both sides will promote the famous Martin Audio system together, since MLA has become the new standard of portable PA system in the world.”

Pacific Budee is the distributor for Martin Audio in both live sound and commercial projects in China, Hong Kong and Macao. With extensive experience of deploying MLA at Shanghai Jazz festival, Beijing Strawberry Festival, Changyang Modern Sky Festival and many other large scale domestic festivals, Pacific Budee also provided several experienced technical engineers for the Jolin Tsai tour in Beijing, including Mr. Xu Xuan.

On the night of the actual performance, stunning lights, stage animatronics and special effects, constantly changing costumes and makeup along with 5 mini films ensured the fans were enthralled and entertained. Jolin Tsai was on terrific form, particularly her performance of the Queen of the Night Aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which demonstrated her well controlled singing skill and highlighted the clarity and fidelity of MLA. Given the concert repertoire also consisted of all manners of music genre, ranging from EDM, rock and love songs, MLA’s versatility was also clearly on show. From the fans to the crew, everyone was in agreement it was an unforgettable night.

CASE STUDIES

19

Martin Audio MLA on Tour with Kraftklub

CASE STUDIES

20

Berlin-based technical service provider Complete Audio has been touring with five piece Chemnitz band Kraftklub since February. At the centre of the PA system is the rental company’s breakthrough Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) from Martin Audio.

The In Schwarz Tour 2015 was launched initially in Austria and Switzerland, building up to 5,000-12,000 capacity venues in Germany by the end of March. Comments from the band and the audience, coupled with posts on social networking sites, indicate that the tour has already been a great success and acoustically has left no wish unfulfilled.

Kraftklub has followed the platinum-selling album Mit K and successful club tour with the In Schwarz second album — which sets a new milestone in the young band’s career. The blend of indie beats, punk rock and rap with the thoughtful German lyrics has attracted fans across all genres.

Therefore, it was important for the production to reproduce the high-energy performance, and Complete Audio MD André Rauhut knew these requirements were best served by the Martin Audio MLA. His objective was to use a scalable sound system that would fit all venue sizes.

Nils Uhthoff, Complete Audio’s system engineer, explains the concept: “For the action-packed show and the powerful sound of Kraftklub we are using a 20-box Martin Audio MLA system and four MLD Downfills, which are an important part of the MLA system.” The two downfills, which are hung at the base, increase the efficiency of the entire multi-cellular array set-up because they can provide up to 15m throw in the region of the first rows.

Providing LF extension are 14 Martin Audio MLX subs. Any delay positions and necessary outfills are handled by up to a further 20 MLA Compact elements with an easy and barely audible transition to achieve perfect EQ optimisation.

“With the Martin Audio DISPLAY 2 software, I can change the angle of the PA in each venue as necessary, to achieve the best audio for the audience,“ continues Uhthoff. “The software supports me perfectly in every hall calculation. At Complete Audio we have challenged ourselves on this tour to ensure every note is right — and the Martin Audio MLA technology fulfils that goal perfectly.”

Furthermore, Nils Uhthoff states: “Those who know Kraftklub’s music regonise that the guys are rocking the venue from the start with full-on sound.

KraftKlub

CASE STUDIES

21

FOH engineer Nico Lindner mixes the sound on two Midas Pro 2 consoles ensuring the lyrics are heard despite the feverish noise and singing of the audience. The second mixing desk is in a support capacity, for use as necessary, because in the past many a beer mug has strayed in the FOH area!”

Monitor engineer Kai Gerner works on a Yamaha QL5, mixing Shure IEMs. But Complete Audio have also supplied 10 Martin Audio LE1500 stage wedges as well as a Martin Audio – WS218X drum fill.

Uhthoff and PA colleagues, Thomas Birnbaum and Martin Eckert, have made a detailed plan of how the PA

components can be removed as quickly as possibly after the show.

In order save time and have a stable transport device for the MLA frames, a special case has been developed with Complete Audio, containing either two MLA frames or a mix of one and an MLA Compact frame. Particularly in large halls where the Martin Audio MLA Compact is used as an outfill array, this solution proves to be particularly effective. “This prevents uneven load distribution, which makes a half-empty case tilt and tip when travelling over longer distances.

MLA Compact Tops Joe Satriani’s Rider

For the UK and German dates on his current world tour the international guitar legend that is Joe Satriani used a Martin Audio MLA Compact PA system for the first time.

FOH engineer Russell Giroux was introduced to the remarkable properties of the MLA through Martin Audio’s US tech support specialist Jim Jorgenson. “Jim got me out to a demo in the US and I was really impressed by what I heard” said Russ. “I jumped at the chance to use the system through Capital Sound for the UK dates and the results have been stunning.”

Russ was supported on the UK leg by Toby Donovan acting as Capital Sound’s system tech for the tour. “We were carrying 12 MLA Compacts per side flown off of a single point per side. Where rigging points were restricted

CASE STUDIES

Joe Satriani (Photograph by Christie Goodwin)

the array was light enough that we were able to share the front truss with lighting so we could get the rig up even in difficult venues. The system has been great and a real problem solver for us, no matter how awkward the venue we’ve had the same great results over and over again even in the smallest shows where we ground stacked. For a system tech this is the perfect system as it gives you exactly what you ask of it every day.”

Commenting on his first experience using the MLA Compact Russ was extremely enthusiastic. “This show is all about clarity and power and this rig has it all. The way the system has adapted to each different venue and kept a great tonal balance for me is very cool. I had no doubt about putting this system at the top of my rider and getting it straight in for the German dates.”

22

CASE STUDIES

23

Billy Talent Discovering the Power of MLA

Canadian “melodic punk rockers” Billy Talent recently wrapped up an arena tour in their home country with Delicate Productions providing the main PA, which consisted of Martin Audio’s MLA system, and the band’s long-time collaborators Metal Works in charge of monitors and FOH.

The main PA was comprised of 14 Martin Audio MLA cabinets and one MLD (downfill) flown on each side of the stage with 12 W8LC per side for left and right side PA, 12 MLX subs floor-stacked and eight W8LM cabinets

Billy Talent (Photograph by Dustin Rabin Photography)

along the downstage edge for in-fill/out-fill. Martin Audio MA 4.2 amplifiers were used to power the side and infill/outfill systems.

Asked about MLA’s performance during the tour, Al Woods, Audio crew chief, said, “The MLA is a fabulous system, super easy to fly and extremely powerful. It sounds great and amazingly even throughout the venue. We get so used to other systems tailing off in bigger venues, but this fella’ never ceased to surprise.”

CASE STUDIES

Martin Audio LtdCentury Point, Halifax Road, High WycombeBuckinghamshire HP12 3SL, England

www.martin-audio.com

Telephone: +44 (0) 1494 535 312Facsimile: +44 (0) 1494 438 669Email: info@martin-audio.com

This is just a small selection from a wealth of examples from around the world that you can find out more about by visiting www.martin-audio.com

MLA CompactMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Array

www.martin-audio.com/products/series/mla-systems

DSXMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Sub-bass

www.martin-audio.com/products/series/mla-systems

W8LCCompact, high performance three-way line array enclosure

www.martin-audio.com/products/W8LC

MLAMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Array

www.martin-audio.com/products/series/mla-systems

MLDMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Downfill

www.martin-audio.com/products/series/mla-systems

MLXMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Sub-bass

www.martin-audio.com/products/series/mla-systems

MSXMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Sub-bass

martin-audio.com/products/series/mla-systems

Products Featured