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.

The Zac Brown Band was one of the first acts to fall in love with the Martin Audio MLA system, having earned the band rave reviews from leading publications such as Live Sound International, Front of House, Pro Sound News, Pro Audio Review and Professional Sound. FOH Engineer Eric Roderick thought “the system sounded incredible” while System Tech Preston Soper called it “the most sonically pleasing system I’ve ever heard.”

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.

Soper said, “Martin Audio’s Display™ optimisation process gives you a linear response, so it’s not a different EQ at different regions but the same EQ everywhere”

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

CASE STUDIES

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Zac Brown Band

Pink Floyd, Earls Court 1973

Zac Brown Band

Touring

The Killers

Mumford and Sons

The need to provide consistent coverage in radically different venues ranging from Wembley Stadium to mid-sized arenas to small theatres, casinos and ballrooms, The Killers 2013 tour represented a sizeable challenge but Martin Audio’s MLA proved more than up to the task.

James Gebhard, FOH engineer for The Killers remarked, “One of the most impressive aspects is the phase coherence. Walk the room and everywhere you go it sounds exactly the same. 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.”

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 number of boxes per side to do an arena, but because of what MLA does with all the steering, you can use fewer 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 a 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. It was fantastic. The pure consistency, regardless of the type or size of the room, is just unbelievable.”

Mumford and Sons FOH engineer Chris Pollard elected to take out the Martin Audio MLA system for the band’s debut arena tour in the UK.

Having spent some time at London’s O2 Arena during The Killers’ first show day there, Chris was impressed by the incredible coverage MLA delivers without the need for the delay hangs that are usually necessary for the O2.

CASE STUDIES

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The Killers

Mumford and Sons

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney’s ‘Out There’ tour recently landed in the Arena di Verona, the historic Roman amphitheatre that for thousands of years has provided entertainment spectacles for the people of Verona, and a Martin Audio MLA system was there to take duty.

Paul McCartney’s long standing FOH engineer Paul ‘Pab’ Boothroyd’ was at the helm for the show, ably assisted

CASE STUDIES

Paul McCartney’s ‘Out There’ tour

Images © 2013 MPL Communications Ltd / Photographer: MJ Kim

by his touring system tech Chris Nicholls. Both were impressed by the systems performance.

“I had heard a lot of good things about the new Martin Audio rig and was happy to use it for this show” stated Boothroyd. “Everybody was really happy with the show, the coverage was great and the detail and clarity in the system made it an enjoyable show to mix. It’s great to see Martin Audio right at the front of new design, the first systems I mixed on were Martin Audio Phillishave rigs and that powerful musical sound got me going in my career.”

All Access system tech Red was able to demonstrate the unique control of the MLA to Chris Nicholls with good effect: “the way the system was able to cover a steeply raked venue with relatively few boxes was very impressive, it didn’t look as though they had enough curve on the array, and we gave them a really tight weight target to hit so they couldn’t add more boxes, yet the flatter array shape was great for the throw required. With a quick adjustment in the software they had the system covering great right up to the back seat without adjusting its angles and that’s something I’ve never heard a system do before.”

The system deployed in Verona included 12 MLA per side for main hangs, 6 MLA per side for out hangs and 2 MLD in the orchestra pit for front fill. The out hangs were particularly challenging as they had to be flown off of the ancient stepped seating within a scaffolding structure. The manageable weight and size of the MLA cabinets made this difficult manoeuvre possible. “The MLA is less than 88kg” reported Red “and being based around horn loaded 12’s meant we could physically lift the cabinets and fit them in between the steps and the scaffold structure, anything heavier or taller simply would not have been possible in the space available.”

“This rig is right up there with the best in the world” said Boothroyd at the end of the spectacular 2 ½ hour set that featured a huge range of songs from the McCartney, Wings and Beatles back catalogue.

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Avett Brothers

SES (Special Event Services) of Winston Salem and Nashville recently supported the popular Avett Brothers on the first leg of their world tour with a Martin Audio MLA System 36 loudspeaker system.

Describing how SES became involved with the tour, Michael Brammer, SES Director of Touring Operations stated, “We did a trial show at the beginning of the tour, and due to the success of the MLA and the overwhelming positive fan response, the band decided to take us on the road. The band went from a bus and trailer to three trucks virtually overnight, in part because they fell in love with the Martin Audio MLA system.”

In order to cover the crowds that averaged from 10 to 12,000 with a bump to 18,000 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, SES deployed a loudspeaker system consisting of 11 MLA enclosures and one MLD downfill cabinet per side along with six MLX ground-stacked subs per side.

Asked how MLA performed during the tour, Michael responded, “Their FOH Engineer Justin Glanville really likes the dynamic range and stereo imaging of the MLA system as The Avett Brothers are a very complex band. They play a variety of instruments and exchange them

from song to song, so there’s a constant circle around the stage. The show ranges from very energetic moments down to just two guys singing into one microphone acoustically. It’s a very dynamic show and MLA really responds well to it.”

“The coverage has been uniformly excellent in all kinds of venues, and MLA doesn’t take long to set up. In fact, Andrew Steelman, our Systems Tech was able to fly it in the morning and have Justin behind the console by lunchtime. The MLA system really has given us everything we’ve needed and more from a loudspeaker rig.”

CASE STUDIES

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Avett Brothers

Joe Satriani

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.”

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CASE STUDIES

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Billy Talent

Selena Gomez

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.

A 25 city US tour required a cost effective sound system with a small footprint that had to deliver uniform coverage and exceptional sound quality in a wide variety of venues.

As FOH Engineer Jason Moore explains when asked about the criteria for the PA, “We were looking for the best possible sound we could get in a small, powerful package that would allow us to find a happy medium between amphitheatres, theatres and arenas.” Initially drawn to another system, Moore says “my eyes were opened to what MLA could do in terms of controlling the sound, a key factor in theatres with balconies and sheds with aluminium roofs and other kinds of problems.”

Billy Talent (Photograph by Dustin Rabin Photography)

Selena Gomez

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 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

W8LCCompact, high performance three-way line array enclosure

www.martin-audio.com/products/W8LC.asp

W8LMMini, high performance three-way line array enclosure

www.martin-audio.com/products/W8LM.asp

MA4.2s AmplifierLight weight, high performance power amplifier

www.martin-audio.com/archivedproducts/archive.asp

MLAMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Array

www.martin-audio.com/products/MLA.asp

MLDMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Downfill

www.martin-audio.com/products/MLD.asp

MSXMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Sub-bass

www.martin-audio.com/products/MSX.asp

MLA CompactMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Array

www.martin-audio.com/products/MLA Compact.asp

DSXMulti-cellular Loudspeaker Sub-bass

www.martin-audio.com/products/DSX-F.asp

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