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Barenaked Ladies
On Tour with the Meyer M3D Line Array
By Chris Kathman
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First, the good news. The Meyer M3D line array delivers a tremendous field of sound, and sends it quite a distance with comparatively little drop-off. Additionally, the cardioid rear-facing speakers do an insanely effective job of canceling sonic backwash, so that the stage is miraculously clear of the usual roaring blurriness, and the monitor board can be set up unusually close to the subwoofers without distraction. It doesn’t hurt that there are no amp racks cluttering up the deck, as each cabinet is self-powered.
Okay, there is no bad news, I was just yanking your chain.
M3D line array plus fills
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There are the issues of the M3D’s weight and cost, that were brought up at NSCA in the spring, but that’s life in the big leagues. I didn’t notice any crippled stagehands or panicking accountants at the Verizon Amphitheatre in Irvine, CA, when the Barenaked Ladies crew was setting up their rig from Canada’s Jason Sound Inc. The band is doing excellent business.
Additional speakers were deployed next to the M3D mains (Jason Sound J23, 12”/2”), and below (Meyer MSL-4), as you can see in the photograph. John Meyer believes in keeping the line array cabinets parallel to each other, strictly horizontal, and then filling in around the edges with appropriately sized and aimed smaller cabinets. There was very little difference in coloration, as I walked up close to hear the supplemental speakers.
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No wonder, as it was all tuned by knowledgeable personnel using the Meyer SIM system. Across the front of the stage were tiny front-fill boxes built by Jason, the JSI P80. Each one has two 5” speakers and a small radial horn.
Something I gradually noticed, as I walked around, was that the vibe among the workers was relaxed and cheerful. That is the sound of a bunch of people who are for the most part each doing one job instead of three. Greg McVeigh, the Director of North American Sales for Meyer Sound, introduced me to Dave Lawler. Dave was there as a consultant for Meyer, and we sat and talked on some steps behind guitar world.
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Dave Lawler
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“Docktrdave” was the SIM engineer for k.d. lang for 11 years, is a veteran of tours with Luis Miguel and Van Halen, and does tech support for Meyer on a contract basis nowadays. His assignment, regarding the M3D, was to help “get it packaged the way production managers and sound guys like it. Any style of system has a mechanical element – motors, straps, pins.” Earlier this year, he traveled with the system when it was used for Dido’s headlining U.S. dates.
Each M3D has a horn in the center, fed by two compression drivers. Two 15” speakers flank the horn, but interestingly, they do not emit the same sonic information.
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The “second” one only kicks in when the wavelength of program information is longer than the distance between the two speakers. So, low-mids only come out of one speaker.
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