Last week (May 10), ACIR Professional of Mays Landing, NJ provided sound reinforcement for more than 14,000 on hand at the annual Mother’s Day Festival at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, headlined by performances by Charlie Wilson, Gladys Knight, and Heads of State featuring Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant, and Johnny Gill.
It marks the third consecutive year that ACIR Pro has supported the festival, with the system headed by dual Yamaha PM5Ds digital consoles—one at front of house and the other for monitors.
The main loudspeaker set consisted of 16 d&b audiotechnik J8s, four J12s, and 16 B2 subwoofers, all driven by d&b D12 power amplifiers. The monitor system included 12 d&b Q1s and Q Subs for side fill, joined by ACIR 115 wedges. A dozen Yamaha T3N amplifiers delivered the audio power.
“The systems sounded incredible,” states ACIR Pro co-owner John Grasso, who also served as front of house engineer. “The changeover provided festival-like challenges so we treated it as a festival style in that we had three changeovers with only 10 minutes in between to re-set. This was accomplished by great pre-planning on the part of our crew.”
In addition to Grasso, the ACIR team at the festival included monitor engineer Dave Lefko, systems engineer Bobby Harper, systems tech Mike Nugent, and crew chief Dominick Friia. ACIR Pro also provided the backline gear and support for the event.