Delicate Productions (Camarillo & Hayward, CA) recently provided a Martin Audio MLA system for the Reventon Super Estrella 2014 concert at the Staples Arena in Los Angeles.
Put on by LA’s leading Latin FM radio station, La Super Estrella 107.1, the show featured an impressive lineup of artists including La Santa Cecilia, La Union, Fobia, Roco Pachukote, Bunbury, La Ley, Caifanes and Victimas for a capacity crowd of over 18,000.
Delicate Productions manager Meegan Holmes explains, “Our challenge with any concert style event in an arena is integrating our PA hangs with the lighting truss and the flown LED elements. We worked closely with the LED vendor Global Trends to ensure the best positioning of the PA versus the LED wall. The walls were all solid, so our concern was areas of the audience that would be affected in terms of being able to hear the audio. We took care to lay out our PA points so we could get past the LED but still not block the view of the screen.
“Staples Center is taller than the average arena,” she continues. “The back wall has decorative metal above the top level of seating. The MLA’s versatility and output control enabled us to get to the last row without hitting that highly reflective metal.”
The system Delicate rigged for the show included 28 MLA and four MLD (down fill) for the main hangs; 16 MLA Compact for outer fills; 16 MLA Mini under four MSX power plant/subwoofers for side fill, and 12 MLX subs. Other elements included Avid PROFILE consoles at front of house, a DiGiCo SD11 as production console, and a Yamaha DME matrix for system control.
In addition to Holmes, the Delicate crew was made up of Brennan Houser (system engineer), Craig Robertson and Tony Luna (FOH techs), George Squiers and Mark Ramos (monitor techs), and Russ Cunningham and Billy Flores (stage techs).
“Each band in the show seemed a little louder than the previous and the PA kept up without issue,” Holmes concludes. “All eight engineers had fun mixing on the system, which resulted in great sounding shows. They all commented on how they were able to get so much power from so few MLX subs and how efficient they are. Our client came to me after the show amazed at how the rig sounded the same everywhere, how smooth and even the MLA sounds.”