The recent annual outdoor concert at the Seven Feathers Casino Resort in Canyonville, OR, featuring a performance by rock band Smash Mouth, was supported by event production provider World Stage Lighting deploying a main sound reinforcement system headed by Eastern Acoustics Works (EAW) Anna arrays and Otto ADAPTive subwoofers joined by additional supporting components.
“When we first heard Anna and saw what it could do for us and our client’s events, we were blown away,” says World Stage Lighting co-owner Devin Sunderland. “The timing was right, so we seized the opportunity to purchase products from EAW’s ADAPTive line. It’s an amazing system.”
Sunderland and co-owner Dwight Wood subsequently purchased 16 Anna three-way full-range ADAPTive array modules and eight Otto ADAPTive subwoofers. For the Smash Mouth performance, t hey also added, from their EAW inventory, including eight MW12 stage monitors and four RL15 Redline two-way powered loudspeakers.
“This year’s outdoor show was really special to us,” adds Sunderland. “In addition to the sound, we were also asked to provide a turnkey, full production product including lights, roof and stage. We own a 40-foot by 40-foot Applied Electronics arched roof system, and instead of adding the speaker bays to the roof, we chose to fly Anna line array speakers on the new Applied Electronic LA12-25 line array lifting towers. It was a visually stunning presentation and sounded absolutely amazing. We couldn’t have pulled it off without the help of EAW, Elation Professional, Applied Electronics and, of course, Smash Mouth, their crew and the great people at Seven Feathers.”
Wood and Sunderland use their new Anna system with EAW’s Resolution 2 software. “With other brands’ line array’s, you have to fly it, and then every couple of boxes you have to set an angle,” says Sunderland. “That can be a slow process and if you get one of the angles wrong, your room coverage is going to be off. However, with the EAW Anna’s straight hang, you have none of that to deal with. With the Resolution software, it’s so easy to deploy the system. We wire it up, get it in the air and we can be up and running so much quicker. You can focus your coverage while sitting in a chair. Every engineer we have used it with has just been thrilled. It also saves on labor costs, which is a huge benefit.”
