Red Hook, NY-based Firehouse Productions deployed a main sound reinforcement system headed by JBL Professional VTX V25-II-CS arrays comprising more than 100 enclosures in support of the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.
The show’s long-time audio coordinator, Mark Dittmar, VP of Firehouse Productions, states, “We love the V25 and think it’s an absolutely amazing box. From the day it came out, it has been a great performer for us. It’s all about power and intelligibility. The power that comes out of the V25 means that we can get intelligibility even when we have difficult circumstances.”
VTX S28 and G28 subwoofers supported the low frequencies, with Crown IT4X3500 and IT12K amplifiers power driving all loudspeakers. This year, Firehouse moved to some different JBL models for fill loudspeakers. Dittmar: “We switched to the VTX A8 (dual 8-inch compact line array) for downfill and the VTX A6 (compact dual 6.5-inch line array element) for frontfill, which made intelligibility extremely strong. I think the A8s are spectacular, although we’re still getting a feel for the right way to use them. We were certainly asking a lot from the A6s for front fill, but they handled it easily.”
Though designed as a multipurpose space, the Prudential Center was not built with shows like the VMAs top of mind. “There are huge weight restrictions in the room,” he explains. “The Pru is asymmetrical: you can hang much more weight on one end than the other. But the VMAs aren’t a rock-and-roll left/right show, it is in-the-round, with three stages on the floor: a North stage, a South stage, and a production stage on the east side. So, the first and biggest limitation we were up against was weight.
“The principal thing on this show is that the look is very important,” he continues, “so I can’t hang speakers at trim height like a rock show. The VMAs have a very open look, so the middle of the room is kept clear and I can’t have big hangs cluttering up the camera views. The people down in the pit are the ones right on camera, and there’s no place I can put piles of subs down there. Plus, there is a cable cam under the scoreboard, so I can’t rig there.
“One of the reasons we’ve been loyal to JBL is that doing a standard, left/right rock hang is easy to do with any system, but when we do 20-box hangs, trim at high heights, and use extreme angles, we really push the rigging system to its limits. We rely on JBL’s software to confirm that we are still safe.”
Dittmar’s audio team alone consists of 56 crew members, and he emphasizes that pulling off a production the size and complexity of the VMAs can only be accomplished by carefully choosing exceptional crew, organizing them, and then letting them do their jobs. “Clearly, the system design is important, but it is irrelevant if we don’t have an incredible team,” he concludes. “I can’t speak highly enough of the team we put together.”
