Two of the most recognized Christian artists, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith, performed “Christmas with Michael W Smith & Amy Grant” at the Target Center in Minneapolis in early December, and REACH Communications (Champlin, MN), was there to support the audio production.
REACH provided their NEXO STM rig and Nuar amps along with a Yamaha PM5D-RH for front of house and dual CL5s digital audio consoles – one for the orchestra and one for the artists, and four Rio3224 input/output boxes.
“We knew we needed perfect coverage for the target center as it was a sold out show,” states Dan Brown, REACH Communications. “We have had the new NEXO STM M46/B112 for about nine months now and knew it was up to the task for the main hangs. We recently added the new M28 boxes to our inventory, and after looking at the NEXO NS-1 simulator, could see that it would be a perfect fit for side hangs on this show.”
Brown said they were under a very tight load in and setup schedule for the one-off event. “The STM rigging and NUAR amp racks allowed us to get things up, checked very fast, and stay on schedule throughout the day.”
The NEXO main hang rig consisted of 24 STM M46 – 12 per side, 24 STM B112 – 12 per side, 6 STM M28 – three per side for down fill, four STM B112 – two per side and 24 STM M28 – 12 per side for out fill. Twelve RS18 Ray Subs, four per side in cardioid mode and four spread across the stage perimeter. Six NEXO PS10-R2s and two NEXO GEO S1230s were used for outer front-fill along with ten NEXO Nuar racks.
“I was able to walk the upper seating area with Russ Long, the FOH engineer for Amy Grant and Michael W Smith,” Brown says. “The coverage to the upper seats was very good even with the long throw of the mains and no delay speakers. The main speakers were throwing about 300+ ft. It was very impressive!”
He notes that “NEXO has done a great job of making the voicing of all of their boxes very similar to each other,” as the transition from the main to the side hangs was very clean even with the cabinets being a different driver compliment.
Brown said the artist engineers requested a Yamaha PM5D-RH at FOH and CL5 for monitors. “We were tasked with providing what we preferred for the orchestra console and knew that the CL5 would be a great fit in this role as well.”
The entire system for the concert was run into two Lake LM26 for zone control and was routed via Dante to all of the NEXO amps. “Our client was very happy with the results and sound coverage throughout the room. We worked closely with the venue manager and the artists’ crew to make sure we had the maximum seating capacity for the sound coverage and sight lines in the room.”
