The inaugural Montreux Jazz Festival Miami earlier this month, marking the event’s first venture in the United States in decades and held at The Hangar at Regatta Harbour in featuring performances by headliners Jon Batiste, Daniela Mercury, and Daryl Hall topped off each night with Montreux Jam Sessions, was supported by official sound provider Meyer Sound LEOPARD line arrays and supporting components.
The Hangar, built in 1918 as the first continental naval air station in the U.S., is a cavernous 20,000-square-foot space with thin corrugated metal walls and large expanses of windows presenting significant acoustic challenges. For 38 years, Meyer Sound has been the strategic partner and official sound provider of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and was chosen for the inaugural Miami edition, led by the production team of Jeremy Arditi, co-chair of Montreux Festival Miami and Sig Greenbaum, festival director for MJF Miami.
Navigating the venue’s acoustical intricacies, Pete Diaz Productions A1s Richard Gomez and Oliver Quintero worked with Meyer Sound’s sales and technical support services to optimize the audio experience.
The Hangar was equipped with nine LEOPARD compact linear line array loudspeakers and four 2100-LFC low-frequency control elements per side, with LEOPARD and 900-LFC side fills; MJF-210 and MJF-212A stage monitors; and ULTRA-X40 compact loudspeakers as front fills, out fills, and delays. Systems were driven by Galileo GALAXY 816 and Callisto 616 processors.
Through sound mapping via the MAPP 3D sound system design tool, along with strategic system configurations, the team was able to overcome the venue’s acoustical challenges, controlling bass and minimizing reverberation.
“Acts varied a lot,” says Diaz, owner of Pete Diaz Productions, which supplied the system for the event. “We had a lot of jazz musicians that were just a piano and a vocal. Then we had bigger-sounding acts like Cimafunk and Daniela Mercury. The Wailers were probably the ones that had the most bass — we had to tweak the low end a lot with MAPP 3D in order to eliminate rattling of the venue.”
“I was told there would be a DiGiCo Quantum 338 console along with a Meyer LEOPARD line array at front of house, so I was excited going into the gig,” says Full Circle Sound LLC owner/operator Rex Marshall, who mixed FOH for Cimafunk. “I know this ‘warehouse sound’ all too well. It’s typically very difficult to create a mix everyone in the audience will enjoy. We started soundchecking and my anxiety instantly went away. The subs were tight and the vocals were extremely clear…these boxes have great coverage. It was a very pleasant experience being able to mix on the Meyer LEOPARD rig.”
Outside, a VIP stage showcased DJ sets hosted by Dante’s Hi-Fi, a vinyl listening bar. LEOPARD loudspeakers, stacked four per side along with two 900-LFC compact low-frequency elements, flanked the stage, with ULTRA-X40 and 900-LFCs as fills.
“The organizers were really excited about how amazing everything sounded,” says Diaz. “I think we really represented the Montreux brand well, and we were able to encompass the Montreux feeling in Miami.”
“Going into a literal hangar with the reputation of the Montreux Jazz Festival on the line was a daunting task,” concludes Greenbaum, “but the Meyer Sound team quickly put my concerns to rest with their brilliant sound design and unwavering dedication to excellence.”
