RG Jones Sound Engineering (London) recently provided a Martin Audio Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) system for a concert by popular British Indian musician/composer Nitin Sawhney at Royal Albert Hall in London, specified by Sawhney’s long-time mix engineer David McEwan.
After working with RG Jones’ MLA system at the Glastonbury Festival, as well as the smaller MLA Compact at other events, McEwan’s vision was to use it when Sawhney announced his return to the famous London venue for performances from his forthcoming album Dystopian Dream and a selection of material from his first nine albums.
McEwan approached John Carroll, managing director of RG Jones, and the system was made available within the production budget. “I built up a good relationship over the years and had been badgering them to let me have MLA for the Royal Albert Hall,” McEwan explains. “I wondered what it would sound like after using it at Glastonbury, and it sounded amazing. It produced great imaging—there was a real presence about the vocals wherever you stood—and that’s an important part of the show. In terms of PA, it’s clearly the next step up.”
The design consisted of 16 MLA elements per side with nine W8LM Mini (and two W8LMD Downfills) per side and further W8LM/W8LMD for front and infills. Eight Martin Audio WLX subs were recessed under the stage in a splayed broadside cardioid array to create the required curve.
Rarely will MLA have had so many different sounds and voices pumped through it as Sawhney moved through different musical genres. While he performed on guitars and piano, the ensemble featured many vocalists of different tongues as well as guests such as Björk percussionist and hang player, Manu Delago, and Soumik Datta on the 19-stringed sarod. The band also included two cellists, a tabla player and drummer, and the four singers lined up across the stage included the impressive flutist, Ashwin Srinivasan.
McEwan’s system tech was Marty Beath, who a week previously had helped optimize the MLA system at the Invictus Games Closing Concert. As production/sound check time at the Royal Albert Hall was compromised, Beath was able to draw on existing presets, previously used by MLA tech Mark Edwards, enabling him to notch out sound spillage at the stage and up to the top tribune, where there was no audience present.
Supporting the production was Jack Bowcher of RG Jones, who has worked many times with McEwan, and was in charge of the stage. “MLA again produced amazing clarity, particularly at front of house, which was impressive considering the nature of the event,” he says. “The detail you could hear in the vocals was just unbelievable.”
McEwan concludes: “This was one of my favorite experiences; everyone seemed delighted with the sound and I will want to use MLA wherever I can.”