Sound Reinforcement Amidst Climate Chaos At The 2010 Winter Olympics

Pumping The Crowd
The entertainment stage featured 12 Electro-Voice XLD281 line array elements with 6 Electro-Voice Xsub (2 x 18-inch) subwoofers, driven by EV Tour Grade Series amplifiers, specifically TG5 and TG7 models. Frontfills, sidefills, and monitors included a variety of EV SXA250, and SXA180 loudspeakers.

A front of house position couldn’t be established due to the nature of the site’s layout, leading to a side-stage mix position headed by a Soundcraft GB4 24-input mixing console.

“Our setup was six boxes and three subwoofers per side,” explains Ralph Tondreau, Rocky Mountain Sound Engineer for the entertainment stage. “With the entertainment being primarily DJ, with the occasional band mixed in, we didn’t need a lot of outboard equipment.”

Ashly Audio GQX3102 and GQX1502 graphic equalizers, a Klark-Teknik 8-channel dynamics processor, and TC Electronic M1 reverb unit could be found rack-mounted next to the console. Deejays would perform between each snowboard event, keeping the crowd pumped up.

“After the finals,” explains Tondreau, “They performed again at the end of the evening. I was mixing the whole time, and it was very entertaining to see the crowd so into the music. I’m about 200 feet from the main grandstand, but people were still dancing all over the place.”

Panasonic LA3 line arrays (five total with three cabinets each) delivered coverage to the grandstand, powered by Dynacord LX Series amplifiers, including 1600, 2200 and 3000 models.

Flying an E-V line array on the entertainment stage at Cyprus Mountain.

As one of the major sponsors of the games, Panasonic provided the system covering the grandstand, with Ramsa branded loudspeakers also serving “loudspeaker-on-a-stick” roles at repeating positions on the snowboard half-pipe, including the 15-inch AT300, the 12-inch AT200, and a waterproof outdoor loudspeaker, the B200.

Graham Tuson was PA System Technician for the grandstand, overseeing the system that would ultimately act as a delay system for the entertainment stage, while also delivering all public address announcements concerning competitors during the event.

“There was a cross-link between the stage and the grandstand LA3 system, so it’s a delayed system,” explains Fred Michael, President of Rocky Mountain. “We were broadcasting into that corner of the grandstand from the Electro-Voice system. A time-aligned fiber delay line connected to the LA3 arrays.”