Like that historic installation, the stage and systems for Mad Sq. Music are temporary.
Shows are held once a week; the Oval Lawn Series, on Wednesdays throughout the summer facing the central Oval Lawn, and on rainy days and Saturdays during the autumn Studio Series, at the park’s south end.
At both locations the only physical trace visible between shows are the outline of two rectangular plates, largely hidden by pavers, covering the couplings used to install the stage. “It’s like going on tour for the summer,” Shulman says.
Everything, including the stage, is erected on show days, then torn down after the gig and stored off-site in a 24-foot truck.
“Because of the aggressive single-day show schedule, the structure’s often up before the feeder cable has been run. For events like this, a compact, quickly assembled and straightforward package is needed.
The Tannoy VQ arrays remain assembled from show to show; we clip them to the chain hoist, connect a few cables, and they are ready to be flown.”
Part of the reason the park was rescued from longtime neglect was to preserve its distinctive character. Simply put, for this application, your average truck stage with a huge array of speakers hanging off either side would be difficult to set up, strike and store, as well as interfere with the vibe of the park and character of the shows.
“The typical production elements would not match the nature of these shows – visually or functionally. This fits,” says Shulman. “The design of the stage and system fulfill the production needs, but also maintain the park’s atmosphere.” Correspondingly it was a necessary to specify a system that provided ample power while preserving that aesthetic.
“There’s a need for the whole package to fit into that truck and not need racks and racks of amps and DSP. In this situation a self-powered system with on-board processing is very advantageous.”
“It doesn’t detract or compete with the park,” adds Maggi Landau, Executive VP of the Madison Square Park Conservancy since 2006.
For Landau, working with all the members of the team overseeing and running the series goes well beyond being just a job. It is truly a team united by a shared passion for the project.
“Working with SIA has been a complete pleasure. They really understood what we wanted to achieve, both sonically and visually.”
“A lot of outdoor concerts have sound systems that sound muddled. Because SIA has fantastic ears and uses extraordinary equipment we were able to achieve a sound quality that surprises people in the music industry – managers, booking agents, record label representatives – when they come to the park for the first time.”
SIA’s exploration of Tannoy is relatively new, based on the firm’s use of Tannoy’s VQNET loudspeakers and a number of their innovative QFlex digitally steerable line arrays in another project – A corporate event staged in the acoustically challenging Paul Hamlyn Hall in the London Royal Opera House in 2009.
“We’re constantly on the lookout for new, interesting technologies and we noticed Tannoy doing some innovative things, so we explored the QFlex product and that opened the door for further discussion.”
In addition to all the advantages a self-powered solution offers, the concept behind the VQNET/VNET loudspeakers represents an industry wide shift towards more compact, more functionally powerful components, Shulman believes.
“As the technology becomes smaller and DSP power grows, we feel strongly that the way things are going, loudspeakers, amplification and DSP should be integrated.”