More than 50,000 fans were on their feet when Kendrick Lamar, Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Big Sean, Fabolous, Meek Mill hit the stage at this year’s Hot 97 Summer Jam.
Held in June at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, the annual event pulled in some of the biggest names in the hip-hop genre.
Eighth Day Sound, headquartered in Highland Heights, OH, supplied its recently acquired Adamson Systems rig that includes E-Series and S-Series loudspeakers to deliver 270 degrees of coverage.
In fact, it marked the inaugural use of the complete rig.
Eighth Day systems engineer C.W. Alkire spearheaded the sound design and set-up, working with Adamson Systems engineer Ben Cabot in tuning and optimizing the system on its maiden voyage.
“We’ve had the E15 and E12 line arrays out before, but this was the first time we used them in conjunction with the new S10 compact line array and the E119 subwoofers,” says Alkire. “We’ve done this show for years and I have to admit, the power and clarity this year was exceptional.”
Making It Consistent
The turntable stage, which allowed for very fast transitions between artists, was located at one of the far ends of the stadium, positioned to offer maximum visibility.
Seating was provided on the field as well as on all three concourse levels.
To cover this expansive, multi-level space, Alkire designed a main PA with left-right arrays each made up of 21 E15 and three E12 elements.
Side fill arrays each consisted of 18 E15 and six E12 enclosures, and 270 degrees of coverage was attained with 10-each arrays of the new S10 elements flown further out from the stage structure.
Alkire utilized Adamson Blueprint AV software for support in designing the loudspeaker arrays and coverage.
“The 270 arrays insured that the audience to the far right and left of the stage had the same experience as everyone else,” he notes. “Because the S10s are so light and compact, we were able to hang the arrays off a single point, which made setting them up that much simpler.”
The new S10 is a 2-way, full range cabinet with two of Adamson’s signature Kevlar neodymium cone drivers (model ND10-LM) and an NH4TA2 1.5-inch exit compression driver.
The sound chamber produces a slightly curved wavefront, with a nominal dispersion pattern of 110 by 10 degrees (h x v).
“I was amazed when we tuned the system,” Alkire states. “We had one EQ filter on the mains, three on the side, one on the S10s, nothing on the subs and it sounded great. We spent a lot of time during setup and sound check walking the stadium and listening, and it was incredibly consistent.”
