NORTHRIDGE, California – The island of Sri Lanka is probably one of the
last places one would expect to find global stars as diverse as Billy Ocean and
Olivia Newton John performing—and local production company, Universal Sound
fielding a top-spec HARMAN’s JBL VERTEC® line array system.
But
that’s precisely what Malinda Lowe’s company has been doing since setting up in
2009. The company recently rigged a JBL VERTEC line array system at the 5,000-capacity Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Center for R&B singer
Ocean’s sold-out show, and later supported two sell-out concerts by the
UK/Australian songstress (and Grease
star) Olivia Newton-John at the 1,800-capacity Musaeus Auditorium in Colombo.
With
a large inventory of JBL VERTEC, VRX and SRX components
(powered by a combination of Crown Macro-Tech MA12000i, MA90001 and MA5000i),
Lowe’s company is perfectly positioned to handle the sound production for all
ABC Radio Network’s international concert promotions (including Billy Ocean) as
well as Wizard Entertainment, who promoted Olivia Newton-John.
A
HARMAN Professional customer since setting up the company in 2009, Malinda Lowe
is used to meeting production companies’ demands based on venue dimensions.
“With Billy Ocean they wanted a minimum of six VT4888 each side—but the ceiling
height in both cases was extremely low. So I used the VERTEC Line Array Calculator to
predict coverage and SPL results for the large audience area and for the
selection of correct locations for main hangs and side PA placements and system
configuration.”
Instead,
he used eight VT4888 midsize line array elements, configured in two main arrays
of four per side, with six VT4882 ground-stacked subwoofers processed as an
aux-fed mono sub configuration. The system was powered with Crown Macro-Tech amplifiers,
processed via a dbx DriveRack 4800.
For
the side PA, Universal Sound used four SRX 725/728 loudspeakers with dbx 260
processing and Crown XTi amplification for each side to cover the wide audience
area, and for front fills the company used four VT4888’s with dedicated DriveRack
4800 processing and Crown MAi amplification.
For
the Olivia Newton-John show, aimed at Colombo’s upmarket set, Universal had to
work around the installed system and did not have hanging points or sufficient
truss space to fly the VERTEC
line arrays.
The challenge was that the auditorium comprised a balcony with seating capacity
for 700 and ground seating area for a further 1,100.
Since
the production team wanted to fly the system to achieve an even coverage, the
Line Array Calculator again provided accurate measurements. “We achieved even
coverage, obtaining better frequency response and SPL with the VERTEC rig in a ground-stack
configuration,” Lowe said. “The Calculator provided the accurate splay angle
option for the maximum performance, with six VT4888 for each side ground
stacked on a VT Array Frame and two VT4882 ground-stacked subs with aux-fed sub
configuration.”
The
system was powered by Crown MAi Series 5000, 9000, 12000 and processed using
the dbx DriveRack 4800. Front fills comprised four JBL SRX712M’s with dedicated
speaker processing on the DriveRack 260, accurately aligned to the main PA.
All
amplification used for both productions was configured and monitored via HARMAN
HiQnet System Architect™, with remote control.
The
result was that both acts’ management, mixing engineers and musicians
complimented the production company on the overall system performance, stating
how well the VERTEC line arrays covered the
rooms with its superior output power.
Said
Olivia Newton-John’s FOH engineer, Jonathan Loeser, “I couldn't have done any of this without the system being top notch and
accurate. That is very valuable to a touring engineer or production manager.”
All
JBL product and local support, is provided by HARMAN Professional dealer Hi Fi
Center Colombo.
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