Mar 21, 2006 2:41 PM

A collaboration between the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism and BET Jazz, the Cayman Jazzfest (early December 2005) attracted the likes of leading jazz artists such as keyboardist George Duke, vocalist Al Jarreau, guitarist Earl Klugh, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and gospel vocalist Yolanda Adams.

Paul Van Puffelen from Southern Technical Support of Miami and Charles “Greg” Gregory of Hopscotch Sound in the Caymans provided audio for the festival. Gregory has been running a successful recording studio in the Caymans for quite some time and had asked Puffelen to augment his live rig, which originally comprised two Martin Audio W8s per side over two WSX subs.

To achieve the long throw required by the client, Van Puffelen and Gregory consulted with Rob Hofkamp of Martin Audio North America to develop a powerful line array system for the event, which featured four W8LC (compact) cabinets per side over five WSX subs per side, with four W8S cabinets in the middle. This was more than enough to handle the long throw that had to reach 250 feet deep, plus side and downfill.

The overall system included eight Martin Audio W8LCs and eight W8s, 10 WSXs and four W8S cabinets, with 14 Martin Audio LE-700 monitors onstage. Power was provided by Lab Gruppen, Martin Audio and BGW, with a processing array that included BSS Soundweb 3088s, Klark DN-360 EQs and BSS DPR-404 quad limiters. Soundcraft and Midas consoles were also on hand.

According to Van Puffelen, "Everyone was amazed at how good it sounded, considering it was outdoors and we weren't using any delays."

Gregory added, "Changing over to Martin Audio speakers is the best decision I’ve made in my whole career. And it’s not just about the equipment; it’s about the people. Having Rob here with us during the festival setting up the P.A. really topped things off. As for the speakers, I just did a two-night show with Roy Ayers here and the clear coverage was extraordinary. I had the line arrays flown fairly low and had people coming up to me to say, ‘Wow, it sounds really good and we can talk and have a conversation!’”

For more information on Martin Audio, visit www.martin-audio.com. For more information on Jazzfest, visit www.caymanislands.ky/jazzfest/default.asp.

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