NEW YORK, NY—Colombian singer/songwriter/guitarist Juanes, arguably one of the biggest Latin music artists to emerge from the early 21st century, spent the summer performing to sold-out crowds in the United States on his Loco De Amor (Crazy Love) tour, supported by sound reinforcement provider Camarillo, CA-based Rat Sound Systems.
The sold-out crowd at the Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheatre in Tuscon, AZ heard every note via an EAW Anya PA supplied by Rat Sound. Along for the journey was Stanley Soares, front-of-house engineer for Juanes, who oversaw a sizable audio system based around DiGiCo mixing desks and an Eastern Acoustic Works Anya system. “I went to a demo of Anya last year, had the opportunity to mix with it and was impressed,” Soares said. “When I received confirmation about the Juanes tour, I suggested that we go out with an Anya system and was absolutely thrilled we could make that happen. Some people don’t like to take a risk on trying something new, but everyone from management to the artist were extremely happy with the results of the PA.”
Feeding that system from the house position was a DiGiCo SD10 console equipped with Waves Sound-Grid Server One, along with an SD rack (56 x 48) that he shared with the monitor engineer. Soares’ outboard gear included Waves MaxxBCL (RS) inserted on the mains and an Empirical Labs Distressor for Juanes’ vocals. A Lake LM44 digital signal processor distributed and drove the Anya system. Live recordings, made utilizing a Waves DiGiGrid MGB with Logic Audio, were used for virtual sound-checks.
Meanwhile, another DiGiCo SD10 was on hand at monitorworld; the tour traveled with an assortment of Shure wireless microphones and PSM 1000 in-ear monitoring systems as well as an Aviom 360 System to manage the IEM systems.
Juanes played a variety of venues, so the production carried 40 Anya modules and eight EAW KF364NT loudspeakers for fill in order to handle everything. As a result, an evening’s show needed anywhere from eight to 20 modules per side, depending on the coverage required, though Soares reported the system sounded consistent regardless.
Helping ensure that initially, EAW’s technical training manager Bernie Broderick was on site for the first few shows to ensure the system was tailored to the tour’s needs. For the long term, however, Jason Brandt, system tech for Rat Sound, was responsible for the design and fine-tuning of the Anya PA throughout the tour—an effort he accomplished using EAW Resolution software, which models the coverage and frequency response throughout a venue. “Once the venue parameters are input into Resolution, it tells us exactly what we need to ensure coverage throughout the room,” said Soares. “If I found out the seating area had changed—they either added more rows or opened up a new section—we could adjust our coverage by modifying the software.”
With the support from Rat Sound and the opportunity to use a new PA, Soares closed out the tour pleased with the results he’d gotten out of the system: “Anya gave me piece of mind so that I could concentrate on creating an amazing mix and giving Juanes fans an incredible show. Because that is what it is all about.”
Rat Sound Systems
ratsound.com
EAW
eaw.com
