Raleigh, NC (August 19, 2013)—RMB Audio was recently tapped for an outdoor concert at the Red Hat Amphitheater in Raleigh, NC, bringing along a Martin Audio MLA Compact system.
The amphitheater’s stage faces a large convention center, with reflective surfaces covering its exterior, and is only a few blocks away from a residential neighborhood, creating a challenge in terms of controlling noise levels.
“The city contracted a large study at multiple sites around the venue and came up with an SPL limitation of maximum 95dB SPL for one minute at given test points. And that’s tough when you’re doing a show there. Someone like Dylan is manageable, but Smashing Pumpkins or a Snoop Dogg performance is a real challenge to the sound ordinance,” commented Cooper Cannady of RMB Audio.
For the recent show, featuring American Aquarium, Cravin Melon and the Chris Hendricks band, RMB presented to the city how the MLA system and software would help control the noise.
“We wanted to bring the sound closer to the audience, avoid the reflections from the building and back it off at the stop points we had selected,” Cannady explained. “So we kept working on the sound with the software and finally got it to where there’s no reflection coming off the building.”
RMB Audio’s setup for the show consisted of 12 MLA Compact enclosures per side, with six DSX subs a side stacked on the wings of the stage. The side fills consisted of two Martin Audio W8Ts and two WS218 subs a side, with WS18X subs for drums, and four W8LMs for lip-fills across the front of the stage. LE1200s were used for on stage monitoring.
“The city thought the MLA Compact system sounded excellent and that the system was consistent throughout the audience area and had greatly reduced SPL beyond the audience space,” said Cannady. “I sent one of my staff with a representative from the city with an SPL meter across the street from the park and the sound was diving 10 to 15dB. And if they walked a little further out, the decrease in SPL continued.”
RMB Audio
www.rmbaudio.com
Martin Audio
www.martin-audio.com
