St. Paul, MN (February 25, 2015)—Red Bull has sponsored high-speed, high-danger sports events around the globe for years, and one of the most popular, Red Bull Crashed Ice, a cross downhill race event on ice skates, recently made its fourth visit to Saint Paul. Drawing more than 140,000 people to the Cathedral of Saint Paul where the races were held, the event had sound provided by EDGE ShowTek of Northbrook, IL, which deployed an all-Nexo/Yamaha system.
EDGE ShowTek’s system included hundreds of boxes of Geo D, Geo S12, GEO S8, RS18 Ray Subs, and a CL5 digital audio console. The company used a Dante network with fiber distribution, all connected to several Yamaha Rio input/output boxes and NXAmps with Dante cards, dotted throughout the area. “This show has an insatiable demand for outputs and used up almost the entire capacity of the Yamaha CL5 console,” states Al Zara, EDGE ShowTek.
By having the ability to drop Rio boxes anywhere in the network, Zara said the system allowed them to put inputs and outputs right where they were needed. “From the singer of the National Anthem at the start line 1,200 feet away from audio control, to the broadcast announcers and show DJ located in different areas of the course, we were able to drop Rio boxes to accommodate inputs and outputs. Given that all the Nexo lines are very closely voiced, the system enabled us to provide seamless coverage of the show grounds.”
Zara, who functioned as A1 front of house engineer, said the event is a major challenge from a design and technological standpoint. “There are many demands for speaker zone outputs and alignment, multiple broadcast trucks’ needs, and complicated show cues. We handle a good deal of broadcast events, and to be successful, you need to have a systematic approach to all of your AV systems. It’s a major plus to have the capabilities of our Yamaha and Nexo systems.”
EDGE ShowTek
www.edgeshowtek.com
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.
www.yamahaca.com
