Portsmouth, VA (June 28, 2023)—Regional live event sound company Soundworks of Virginia recently provided audio for a packed Boyz II Men show at the Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion, a 6,500-cap outdoor amphitheater in Portsmouth, VA. Supporting the Grammy-winners’ gig, the audio company fielded a Martin Audio large format WPL line array for the show.
The venue deploys a tent-like material to cover the first 3,000 seats nearest the stage, so Bryan Hargrave, Soundworks’ engineer and system tech for the show, used the Hard Avoid feature available in Martin Audio’s proprietary DISPLAY software to prevent reflections and interaction with the tent cover. “This made a very positive impact on the sound quality and was appreciated by both band engineer and audience alike,” he reported.
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Bobby Scherberger is the venue production manager and since Martin Audio was listed on the band’s rider, once he had cleared the WPL rig with the Boyz II Men production team, he contacted Soundworks. “We have worked with Bobby for many years and at numerous different venues. He is aware of Soundworks’ equipment and has total confidence in our experience and capability. It’s fair to say he has become a fan of Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision,” suggested Soundworks president Grant Howard.
Boyz II Men’s trio of vocalists, fronting a full backing band, required 56 channel inputs from the stage. To provide optimum coverage for the audience, Soundworks hung 12 WPL elements per side, run in two-box resolution from the iKON multichannel amplifiers. Subwoofers comprised 16 SHX218, single amp channel driven in castellated cardioid array. Five WPS provided front fill coverage while four WPS and an SXH218 on either stage wing took care of side fills. Three XE500 stage monitors were provided for the singers’ reference sound.
