Flo-Rida & Martin Audio
Considered one of the largest Latin celebrations in the country, Calle Ocho Festival runs nearly a mile up and down SW 8th street in Miami from 22nd Avenue all the way East to 5th.
As Harold Cummings, founder and CEO of Drummer Boy Sound Productions, the company in charge of the sound production for the Power 96 Radio stage tells it, “They have six stages and they gauge the success of each one by who drew the most people. It was incredibly crowded. Like a big huge street festival and our stage was rockin’ between the incredible amount of sound we were getting from the Martin Audio system and the 9 x 12 LED screen set up by the side of the stage.�
Performers included leading national and local rap, hip hop and R&B acts like Flo-Rida, Jeremih, Jay Sean, New Boyz, Black Dada, Pretty Ricky, Mims, Kevyn
Little, Jimmy Hart Black n Red, Charles Sweeting and others.
Describing the setup, Harold elaborates, “We had to cover the intersection at 17th Avenue, so we set up a stage 120 ft into the Avenue facing toward 8th St. so the people walking up and down the street could stop and come into our block or continue down to another stage.
We were in charge of all audio for the stage, backline, monitors, sidefills, etc. Rush Sounds, the main production coordinator for the radio station, brought in Image Pro Sound as overall Production Manager and Drummer Boy Sound Productions to be in charge of sound production and engineering the show.
Continuing, Harold points out that his team “deployed our recently acquired Martin Audio W8LM line array system with 18 boxes that we needed for the size of this show which included up to 10,000 people. We verified with (Martin Audio North American Sales Director) Rob Hofkamp that 9 boxes a side would do the job because they were small boxes and I was a little skeptical. And we couldn’t even rig all nine boxes per side because the roof system wasn’t tall enough, but it was still more than enough sound.
“We used Martin Audio WS218X subs and H3s for side fills with additional subs and a total of 10 LE1200 stage monitors. We used Martin Audio MA 2.8 and 4.2 amplifiers as well. Mixing consoles included a Midas Verona 48-channel for FOH and Allen & Heath iLive digital board for monitors.�
Asked how the Martin rig worked out, Harold concludes, “It sounded a-ma-zing. I’m just so happy because of the Martin Audio array and we ended up getting 16,000 people in front of our stage and it covered everything over 125 feet away all the way up to the intersection at 8th plus more people on the other side of the intersection too!
“The performers were happy too because anytime they asked us for more, we were able to give it to them. We have a couple of shots of Flo-Rida standing on the subs in front of the whole line arrays rapping with no feedback. Amazing!�
For more about Martin Audio, please click to www.martin-audio.com.
About Martin Audio®
Founded by audio engineer David Martin in 1971, Martin Audio pioneered the use of all-horn-loaded bass designs in world-class touring loudspeaker systems for groups such as Pink Floyd, ELP and Supertramp. Located outside of London, Martin Audio now embodies a sophisticated mix of acoustic design, research, mathematical modeling and software engineering for a wide range of products in the installation, cinema and touring sound markets.
About LOUD Technologies Inc.
As the corporate parent for world-recognized brands Alvarez®, Ampeg®, Blackheart®, Crate®, EAW®, Mackie® and Martin Audio®, LOUD engineers, markets and distributes a wide range of professional audio and musical instrument products worldwide. Our product lines include sound reinforcement systems, analog and digital mixers, guitar and bass amplifiers, and acoustic and electric guitars. These products can be found in professional and project recording studios, video and broadcast suites, post-production facilities, sound reinforcement applications including houses of worship, stadiums, nightclubs, retail locations, and on major musical concert tours. The Company distributes its products primarily through retail dealers, mail order outlets and installed sound contractors. The Company has its primary operations in the United States with operations in the United Kingdom, Canada and China. For more information, please see our website: www.loudtechinc.com.
