Posted by EAW at 08:59 AM | Permalink

World Tour, Foreigner (UMX.96)
NHL All-Star Game, Dallas (KF760, SB1000z)
Madonna Della Strada Chapel, Loyola University, Chicago (DSA Series)
Centennial Hall, Tuscon (UX8800, KF730, SB730, JF80)
On Tour, Sugababes (KF760, SB1000z)
Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke University (UX8800, AX & MK Series)
On Tour, Joe Cocker, Europe (KF760, KF750, KF730)
Pinnacle Hills Church, Rogers, AR (UX8800, KF760, KF730)
Emerald Downs Racetrack, Seattle (KF730, MQ & AX Series)
Mexico National Independence Day, Mexico City (KF730, SB1000z)
On Tour, Iron Maiden (KF760, KF750, SB1000)
World Scout Jamboree, U.K. (KF760, SB1000z)
On Tour, Harry Connick Jr, (UX8800, KF760)
Exclusive Concert - London Symphony Orchestra In Daytona Beach (UX8800, KF760, NT Series)
Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn University (UX8800, KF900)
On Tour, Modest Mouse (KF760, SB1000z)
Lotus Lounge, Washington DC, (Avalon Series, UB42)
Olympic Oval, Calgary (AX & MK Series)
On Tour, Gypsy Kings, Europe (KF760)
Seattle Block Party (UX8800, UMX.96, KF750, SB1000z)
Exclusive Concert – DJ Tiesto At Graham Auditorium (UX8800, KF760, KF750)
Bright House Networks Stadium, University of Central Florida (KF900, KF755)
Simply Red In Concert, Australia (UX8800, KF750)
Game-On Sports Bar, Caesars Casino, NJ (CIS400, SB250z, custom “JL12”)
Social Hollywood, Los Angeles (VR61, VR62, CIS400, L8CX2XO, SB150)
Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, Valladolid, Spain (NT Series, KF730)
New Life Assembly Church, Henrietta, NY (UX8800, AX Series)
Galileo Awards, Padua, Italy (LS432, JF50)
Olive Baptist Church, Pensacola, FL (KF730, SB730, BH760, SB1000z, UB82, UB42)
Martini Park, Plano, TX (CIS400, SM55, VRM12, AX Series)

Click here for pdf version of this list

Posted by EAW at 07:10 AM | Permalink

Concert sound isn't usually a matter of life or death, but leave it to Iron Maiden to be the exception. The iconic metal band’s recent "Matter Of Life Or Death" world tour proves that after more than 30 years, they haven’t slowed down a tick and still demand a PA that permeates sold-out arenas with full-range output, while also upholding the first commandment of metal: Make it loud.

“Life Or Death” Iron Maiden-style kicked off stateside, marking the first concert tour handled by the new U.S. operation of ML Executives. The long-time U.K.-based hire company, owned and directed by Gary Marks dispatched ace line array technician Michael Hackman (pictured left with his EAW Smaart rig) to oversee the house system during the tour’s journey from the U.S. to Japan and then home to Europe with concluding dates at Earl’s Court in London. A decidedly veteran system tech and mix engineer, Hackman has become expert in optimizing line arrays of many stripes since his first exposure in the mid-1990s led to a fascination with the genre.

“Every line array brings a little something different to the table,” he explained during a tour stop at Chicago’s All-State Arena, gazing out at the EAW KF760 line arrays in place for that night’s show. “Each has its own quirks, but the true difference maker is sonic quality, particularly on the top end. That’s where you tend to hear the most variation, and then there’s the warmth of the mids, especially with rock ‘n’ roll. Better sound still wins the day, and then you look at the speed of the rigging scheme.”

Brantley Sound of Nashville supplied the loudspeakers, amplification and system processing for the U.S. leg, with Joe Calabrese and John Roberson of the company providing expert support. (“I can’t say enough about the efforts of Brantley and these two guys. They really know their business,” Hackman noted in an aside.) The rig stayed fairly consistent from show to show, with front left and right arrays usually comprised of 14 (or sometimes 13) EAW KF760 and two (or sometimes three) EAW KF761 near-field modules. These are flanked by side-fill arrays of six (or sometimes seven) KF760 with two (or sometimes three) KF761. Geometric differences presented by each arena accounted for the slight array structure variations.

“The EAW line arrays have headroom to spare, with a particular advantage being that it can get - and stay - very loud without stress. That’s particularly a good match with a band of this nature,” Hackman said. “The arrays can also be made to sound not so ‘hi-fi’ but rather more of an appropriate extension of heavy guitar-based metal rock, and this signature is fairly easy to attain.”

Following up on his point about rigging, he added, “One of the things I love about the KF760 box is that it goes up very quickly. You just roll it in, hook it up and lift it in the air. Particularly on bigger shows where we often have to wait for everything else to go in and then wait more for fly points, the faster it goes up, the better. I also like the fact that the hardware has a fixed point-beam, so if you’ve got the right trim height and correct angle point, the positioning of the arrays is automatically going to be correct.”

Tour-ubiquitous EAW SB1000 dual-18-inch-loaded cabinets produced plenty of sub-bass energy, and were generally floor-stacked three over three per side for the tour. It was to have been four subs high, but the late addition of four over four sets of EAW KF750 three-way touring loudspeakers atop each sub stack changed that plan.

“As an old-school band, Iron Maiden likes having PA ground stacks as well as the flown arrays to enhance the particular PA ‘feel’ they’ve grown used to. It gives them an added vibe on stage that’s coming from the house, particularly when they walk out on the stage thrusts,” Hackman explained, adding with a smile, “It also gives the band something else to climb on top of during their shows.”

Levels typically average in the 105 dB (slow) range at FOH, with Hackman always very diligent about clearing up all time alignment issues before handing the system over to FOH Engineer Doug Hall. His primary tool in this effort, besides his own ears, was EAW Smaart Live measurement and analysis software, and specifically, its impulse function, which makes for quicker and more precise alignment of the subs, side hangs, ground stacks and main arrays. (“With the additional ground stacks, there’s a bit more than usual to align with this system,” he wryly noted.) After alignment, he then deployed Smaart as a spectrum analyzer.

Six XTA DP226 digital units handled system processing, with Hackman taking advantage of the XTA WLAN "Walkabout" to do remote equalization – generally just applying a bit of helpful EQ to specific curves and so forth. Two DP226 inputs were dedicated to each main array, with separate band-pass outputs to the mids and highs of the KF761s. “This configuration gave us more control, such as taking a bit of EQ out of the mids of the KF760s without impacting the KF761s,” he explained. “We worked the parametric portion of the XTAs for this, in order to get a balance, and then applied XTA graphic EQ across the main left and right hangs as well as the out fills for general tweaking.”

FOH Engineer Hall took over from there, with lead singer Bruce Dickinson’s vocal - courtesy of a Shure Beta 87C capsule on a wireless transmitter - being his primary focal point. Hall wanted plenty of level from this mic and thus ran a healthy dose of gain, so Hackman stayed always mindful of the positioning of the house system in relation to stage ramps and thrusts to help avoid the “dreaded squeal” of feedback.

For the U.S. tour leg, Brantley Sound provided a Crown CTS Series amplification package for the line arrays and subs while Crest Pro Series powered the ground stacks. The other legs of the tour utilized Lab.gruppen amplifiers, which is ML Executives’ usual choice in driving this system. The “loud and proud” theme continued on stage, with six EAW KF850 three-way cabinets allotted three per side for vocals and another six Turbosound TMS3 cabinets (again, three per side) for band fills. Another four TMS3 cabinets (two per side) were provided a feed of the house mix by Hall from his 56-channel Midas Heritage 3000 console, allowing the band to hear what’s being put into the room.

Just one of the band members went with IEM, and wedges abounded: start with 10 Turbosound dual-15-inch-loaded wedges for the band, add six more EAW SM200 monitors around the top of the set, blend in two more EML dual-15-inch wedges for Dickinson, and top it off with two HK Audio wedges and dual-18-inch drum subwoofer. Monitor Engineer Steve "Gonzo" Smith rode herd over this wedge extravaganza with a simple, clean monitor signal path headed by a Midas XL3-40 channel console and XL3-32 channel stretch, with several Klark-Teknik graphic equalizers the other primary component.

“Our overall mission has been keeping all of these output sources acting as a single cohesive unit,” Hackman concluded as the crowd began streaming in for the Chicago show. “It starts with quality equipment that does the job while behaving predictably, and then the addition of our experience. We’ve been doing some pretty large shows over the past three years with this basic house configuration and it’s served our clients quite well.”

Posted by EAW at 07:26 AM | Permalink