Welsh rock band Stereophonics’ Scream Above the Sounds tour has an important gear highlight in tow: Martin Audio MLX Dual Clusters, which enable a twin stage setup.
But adding a second stage to the band’s set provided their technical crew, including front of house (FOH) engineer Dave Roden and rental/production company Capital Sound Hire, a major challenge.
On the Scream Above the Sounds tour, lead singer/guitar player Kelly Jones is exclusively using in-ear monitors (IEMs) for the first time because of his preference to minimize his interactions with the energy created by the band’s sound reinforcement system.
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Capital project manager Robin Conway’s duties include reworking the system’s broadside cardioid array of Martin Audio MLX subwoofers to meet Jones’ and the stage setup’s needs.
“Dave [Roden] is used to us producing even coverage with Martin Audio systems, but I knew that if we went for conventional left and right stacks we ran the risk of lobing,” notes Conway.
“So with a combination of modeling and experimentation, I came up with a solution that would avoid any compromise.”
Setting Up the MLX Dual Clusters
Conway’s system design called for two hangs of six MLX arrays in a cardioid pattern with either side of the center line flown at a 30-degree outward angle. [related]
This configuration helped the system to cancel low frequencies from the center of the stage, and at the same time ensured the loudest low frequencies weren’t “on the thrust” like they would have been with the previous left/right configuration.
“We tried this at production rehearsal and the coverage was even, with no hot-spotting down the middle,” comments Conway.
“The two MLX hangs functioned, in effect, as a single source.”
The band brings out 13 MLA elements per side with an MLD downfill with hangs of 12 MLA compact units on each flank to serve as side fills.
When Stereophonics played its largest gig at the Manchester Arena, the production crew increased the number of elements to 15 per side and added an MLD.
They also increased the amount of MLA Compact side fills to 16 and utilized six W8LM Mini Line Array units.
