Martin Audio MLA and DD12 Energise Stereophonics PA posted: 15/01/2016
Having piloted the mix for every tour the Stereophonics have undertaken since they set out two decades ago (hardly missing a show in the process), their FOH engineer Dave Roden has become perfectly at ease with the Martin Audio MLA system that seamlessly replaced the former W8L Longbow on the last tour.
I knew I had backed a winning horse after being given the choice of which PA to move up to after Longbow. There were various options but I chose MLA and have had no regrets with that decision, he says. I can now just sit back in my seat without needing to walk the floor, knowing the system will sound the same everywhere in the arena.
When he arrived at London's O2 Arena it was off the back of a gig at the Brighton Centre the previous evening where the experience had been matchless. [Brighton] is such a lovely room to mix in and very like a sports arena, because you can put enough boxes in to make it sound like a giant monitor system. The room reacts exactly as you would want it to and you can hear reverbs of different lengths and narrow EQ slices, continues Roden, who has been using an Avid VENUE Profile, making heavy use of Waves plugins and the onboard dynamics.
FOH engineer Dave Roden using an Avid VENUE Profile
But part of the reason for this tour's success has been the deployment of Martin Audio's new DD12 lip fills, which sat atop the MLX subwoofers in the pit, and Capital Sound's new Dante network - designed by their audio crew chief Robin Conway - which was making its debut.
The band's new Keep The Village Alive album, which front man Kelly Jones sees as a conceptual follow up to the recent Graffiti On The Train, has already topped the album chart and the Stereos were determined to recreate the experience for live audiences on this tour.
The band are aware that MLA is state of the art technology and does things that other systems don't, so as long as we keep receiving great reports they are happy to leave everything to me, says the sound engineer.
THE PA RIG
The O2 Arena saw production field a 16 x MLA/2 x MLD Downfill hang either side of the stage with a 13 x MLA/1 x MLD Downfill as outfills. Ten MLX subs formed a broadside cardioid array, seven forward facing and three reverse.
We also have a three high cardioid stack of MLX rotated offstage at 45 , left and right as outfill subs, explains system tech Toby Donovan. This keeps the delay times a bit shorter in the broadside MLX array and also improves coverage in the side bleachers.
A pair of DD12s follow a similar angle, positioned on the outflanking subs, while the four central DD12s sit on the arrayed MLX boxes, angled into the audience on neat circular stands - all to remarkable effect.
We have used W8LM or W2 for nearfills previously but these DD12s are fantastic, natural sounding boxes and extremely powerful, adds Donovan. They are voiced similar to the MLA and the fact they are all on the VU-NET network means they can be time aligned individually. I can bring it up as its own mini PA, just increasing the hi-pass filter - as the DD12 goes down lower than I need for this application - but they require no additional EQ. With VU-NET we can monitor every single driver and amplifier module on the entire network.
THE NEW DANTE NETWORK
Capital's new 16-channel AES3 I/O for Dante is used to drive the PA. The network hinges around a combination of Lake LM44 processors, Focusrite RedNet D16 AES break out box and Cisco SG300 10-port switcher - and according to Robin Conway is a natural progression.
This is an affordable option and gives us a full 96K enabling us to further improve the noise floor of MLA, which was already extremely impressive. Using the Cisco Managed Switches/ fibre converters and twin Neutrik Fibre Drums means the infrastructure is very easy to assemble and easy to use.
While the signal to MLA remains in the digital domain (on AES3) throughout - without the need to pass through various conversion stages - Toby Donovan also notes the benefits of Martin Audio's continually evolving Display software which was a further boost to the system performance. It just keeps getting better, he says. In particular the new version incorporates the MLD Downfill boxes to a greater extent, which means that in turn they are working a bit harder, removing the need for any zoning.
As the curtain came down on an O2 Arena show that saw the band perform all their favourites, the quality of production on the night seemed a fitting finale to a year in which MLA had dominated concert stages across the globe.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Martin Audio MLA and DD12 Energise Stereophonics PA posted: 15/01/2016 
