Three sound service companies united for this undertaking: Leggio Sonido (directed by Jorge Leggio), Ariel Marti's Marti Audio, and Victor Lampariello's Compañía Uruguaya de Sonido. Together, these three firms pooled a massive amount of equipment together and pulled off one of the most memorable hard rock concerts to hit Montevideo in some time.
Jorge Leggio, director of Leggio Sonido, reportsd, "This was an outdoor concert where the crowd was situated on the soccer field, in an area about 100m wide by 85m long. There was also a second area, which was elevated 20m high with an incline of 35 degrees in regard to the ground. The stage was used in a lateral position facing 85m across the distance of the second level."
The main PA system actually consisted of two distinct loudspeaker setups - one for the instruments and a second system dedicated solely to lead vocalist Axel Rose's voice. The 'instrument' system was built using 32 D.A.S. Audio Aero 50 large format, three-way line array modules flown 16 elements per side at a height of 12m. These loudspeakers were driven by Lab Gruppen FP 10,000Q power amps, with loudspeaker management tasks handled by a Lake processor.
The 'vocal' system used another 16 Aero 50's flown eight per side at a height of 10m. These were accompanied by an additional eight Aero 12A powered, two-way loudspeaker systems that were positioned over the centre of the stage and flown at a height of 12m.
Sixty-four D.A.S. Audio LX-218 high performance subwoofers - each incorporating dual D.A.S. 18LXN long excursion, neodymium transducers in a front loaded, bass reflex configuration - provided low-end support. These sub bass enclosures were deployed 32 units per side.
In addition to the FOH mains, the Guns N' Roses setup used an impressive delay system, as Victor Lampariello reports, "Due to the nature of this setup, we decided against using out-fills. Instead, we erected four delay towers, which were placed 50m from the main PA. Two of these towers were comprised of 16 D.A.S. Audio Aero 38A powered, three-way line array elements (eight per side) while the other two side clusters consisted of 12 Aero 38's (six per side). These side clusters were driven by Crest power amps and were controlled by a Lake Contour processor."
Ariel Marti, director of Marti Audio adds, "This event was complicated by a variety of technical coordination issues, structural conditions that weren't anticipated, and heavy rain throughout the setup period. Everything from stage rigging and alignment issues to having too little time for setup made this one of the most difficult projects I've encountered. Thanks to the efficiency, build quality, integrated flyware, and power of the D.A.S. Audio Aero 50's, the end result was extremely positive and that is, ultimately, what matters."
(Jim Evans)
