The Plaza de España hosted the stage that has seen 27 years of murga (a traditional carnival song) contests, dance groups, live concerts and the crowning of the Great Queen of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival. This year's gala event was broadcast live by RTVE (Spanish National Television) to over 30 million spectators worldwide. The stage, reinforced with D.A.S. Audio's Aero 48 and Aero 28 line array systems, measured approximately 1,500sqm and had a three-dimensional perspective with its three levels recreating the sets of the great musical comedies.
Tropicana Espectáculos, the Santa Ursula based company in charge of the technical production of the gala, set up a total of 12 Aero 48 and 12 CA-28 speakers for sound reinforcement. Two towers, each holding six Aero 48 and 6 CA-28 line array speakers were installed on each side of the stage, approximately 60m wide. Twenty DS-15 and ST-32 speakers served as stage monitors and several Sound Touring series speaker systems were used as side fills.
The audio quality was praised by sound engineers and technicians like Jorge Baute, in charge of Tropicana Espectáculos' audiovisual system, who stated that: "The equipment was complimented by everyone, including the television technicians and members of the audience. Primarily, I'd point out the excellent bang-for-the-buck quality of the Aero system and its excellent performance at long distances. Its sound is pretty amazing and consistent as could be appreciated on each show, even at great distance from the speakers." In addition, Baute pointed out the Aero's "flawless performance at full power for almost a month."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
