Since 1974, when the festival was revived, Crop Over has incorporated other elements of Barbadian culture and the event has transformed into an extravaganza that attracts people from around the globe. This year's festival featured several Calypso music performances and competitions. To ensure the thousands of people in attendance were able to hear and enjoy the festive atmosphere, high powered sound systems from D.A.S. Audio were placed into service.
Bridgeport-based Quality Sound Inc (QSI) was contracted to provide sound reinforcement for several of the largest activities during this year's festival. Austral Estwick, co-owner of QSI, discussed the nature of the project.
"For Crop Over 2010Soca Royale. We also provided sound for the Calypso Finals, Cohoblopot (a six-hour show of calypso and cultural performances, as well as 10 to 10, a 12-hour show of Calypso music. With Calypso being such a high energy, upbeat music genre and crowds as large as these, we knew that we needed our big guns to deliver the SPL and coverage to ensure the festive nature of these events. That's precisely why we deployed our Aero 50 and Aero 48 line array systems."
For Soca Royale, which was held at Bushy Park, the QSI team erected a setup that drew from D.A.S. Audio's Aero Series 2 catalogue. The sound system included 24 Aero 50 three-way, large format, active line arrays - flown twelve elements per side - along with 24 LX-218 high power subwoofers, which were positioned twelve enclosures per side. "The system's performance was excellent," states Estwick. "We had even coverage throughout the area and sound quality was absolutely consistent for the entire day. We averaged 115 dB SPL at the mix position, which was located about 200 feet from the stage."
For the Calypso Finals, which took place at the Kensington Oval cricket stadium, Estwick and his crew deployed an Aero 50 system consisting of eight enclosures per side. Sub bass tasks were aptly handled by the D.A.S. LX-218 subwoofers, positioned eight cabinets per side.
Summing up this year's Crop Over festival, Estwick commented, "Our D.A.S. Audio systems delivered in a big way. The sound coverage was excellent, the SPL's were exactly what was required, and the crowds loved it. This was one amazing party."
(Jim Evans)
