Dierks Bentley tours with PK Sound
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To meet the demands of the cross-country tour, Bentley and his production crew trusted PK Sound Trinity Advanced Robotic Line Array and Gravity subwoofers to deliver superior sound, system flexibility and easy rigging - whether in an arena, stadium, or amphitheatre.
FOH and system engineer James ‘Pugsley’ McDermott said the Mountain High Tour marked his 13th year on the road with Dierks Bentley, though this is the first time they've added Trinity Advanced Robotic Line Arrays to the PA system. "It's been a technological advancement not only in deployment, but also sonically," McDermott says of the new PA system, which features full-size main hangs with up to 16 Trinity boxes per side, plus a dozen Trinity 10s per side for side-hangs and front-fill.
The Dierks Bentley crew also flew six Gravity 218 subwoofers per side, with an optional six per side on the ground, which, McDermott noted, were deployed in different configurations daily to fit the size and shape of each venue.
"Every Trinity box can be whatever you want it to be," McDermott says. He noted that, while 120-degree boxes can be an asset for some venues, they are too wide for others. But Trinity's adjustable sound field lets the system engineer tailor each individual box to be as wide or narrow as is needed for the venue. "Each box can be set from anywhere between 50° and 120°, and you can use them symmetrically or asymmetrically.”
Production manager Jay Ballinger notes that, on this this first tour with PK Sound’s more efficient line arrays and subwoofers, his crew managed to gain 40 minutes in their day. He said when it came to choosing a new PA system, “in a nutshell, it was about the bottom line. This is not a cheap PA, but at the end of the day it saved on touring costs, and it saved our crew from potential injuries, as well as truck space, weight, and fuel costs.
“But the real reason I fought so hard for this PA,” Ballinger concluded, “is that we want the best gear we can get for our tour and our team, I want them to have the best tools to do their job, and this is the best PA out there, in my opinion.”
(Jim Evans)
