The Motown event is the latest in the music series, In Performance at the White House. Performers included Smokey Robinson, Sheryl Crow, Seal and John Legend, among others, and several Motown legends were in attendance. The event was broadcast on PBS on Tuesday 1March.
Anderson stated, "The East Room is approximately 80ft by 40ft, and all the speakers need to hang from trusses ringing the room at about 16-18ft. The room has some sound issues, and to complicate things even further, there are three huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling."
Anderson looked to EAW, who recommended their NTL720 Self-Powered Line Array System and NTS250 Large Format Flyable Subwoofer. Anderson Audio assembled arrays of NTL720's, four per side, with four NTS250's, two per side, in the front of the room. Other EAW products used included JF60z Compact Full-Range Loudspeakers for front-fills and NT29 Self-Powered Full-Range Loudspeakers for out-fills.
Anderson noted, "I needed low profile, high output boxes with a wide horizontal dispersion pattern, and EAW provided a solution. There are many challenges involved in an event like this - we are shooting a TV show, and the sound system has to be effective in translating the energy and excitement of the show while not getting into any of the camera shots. Frequency response must be smooth and accurate to not interfere with the broadcast mix audio."
He continued, "By all accounts, the system performed very well. I received many compliments about the audio for this show in particular."
(Jim Evans)
