Harnessing the power of Springsteen and his 17-piece band is FOH engineer, mix veteran John Cooper, who has provided mixing services for the Boss for the past 10 years and also performs mixing duties for artists including Sheryl Crow, Wynonna Judd, Ringo Starr and Lionel Richie.
The K1/Kudo system provided for the Wrecking Ball tour consists of 60 K1 enclosures, 16 K1-SB subwoofers, 24 Karas, 48 Kudoss, and eight SB28 subs. In many venues, the audience is in 360 degrees as the set design allows for unobstructed views from the rear. Sixteen V-Dosc cabinets are also brought along to provide delay-fill in venues when necessary. All speakers are processed and powered via the LA8 4-channel amplified controller and all LA8s are contained and interconnected via the LA-RAK. The tour also boasts the first wide-scale use of L-Acoustics' NetworkManager 2 software, providing advanced control and monitoring of more than 76 LA8 controllers.
"Solotech personnel have been outstanding; they show a great attention to details," says Cooper. "At this point in time I have not heard a more refined, more accurate and musical sound system."
Springsteen's first concert tour since 2009 is presently scheduled to play dates in North America and Europe through September, with stadium dates recently added for Boston, Vernon New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Toronto, Moncton, New Jersey and Philadelphia. Solotech is providing full audio production services for the entire US Wrecking Ball tour.
(Jim Evans)
