Within this Grade II-listed building ghosts of its cinema past remain, and the bulging balcony fascia has proved the downfall of many a sound system, returning the fire power off the stage, and bouncing the sound waves back at the band.
But Martin Audio was able to pull off a rare feat when their Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) made its debut there (via Capital Sound). To the amazement of FOH engineer Michael 'Ace' Baker, Martin Audio's Jason Baird and system tech, Mark Edwards, simply notched out this chunk of the coverage pattern in the dedicated optimisation software.
"Chickenfoot is one of the loudest bands that have played through the system, so we stood onstage and switched the MLA's DSP from a setting that didn't notch it out to one that did, using the tablet PC over the WiFi link," explained Martin Audio's R&D director. The difference was plain to hear, with an obvious reduction in reflections off that deep balcony front.
Ace Baker had wanted to pilot the MLA since hearing it in demo in Las Vegas last summer. Sensing that his monitor engineer Jim Jorgensen was about to join Martin Audio he applied pressure - so that by the time production arrived in Brixton there were nine MLA elements and an MLD Down-fill ready to be rigged each side, with six MLX's ground stacked on either flank.
"I had been hugely impressed with MLA and could see the math behind it, but there's only so much you can learn under demonstration conditions... I had to get the system out there," declared Ace.
"Some people were doubting whether this was a true rock 'n' roll box - but this is one of the most rocking boxes I have ever mixed through. In fact it is a true concert arena PA, capable of producing a 'big' PA sound rather than just pumping out pure volume. I noticed it particularly around the kick drums and toms and yet I'm barely tickling it, there's just so much headroom."
(Jim Evans)
