Fielding his Martin Audio MLA Compact system, André Rauhut, who heads Complete Audio, reports that the band had originally planned to end their 2015 touring schedule at the Lollapalooza Festival until this came along. "And it turned out to be the longest Beatsteaks show ever - running to two and a half hours!"
It had been a strategic decision to stage this show in Dresden, with the beneficiaries being the charities, Sachsische Fluchtlingsrat and Dresden Fu?r Alle as André explained. "There had been a lot of right wing activity here over the course of the past three months and by going to the east they could show their support and stand up against right wing actions."
The event certainly captured the imagination of the public. It was originally scheduled to take place in a much smaller venue, but when the tickets sold out in double quick time it was hastily moved to the Eventwerk where 4,000 people flocked in.
Being the perfect sized venue for MLA Compact, . On stage, the band's reference sound was provided by 12 Martin Audio LE1500 floor monitors.
André Rauhut, whose company had been the first in the world to invest in MLA technology, has become an expert in coaxing maximum efficiency out of the system via the optimization software. In this instance he says achieving the coverage pattern was extremely straightforward. "Only the upper Complete Audio flew 10 MLA Compact elements and three MLX subs per side, supported by near-fills and side-hangs balcony needed some attention since the trim height wasn't ideal, and I needed to extend the coverage with beam-steering on the upper balcony slightly."
Another major fan of MLA is Beatsteaks' FOH engineer, Tom Körbler. "He says that MLA is his favourite system, but this was his first encounter with the Compact system," André Rauhut reports.
"He had requested the full MLA system and didn't know what to expect with the Compact. But as soon as he started to work with the system, and achieved the very same results, he relaxed."
(Jim Evans)
