For many of these events, held in smaller, intimate stages or meeting rooms on record company premises rather than traditional concert venues, Podd Sound's owner Mat Podd is increasingly turning to a QSC WideLine-8 line array, supplied by exclusive UK QSC distributor Shure Distribution UK.
For the recent events by Little Mix and Olly Murs, Podd deployed eight WL3082 elements and six WL212-sw subs, arranged in two arrays of four tops and three subs per stereo channel, and driven by six QSC PowerLight 380 amps, with DSP system management by twin SC28 processors.
An additional two WL212-sw subs were added at the Olly Murs gig, a combined live gig and webcast at Sony Music's Kensington HQ which was performed before 400 fans while being simultaneously streamed on-line. "I had the speakers arranged in a ground stack for the Olly Murs gig, and added the extra pair of subs to give me enough height to project the sound right across the audience," he explains. "You get excellent dispersion from WideLine, as the name suggests, so I've found I don't need side-fills in these smaller venues.
"All in all, the WideLine-8 has been great for producing a detailed sound that doesn't overpower the smaller rooms I've been working in lately. They're easy to ship in and out, don't weigh much, are only 50cm wide, and have got the fastest rigging and flying systems out there. For me it's one of the best compact line arrays out there."
At the time of writing, Podd Sound has just used the the QSC WideLine on a London playback of the new Pharrell Williams album, G I R L, and current plans include using it at the forthcoming London launch.
(Jim Evans)
