LA’s Pershing Square Downtown Stage annually hosts a series of high-profile free concerts each summer, with artists including The B-52s, The Wallflowers, Meat Puppets, 10,000 Maniacs and LA-based punk trailblazers X playing through eight weeks to thousands of local and international music fans,
Supplied by equipment rental firm CenterStaging, the concerts featured sound reinforcement from a new integrated touring system by Bose Professional and Powersoft Audio – the ShowMatch compact line array system powered by Powersoft’s X Series amplifier platform.
The Pershing Square concert series is among the first applications of the new system, which is designed to provide sound reinforcement across a diverse range of applications. ‘When Bose Professional was selecting a tour grade, concert quality amplification platform to sell to its ShowMatch system customers, the Powersoft X Series was the perfect fit,’ says Bose Professional’s David Scheirman.
‘Our requirements included proven reliability on the road, as well as premium audio quality for any size application. Finally, we wanted the ultimate in flexibility and connectivity. Powersoft is highly regarded for its reliability and audio quality among rental company owners, touring sound mixers and sound reinforcement technicians all around the world. With its powerful Armonía Pro Audio Suite and its seamless Dante integration, the X Series platform was an easy choice to integrate with ShowMatch.’
The ShowMatch system was prepped by Rat Sound, working closely with Bose Professional field engineers and CenterStaging staff to pre-configure the Powersoft X8 amplifiers prior to deployment.
CenterStaging suspended 12 ShowMatch modules per side for the main left and right hangs. Each included two SM70x05 modules, eight SM100x05s, one SM100x10 and one SM120x20. The flown arrays were supported by 16 Bose SMS118 single 18-inch subwoofers below the front edge of the stage, configured as a ‘broadside’ array to shape and control the low-frequency energy impact zone in the target audience area. Two SM100x20 enclosures were positioned on the downstage edge to serve the forward VIP seating area.
Each subwoofer was configured using Powersoft’s Armonía Pro Audio Suite to individually circuit each subwoofer in a cascaded delay format. This enabled CenterStaging to control and shape the low frequency coverage area to prevent audio bleed into areas outside the target-seating zone, while avoiding spill into adjacent streets and the surrounding neighbourhood – which included apartment buildings, retail complexes and hotels.
The ShowMatch array system was driven by three X8 amplifiers situated in one compact rack per side, outputting a total of 48 individual channels of amplifier gain. Each X8 is able to support AES3, two redundant Dante digital audio streams and analogue inputs – enabling customers of the Bose Professional ShowMatch system to access up to four different input sources per channel.
‘Being in a downtown area with all these buildings and restaurants around, it can be a little challenging to get the sound where you want it,’ says CenterStaging GM, James ‘Jimbo’ Neal. ‘You need a very steerable rig, but you need exceptional audience coverage. The combination of ShowMatch and Powersoft really delivered in this regard, and there were no failures. This is great technology, and everyone working there was very, very pleased.’
One of the Pershing Square concert series highlights was The B-52s: ‘My gauge on how a system sounds is the audience, and as they were walking out past the riser, they were saying, “thank you, well done”,’ says band’s FOH engineer Frank Gallagher. ‘The band came out and we had an amazing evening. My experience mixing on the ShowMatch and Powersoft system was enlightening, so now I am a believer. There was so much power that I wasn’t even tickling the system – the truth is I am impressed and I am going to use this system again.’
Los Lonely Boys FOH engineer Chris Conley mixed their show at Pershing Square: ‘Everything was smooth, and this is my favourite new rig,’ he reports. ‘The system sounded really rich and the subs were super punchy. Also, I had a ton of headroom – I pushed the amps, but they just took it and never went into the yellow or red. For me to push that rig at 121dB and the amps to stay in the green is pretty awesome.’
‘We didn’t experience a single failure and our amplifiers performed flawlessly as expected,’ says Powersoft US Sales & Logistics Manager, Jon Garner. ‘Meantime, the ShowMatch line arrays produced fantastic sound and a targeted, even dispersion. It was an exceptional experience all around for both companies and we look forward to many more projects together.’
