The Magdolna Ruzsa Band played two pre-lockdown concerts at the Papp László Budapest Sportarena using a Martin Audio MLA PA system supplied by BG Event.
Having won Hungary’s Megasztár (Megastar) TV talent searchin 2006, singer Magdolna ‘Magdi’ Rúzsa filled the 12,500-capacity venue for two consecutive nights, supported by a five-piece rock band line-up. To serve the venue’s sound needs, BG Event used 46 MLA cabinets, and four MLD Downfill enclosures as main PA and side hangs.
In achieving exceptional coverage of the audience areas, BG Event’s Balázs Szentiványi notes that there were inherent challenges: ‘This is a difficult venue compared to an average arena in Europe due to its size,’ he explains. ‘It measures 120m across by just around 80m deep. Moreover it ends in smooth flat vertical concrete surface and a huge glass sided room for the follow spots. There is a significant slap back with delay coming from there – and there is also a VIP section at the end of the venue high up above last seats.’
Many productions have come to grief at this venue over the years: ‘We have had several occasions in recent years when we have been able to demonstrate just what MLA is capable of – including Sir Tom Jones, Sting and Slayer. In fact, our technical team is excited every time we go into the Papp László Budapest Sportarena.’
For this, he credits the company’s experienced sound team – along with Martin Audio’s control technology. BG Event FOH engineer Gabor Bacskay-Mazsi and system engineer Marci Mezei are both experienced with MLA, having worked frequently at the massive Sziget Festival as well as domestic tours.
The two men jointly evolved the ideal set-up for this particular arena show. Behind the main left PA there was an MLX sub array rigged as well. Contrary to the electronically delayed sub layouts it was in phase in the full venue and also delivered sufficient volume – even in the upper and rear sections of the room.
In addition to the MLA, the 22 MLX subwoofers provided a mighty LF presence, with ten boxes rigged on the left flank and the remainder on the ground in 2x3 end-fire set-up. A further 36 MLA Compact cabinets were deployed as two delay lines, and fill.
‘We had to be careful with the unwanted reflections – particularly as the farthest and highest location seating in the audience sector was added at the last minute, since the concert was sold out on both days,’ Szentiványi explains.
For control, BG Event used Martin Audio’s proprietary Merlin processors and new DX4.0, as well as a Lake LM44 to optimise the system.
Having worked with Magdi, the band and the technical team for six years BG Event had been confident of being able to produce this superior result – particularly as the FOH engineer has ten years of experience with MLA. ‘Yet despite this familiarity, with both the PA and the mixing consoles, it was still surprising that we could achieve 96dB(A) – and that in the back-most rows the sound was dynamic yet loads of headroom,’ says Szentiványi in conclusion. ‘Coverage was excellent in all sectors in the arena, which was an important factor as the audience age ranged between six to 70 years old.’
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