Wedding Tour 2021 took Berry Goodman’s one-man show to wedding halls across Japan, chosen as ideal backdrops to support the release of the Japanese Idol act's latest love song, ‘There Can Be No Other Life’. The tour visited 13 prefectures in a one-box van, loaded with musical instruments and PA equipment.
In readiness for the tour, the artist’s production management office, Arigato Music, looked to purchase a small PA – for this purpose and for subsequent use as its own equipment. The criteria were that the PA rig was to be easy to carry and quick to set up in any venue, so that Goodman could go live on arrival. Since it also had to take into account the space constraints of each venue, a self-powered loudspeaker system, with good sound quality, was the obvious solution. After reviewing options, Martin Audio’s Blackline XP12 was the system of choice.
Blackline XP12 is a two-way active portable system that can be operated with low mains power, and has easy portability with the audio connected by linking the power supply and an XLR cable.
For the performance held at The Beach Yokohama on 26 June, a mobile stage and DJ booth were set up for an audience of 120 people, and a small digital mixer and wireless mics installed at the side of the stage. The soundcheck took place within an hour-and-a-half of load-in.
‘This was the second venue to use these speakers,’ says MSI Japan Tokyo’s Mr Kuroda, who was in charge of the sound mix. ‘Unlike the previous venue, which was horizontally wide, the second venue had a lot more depth in the vertical plane. And although this place was awash with glass, making reflections quite strong, I was able to control it in the mix. And although the available mains power supply was limited at the venue, the Blackline XP12 fully satisfied both volume level and sound quality.’
‘The set list included songs that require a certain amount of volume, so I was trying to create an environment that was easy to listen to in the front rows while audiences towards the back could experience a similar atmosphere,’ he adds, ‘I think the Blackline XP12 did a great job in this respect.
