One of the highlights of New York’s holiday season is the unveiling of the seasonal windows at Bloomingdale’s. For the opening show that marks the occasion, Frost Productions provided for Billy Porter and a five-piece band on a 40ft stage set in front of four of the store’s feature windows.
Bloomingdale’s theme for its flagship store this year was Best Holiday Ever with Frost Productions team leader Mike Alvarez arranging Martin Audio’s MLA Mini in four hangs for the 20-minute show. Their low profile enabled him to ground stack two MLA Mini rigs, underpinned by WS218X two 18-inch subwoofers in the centre, without obscuring sightlines. Two outer hangs of four MLA Mini were pole-mounted to an MSX 15-inch sub, with Martin Audio CDD-Live 8s used for satellite fills and FOH close fields.
As back-up, the sound designer provided three Martin Audio XE300 wedges – two downstage centre for a stereo mix and one as a cue wedge for the monitor engineer. ‘The monitor wedges are among my favourites,’ he says. ‘The fact the XE300 is coaxial is so great, nothing too “phasey” and, with my choice of mics, it delivered a lot of gain before feedback.’
A further benefit of using Martin Audio’s MLA technology was its controllability. Alvarez, who designed the system and also optimised the PA, turned to the Hard Avoid function. ‘This allowed me to provide coverage for guests across the street without having the PA hit surrounding walls and windows of the buildings and cause slapback.
‘The coverage and response across the listening area was truly optimal, without the annoyance of unwanted audio being where I didn’t want it: great results for our guests and neighbours as well.
‘You would never have known a concert was taking place a couple of blocks away, and a friend of mine – also a few blocks away – didn’t even realise there was a free show that evening,’ he adds. ‘There were no complaints from NYPD and no stoppages for soundcheck during the day, just happy reactions from everyone who was able to check out the performance.’
Alvarez was also delighted that Porter’s production team had invested full confidence in Frost Productions, entrusting them with the choice of Martin Audio PA and DiGiCo consoles, as well as provision of all personnel. Working with the systems designer was FOH engineer Chris Lapke – stationed at the stage left control position – Carl Lund on monitors, Matthew Duane (PA tech) and Ethan Jose and Johnn Fedor (stage techs).
The fact that Frost Productions have been working with MLA Mini for the past six years made it a logical choice, once Alvarez had set the optimisations. ‘As we were already very used to how MLA Mini sounded it was quick for the FOH engineer to dial in.
‘For us Martin Audio isn’t just another brand,’ he concludes. I’ enjoy the products sincerely, especially the Hard Avoid function. As we are a niche company, specialising in events in places where there aren’t normally shows – such as zoos, museums and pop ups – Martin Audio is perfect because it’s a lot about focusing the sound where I want it; having a small speaker is great for hitting the listening area without the fear of bounce back.
‘I’m driving Martin Audio from a design perspective, and I’d prefer creating a better listening experience by avoiding that slapback than throwing as much out there as I can.’
More: www.frostproductions.biz
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