Staged across three weekends each with its own artists, the 67,000-capacity Puskas Arena in Budapest recently saw BG Event put on one of the largest-ever at the multi-purpose venue.
Served by 260 Martin Audio loudspeakers, the first weekend saw 22-year-old Hungarian singer/songwriter and YouTuber Azahriah (Attila Baukó) play three shows to 120,000 people. This was followed by long-serving band Hungaria with their 1950s rock and roll style, with final band Halott Pénz (Dead Money) celebrating their 20th anniversary with this show.
It was the first time BG Event had worked at this venue. Closed from 2002-2019 for a complete rebuild, according to BG Event’s Gábor ‘Mazsi’ Bácskay, ‘The team of architects failed to take into account the acoustic requirements of a concert and focused solely on sports events.’ He described the new manifestation as being ‘like a large chimney with loads of reverb and echoes. We experienced a six-to-eight second reverb at any position, and no curtains or any attenuation were built in.’
Faced with such a large box count, BG Event turned to alliance partner Solotech, having worked together previously at the Sziget Festival main stage. ‘But as an independent company these [latest] shows were the largest full-service audio jobs we have done.’
The planning phase began in November 2023, and the demands were quickly defined. Mazsi was determined to use Martin Audio ‘rather than just any gear that was available’. As they would be deployed for four-to-five weeks, careful decisions had to be made not only about sourcing further MLA enclosures, ‘but also not many production companies would have 50m chain length for hoists or looms for 70-plus metres’.
Happily, earlier in the year they had boosted their MLA stock in readiness for the season. ‘Therefore we almost possessed everything we needed. However we rented a few MLA Compact cabinets for the ring delays from our long-term partner Szatyi Stage Team. For the rest we had a large number of Merlin processors and distros so that we could prepare the complete optical chain in our warehouse, enabling just a quick set up at the venue.’
Nevertheless, BG’s on site tech team needed to work closely with the light designers and the next challenge was identifying hang positions without interfering with the LED screens and lighting trusses. ‘There were obvious acoustic disadvantages due to the basic properties of the building and we had to do our best to counterbalance them and provide the audience with the best coverage possible.’
The main PA hangs comprised 17 MLA (plus an MLD Downfill) on each wing and an identical configuration for the out hangs. The MLX subs were unable to be flown due to the design structure and so were arranged in 14 stacks – three MLX per stack, with the bottom one reversed – with this cardioid configuration producing a successful result.
At the rear of the stadium four delay towers were rigged, comprising 12 MLA (and MLD Downfill) on the outers (LL-RR), 11+1 MLA/MLD on the inners (LR).
Eight ring delays were also used to cover the third tier. ‘Although the house has installed a lot of speakers since the direction of those cannot be changed, we preferred to have four delay hangs of eight MLA-C MLA each, and another four delays with ten MLA-C, giving a total of 72 boxes.
A further 24 MLA-Cs were used for front fill from the stage lip, depending on show set-up. A large auxiliary (17mx17m) B Stage formed part of the design for the first week and was removed for later shows.
Bácskay admits that the B Stage performance presented a challenge for Azahriah’s sound engineer due to the artist’s quiet vocal. ‘But we were able to assist with the main hang zones – making a second zone from the last four boxes, and preparing a separate EQ to kill any feedback.’
Overall, he was satisfied with the sound containment achieved. ‘Having the subs in cardioid stacks worked well, and we achieved good response at the rear seating as well. With Display 3 [software] it is easy to calculate the delay times. We didn’t need to use Hard Avoid, but everyone was surprised how consistent the coverage was throughout the whole arena.’
BG Event provided full FOH system support. First week for Azahriah, Zoltán Osztheimer was at FOH, second week for Hungaria, Dániel Tóth and Zsolt Gyulai were on duty, and the final week Zalán Ősz was at FOH. They report that all visiting sound engineers really enjoyed working with the PA, remarking on its consistent coverage and straightforward transfer.
BG also consulted with Marci Mezei as, in the past and for the professional set-up, the entire BG tech team can be applauded. This was all coordinated by Bácskay himself.
Finally, Bácskay credits BG Event owner Gergely Szentiványi for his foresight in investing further in MLA. ‘The company actually owns more than 120 MLA – an outstanding quantity in a region of this size.’
More: https://martin-audio.com
