Martin Audio’s MLA Mini loudspeaker array made another high-profile appearance at a private party where Penguins held an ‘invitation only’ gathering at Searcy’s at the Gherkin for around 200 prime donor/sponsors of the British Airways/Comic Relief UK Flying Start charity.

The Production and Event Agency invited Katherine Jenkins to perform and Matt Manasse’s Bluefish Audio to solve the sound problems presented by the glazed dome roof in the landmark London skyscraper – and to move all the gear 180m up to Level 40. Fortunately for Manasse’s team, the MLA Mini is both lightweight and portable. ‘We do a lot of work with Penguins, and had the Katherine Jenkins date in the diary, so this seemed ideal,’ he says.

A top line sound engineer in his own right, he was already familiar with Martin Audio’s compact philosophy when he became the first sound engineer to air the W8LM Mini Line Array on tour with Katie Melua in 2004. By the time he saw MLA Mini at first-hand (at the 2013 Plasa Show), he had already spoken to Martin Audio’s Andy Davies about the prospect of using the system.

Manasse’s arrival on Martin Audio’s Plasa stand coincided with that of Simon Honywill, Jenkins’ regular sound engineer and an MLA convert: ‘I specialise in corporate events and wanted to move on from my old point source system,’ he says. ‘I could have invested in conventional line array, but was waiting for something new to capture my imagination. The fact that MLA Mini was about to be released made it a lot more attractive; the technology behind it is just so interesting.’

It use at the Gherkin was prompted by the appalling acoustics of the venue. Having had prior experience of the larger MLA Compact, further assurances provided by Andy Davies provided all the confidence he needed: ‘The first time I heard it was in the warehouse the day before the gig, and it sounded brilliant,’ he reports.

Arriving on site at Searcy’s the first thing he noted was the curved, reflective interior – with sound travelling from one side of the room to the other. With only a brief window to set up, there had been no facility to programme in ‘hard avoid’ areas, so on Davies’ recommendations. And with physical complications such as the 18m head height, they predicted the splay angles using an optimised preset back at base.

Also helping to overcome the challenging timescale was the fact that the four MLA Mini top boxes could be pole mounted straight into the MSX sub station: ‘The whole rig went up extremely quickly,’ Manasse confirms.

The show itself was mixed by the experienced Steve Carr: ‘MLA Mini produced rich controlled lows with stunningly even coverage in the highs in a very difficult space and I easily managed to produce clarity and intelligibility of the voice,’ he says. ‘Any EQ at the desk was very responsive in the system despite the acoustics of the space being incredibly lively. Minimal (if any) leakage off the back of the boxes meant the foldback mix was cleaner and more precise. Finally, neat rigging and smart box design makes it very inconspicuous and tidy.”

‘From a production viewpoint, it was always going to be a tough challenge to provide a top spec audio system, for a hugely discerning artist in a glass dome, with a one-hour prep time,’ adds Penguins Production Director, Richard Bowden. ‘However the speed of set-up and the ability to focus the sound so precisely made the Martin Audio system the perfect choice.

‘Aesthetically, the box design is smart and compact – so for a venue such as the Gherkin, where the view is so important, it was a win. I can see a wide range of applications for the system with our projects and I would definitely look forward to using the system again.’

‘In many ways this is the system I have been waiting for,’ says Manasse. ‘I feel I am buying into progress and that this steerable technology will be the next big step for audio. The whole MLA concept lifts so many of the problems for system engineers and bands, and I think it’s fantastic.’

More: www.bluefishlive.co.uk
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