Renowned for their frenzied performance and bass-heavy live sound, The Prodigy recently put a Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker system to the test at Berlin’s Velodrom.

With the set-up supplied by German rental company Complete Audio Berlin, the sound was in the hands of the band’s long-serving sound engineer, Jon Burton. In 2008, Burton had commissioned a custom 21-inch sub from Martin Audio R&D Director Jason Baird specifically to cover that summer’s V Festivals. At the 12,000-capacity Velodrom – a circular building with a low ceiling, designed for indoor track cycling – he was already familiar with Martin Audio’s premier system, having used MLA several times after attending training.

‘As an engineer I try and stay on top of all the current systems and think that the MLA concept is extremely interesting,’ he says.

For the Berlin show, Complete Audio had been contracted by the promoter and fielded LR hangs of 11 MLA elements, with two MLD Downfills. Side hangs consisted of two drops of eight MLA Compact. ‘We provide gear for all their local shows and have also worked with The Prodigy a couple of times previously in Berlin,’ says Complete Audio MD, André Rauhut.

To take care of the bass, the production company set up 24 MLX enclosures (capable of more than 150dB peak output at 1m), with 18 along the stage apron, leaving gaps for other infill subs, and a further three MLX per side flown between the main PA and MLA Compact out fills.

‘We made the design using Martin Audio’s MLX sub-arc calculator and our main goal was to get a pretty even dispersion of the sub energy throughout the venue,’ Rauhut says. ‘Jon is quiet clear about what he wants and asked for a broadside sub-array – which in any case is what we would do in that kind of venue.’

While Burton himself was mixing sound on a Midas XL3 analogue desk, helping him to optimise the room acoustics using Martin Audio’s Display 2 software were head system tech, Nils Uhthoff, assisted by Benny Franke and Martin Eckert, programming the ‘hard avoid’ features on surfaces with no audience to cancel unwanted reflections.

The result was an overwhelming success, as Burton agrees: ‘The show went extremely well and working with the Complete Audio crew was a pleasure. The [MLA] system was well set up and the coverage was good. The Prodigy rarely tours [one individual] system as we do so many festivals… but I would be happy to see MLA at any festivals we play this summer.’

More: www.complete-audio.com
More: www.martin-audio.com