EDISON, NJ — For a recent tour featuring Gospel standout Fred Hammond and the United Tenors (including vocalists Dave Hollister, Eric Roberson and Brian Courtney Wilson along with Hammond), promoter FTF Entertainment opted for RCF’s TTL33-A line array system and TTS-56A subwoofers.
More details from RCF (www.rcf-usa.com):
Fred Hammond has been at the forefront as one of the most recognizable voices in Gospel music, hailed as one of the most innovative figures in the genre for the past two decades with numerous Dove, Stellar and Grammy Awards honoring his work.
Hammond first gained recognition in the early 1980s as a member of The Winans, long considered one of the pioneers in the field of contemporary gospel, bringing the sound and style of traditional black gospel groups into a contemporary style. In 1985, he brought a crossover appeal to gospel with Commissioned, bringing a dynamic and dramatic performance edge to their evangelical performances. After nearly a dozen albums, Hammond went on to form Radicals For Christ, garnering a Dove Award in 1998 for Best Contemporary Gospel Song, with multi-platinum album sales.
2013 found Hammond reaching across musical boundaries with the creation of United Tenors, a quartet of male vocalists fusing the gospel stylings of Hammond and Brian Courtney Wilson with the R&B influences of Dave Hollister and Eric Roberson.
Their album, simply titled United Tenors: Hammond, Hollister, Roberson, Wilson, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Gospel sales charts and climbed to #39 on Billboard’s Top-200.
On the United Tenors project, Hammond recently commented, “I felt like it was time to bring the sound of men worshipping back into the music world,” mentioning how his original work with The Winans and Commissioned back in the 1980s and early 90s is missing in today’s music world.
Once it came time to tour, Hammond noted, “we’re looking to roll out the best presentation of this music to our audience.” For the tour, promoter FTF Entertainment choose the RCF TTL33-A line array system and TTS-56A subwoofers.
The system was comprised of eight TTL33-A boxes, an active three-way box with dual 8” low frequency woofers along with one 8” midrange and three 1” high frequency compression drivers, along with 10 TTS-56A double 21” active subwoofers.
While the focus was certainly on vocals, which front-of-house engineer Ray Hammond said were “pristine,” he also noted that the system, “not only handled the four vocalists superbly, but duplicated the rhythm section with precision. It just rocked!”
Hammond had previously worked with an RCF TTL55-A line array system, downsizing slightly for this tour’s venues to the TTL33-A. “At first, I was a little concerned, not sure of what it would actually sound like,” considering the size of the subwoofers versus the 8” drivers in the main system. “I expected a frequency hole. To my surprise, it worked great.”
Using RCF’s stand-up kart, “getting the P.A. up and dialing it in was one of the fastest systems I’ve ever worked with,” Hammond praised the setups at the various venues as smooth and easy. “With RDNet (RCF’s proprietary DSP protocol that allows for the monitoring of all system components and control parameters including gain, equalization and delay), it makes it easy to dial in the system.”
