ATLANTA — In Concert Productions commanded the audio July 4 for the Lenox Square Independence Day music and fireworks celebration. They opted for a d&b audiotechnik V-Series system to provide for the approximately 50,000 strong audience.
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As traditions go, 57 years of Independence Day party events at Lenox Square, Atlanta says a lot about the enduring quality embedded at Lenox. The oldest and the most prestigious shopping mall in the city, Lenox Square had been providing the ultimate retail experience for customers since 1959, and for all of those 57 years, every Independene Day it has provided a range of musical performances culminating in a spectacular 10,000-piece fireworks display.
Free to attend, this year music was provided by Jimmy Buffett tribute band Sons of Sailors, and Party on the Moon. Atlanta-based In Concert Productions were in charge of the audio and opted for a d&b audiotechnik V-Series system to provide for the approximately 50,000 strong audience on the day. They also brought their own quality twist to the show, as President of In Concert Jay Rabbit explained.
“We had 50 percent of the audience directly in front of the stage, another 25,000 down the side streets; so a lot of people to cover in widely different listening positons relative to the performance stage,” Rabbit says. “We used a d&b V system throughout, even the delays. We’ve not had the system that long and used d&b’s ArrayProcessing (AP) to provide consistent tone and level for the whole audience. We had so much head room in the system and such good quality sound, you could see it in the public reaction. We’ve never had so many people come up to us afterward and say how good it sounds and ask us for a business card.”
Independent sound engineer Garry Sharp has mixed for Lenox’s July 4th celebrations for many years and knew he was being presented with something new.
“The sonic clarity of the d&b V-Series speaker system was amazing. Along with the V and J-INFRA subs, the entire rig had a feeling of power I had never really heard before,” Sharp says. “Everywhere I went, it sounded the same which is really the key to a concert speaker system and shows the aiming and array software works very well. I did almost no overall EQ adjustments and no matter what level I was running at, tonal balance never changed. With the accuracy of the d&b system, you better have your mix together because, as I like to say, there is no place to hide.”
One of the conditions Sharp had to contend with was climate. “The show was in 100-degree heat,” explained Rabbit, “with typical Georgia midsummer 60/70 percent humidity. It even rained a couple of times during the day. The d&b D80 amps were fine with the heat, and the adjustment for temperature and humidity available within the AP tool kept the sound right as Garry needed it to be.
“That’s what’s so cool about this system; I recall seeing Garry walk down to the stage and then back to the rear of the audience and the first thing he said was, ‘Hey, it’s not ripping people’s heads off at the front, yet when you walk back it doesn’t fall off either. We are loving that.’ We know just what he meant.”
In Concert provided 24 V cabinets (including delays), a mix of V8 and V12, with 16 V-SUBs and four J-INFRAs. “We like the V-Series for its versatility,” says Rabbit. “Here we are doing a big outdoor show and we can equally specify this system for an indoor corporate event. The Vs are just amazing.”
Lenox Mall events are organized by C Squared Creative Management, LLC. Their Executive Producer, Angela Jo Coley, was equally impressed. “When producing the highest attended July 4th event in the South at Lenox Square, we are always faced with the challenge of distributing high quality PA throughout multiple open parking lots, covering several thousand square feet. In Concert Productions was able to provide that consistent, even coverage without any hot spots or drop-out zones. [It was] an exceptional listening experience for every guest.”
