Every Grupo Firme show is a party — on- and off-stage
Two years after their first (and wildly successful, grossing some $92 million) sellout American tour, Grammy Award-winning Mexican music superstars Grupo Firme are at it again. The band’s current La Ultima Peda (“The Last Drunken Party”) tour kicked off its 31-date Live Nation trek across stateside arenas at San Antonio’s Frost Bank Center and it wraps up in early November at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium.
Every Grupo Firme show is a party — literally, with 24 players on stage including a 17-piece horn section (plus dancers) and a full bar at center stage with a bartender that tours with the ensemble(!), serving drinks to the performers throughout the shows. So that “La Última Peda” tour name is really appropriate. Note: Unfortunately, crew members are prohibited from imbibing during the show.
The counter of the bar setup is located at center stage, and is visible behind the singer in the plaid shirt.
But with a night of catchy Mexican ballads and anthems about good times, the party atmosphere is infectious among fans who drink, dance and sing along with every tune, cheering their onstage heroes along the way. A Grupo Firme show is more than a concert, but an exhilarating experience.
Stage right P.A. hang with DAS LARA mains and sides
and AERO 20 sidefills
The System
RDZ Productions of Fort Myers, FL is handling audio for the tour, with company CEO Rodrigo Rodriguez also doubling as production manager. Now a successful regional sound provider servicing tours for the Hispanic and Mexican markets, as well as corporate clients and medium-sized festivals, RDZ has grown steadily since it was founded in 2007. “We started out very small with a 24-box Dynacord system and expanded with a DAS Audio AERO system, which we still have because a lot of the Hispanic market love that bigger box sound, but this new ARA-series system is totally different,” referring to the new DAS Audio LARA system on the “La Última Peda” tour.
RDZ Productions CEO (and tour production manager) Rodrigo Rodriguez
“This year, the band management wanted to invest in purchasing a P.A. in partnership with me” says Rodriguez. “I told them about the LARA system, and it was a great opportunity because it’s a new system with a lot of new technology and for what we’re doing, it’s easier for the load-in and load-out, so why don’t we give it a try? We did a trial, it sounded great, and the band loved it. I have used DAS Audio in the past, and this (ARA system) is a very different animal — there was no comparison to what they used to have.”
The LARA system’s pricing also made financial sense, but with an added bonus, Rodriguez explained. “What you will save in reduced truck space makes a huge difference, especially as the boxes are powered and we don’t have to carry amplifier racks or carry a bunch of Speakon-8 cabling. In the touring world, that’s a big advantage. Everything is amplified; just run your Cat-6, your Socapex for power and that’s it. Also, all the DSP processing is inside the boxes, which is amazing. That’s one of the things I mentioned to Oliver, our accountant — we can put all the consoles, audio and rigging in one truck — not needing that second truck saves us money!”
Prepping a LARA hang
Inside LARA
Designed for large events and installs, and offered in 80° and 100° dispersion versions, LARA is DAS Audio’s flagship line array. This symmetrical three-way, cardioid system consists of dual 12” woofers (plus two 8” cardioid woofers), paired with two 8” cone mids and a pair of DAS M-78N comp. drivers — all driven by 6,000 RMS watts of Class-D amplification (146 dB max SPLs), with IP control and monitoring through ALMA, and FIR processing and digital management via DASaim. Weight is 189.6 pounds and a matching triple-18” LARA SUB is offered. The 3-point FSS (Fast Set Splay) rigging system works with both LARA and LARA SUB for hung arrays of up to 24 LARA and 16 LARA SUB units.
LARA offers other advantages as well, according to DAS Audio’s senior pro audio applications engineer Jeff Taylor. “As it’s a self-powered system, the necessary infrastructure is much less than most rigs. DAS does it differently. Instead of sending Dante directly to the box, we have a signal distribution rack that accepts Dante or any form of signal you’re using, and then sends signals out using DAS Audio’s proprietary audio over Cat-7, so it’s AES and analog with redundancy to the cabinets and Dante to the rack. That saves us a lot of money, because we don’t need a Dante chip in every box, but you also don’t need a separate switch port for every box in your system. It’s a big plus for the ARA family.”
FOH engineer Baldemar Vicente in the house, at the Allen & Heath dLive console
Unexpected Benefits
Taylor mentioned another perk of the ARA system. “The DASaim digital management provides access to features such as FIR processing and vertical beamsteering — something other arrays don’t have. DAS also supports its legacy products — for example, this tour is using AERO 20s for sidefills and can control those on the same platform as the main system, which integrates perfectly for the monitor engineer.”
Speaking of the latter, Rodriguez added that “Having a cardioid system is amazing, and that has helped a lot in monitor world, too.” Both FOH engineer Baldemar Vicente and his son, monitor engineer Axel Ely Vicente are mixing on Allen & Heath dLive S7000 consoles. Axel, who has been with Grupo Firme for years, studied at the Sala de Audio school in Mexico City, but spent years traveling with his father, learning the business first-hand from the master. All time well spent, as he’s now creating a mix of IEM and wedge mixes for the 17 musicians in the band and the seven featured vocalists. Monitor wise, the complement is nine DAS Audio ARA M-210 wedges — eight across the stage and one in monitor world for cue playback.
Monitor engineer Axel Ely Vicente, backstage at the Allen & Heath dLive console
Smooth Sailing
So far, the “La Última Peda” tour has been going great, with a long string of packed arenas and fans experiencing a true Grupo Firme fiesta, with great music, fun times, great sounds and a drink or two along the way. ¡Todo un éxito!
CREW
- Sound Company: RDZ Productions
- FOH Engineer: Baldemar Vicente
- Monitor Engineer: Axel Ely Vicente
- Systems Engineer: Juan Manuel
- Production Manager: Rodrigo Rodriguez
FOH GEAR
- FOH Console: Allen & Heath dLive S7000
- Main P.A: (32) DAS Audio LARA cardioid line arrays — in L/R hangs of 16
- Side Hangs: (24) DAS LARA in L/R hangs of 12
- Front Fills: (8) DAS SARA along stage lip
- Subwoofers: (24) DAS LARA SUBs (each with three 18” drivers in cardioid configuration)
- P.A. Drive: DAS ALMA audio and control software via Cat-7; (3) ARA Racks carrying audio/ac power/data patching in rugged 8U touring racks
MON GEAR
- Monitor Console: Allen & Heath dLive S7000
- Speakers: (9) DAS Audio ARA M-210 wedges; SARA SUB drum sub; (4) DAS AERO 20 L/R sidefills
- Wireless Mics: (17) Shure Axient Digital; (7) Sennheiser Digital 9000
- IEM Hardware: Shure PSM900 and PSM1000
- Wired Mics: Shure and Sennheiser (drums); DPA 4099 CORE clip-ons (horns)
