DUBAI — Staged amid occasionally strong winds and sandstorms, the 10th Skywards Dubai International Jazz Festival, a week-long event, found support from local AV company Artes Middle East, which provided gear from Midas, Meyer Sound and other manufacturers for the event.
More details from Midas (www.midasconsoles.com) and Meyer Sound (www.meyersound.com):
The festival, staged Feb. 16-24, moved to a spacious new site at Dubai Festival City this year. The system covering the site for the crowds, which totaled 46,000 for the nine-evening run, included L-R hangs of 13 Meyer Sound MILO loudspeakers each.
Flown above the MILO loudspeakers were two M3D line array loudspeakers aimed squarely at the VIP balconies, which were set 70 meters back from the stage. Sixteen 700-HP subwoofers bolstered the low end, six CQ-2 loudspeakers supplied front fill, and a Galileo loudspeaker management system with two Galileo 616 processors handled system drive.
“On the second day of the festival we had one of the worst sandstorms in recent years,” recalls Karl Da Costa, technical manager of Artes Middle East LLC, which has equipped the festival with Meyer Sound systems for the past five years. “A couple of video screens came down, and dust was getting into everything. Yet we managed to get through the afternoon sound check. Fortunately, the winds died down by evening, and all the loudspeakers performed flawlessly for the show.”
The main stage hosted four nights of international genre-blending headliners, including Jason Mraz, James Morrison, Spyro Gyra, James Blunt, Acoustic Alchemy, and Jools Holland with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.
“I was extremely satisfied with the sound quality,” says Anthony Younes, CEO of Chillout Productions, founders and organizers of the Dubai Jazz Festival. “We received positive feedback on the quality of sound throughout the festival from our corporate partners, as well as from those in the crowd.”
Audio for the smaller Jazz Garden Sub Stage was supplied by 12 Meyer Sound M3D line array loudspeakers, six M3D-Sub subwoofers, four M’elodie line array loudspeakers as outfills, four UPJ-1P VariO loudspeakers as front fills, and a Galileo loudspeaker management system with one Galileo 616 processor.
Artes also supplied full FOH and monitoring packages for the festival. The principal console at the main stage was a Yamaha PM5D-RH and a Midas Heritage 3000 for Jonathan Butler; the principal monitor console was another PM5D-RH, with an Avid VENUE D-Show for James Morrison.
The sub stage deployed a Midas PRO2C console at FOH and a Yamaha LS9 console at monitors. Shure supplied wireless microphones, with wireless in-ear monitors from Shure and Sennheiser. Eight MJF-212A stage monitors from Most High Productions provided foldback for the main stage, augmenting a system that included six UM-1P stage monitors from Artes.
Da Costa, who was using a Midas digital desk for the first time following a product demo by Chicco Hiranandani of Dubai-based NMK Electronics, noted that it “stood its ground through everything.”
Da Costa, an experienced user of Midas Verona and Heritage 3000 analog consoles, quickly familiarized himself with the new Midas digital desk to take full advantage of its versatility. He set up with 24 inputs, four effects and three main outputs routed to a Klark Teknik DN780 system processor.
“After the first day, I built on the existing show files for the new bands, using the automation to recall files and overwrite,” he said. “The most interesting feature was bringing all channels grouped on a particular VCA onto one module strip on the channel bank, making it easier to maneuver the desired channel groups at just the press of a button. Perfect for the fast turnaround you need when you’ve got a number of different acts on one night.”
