NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Opera recently hosted Tony Bennett's 85th birthday celebration at its 3,800-seat venue in New York's Lincoln Center, with guest artists including Elton John, Aretha Franklin and Alejandro Sanz. ACIR Professional (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) provided audio support.
Although the Met, a well-established opera house, has a minimal need for amplified sound, ACIR Professional was on hand to provide Bennett with the live sound to which he has become accustomed.
ACIR provided d&b audiotechnik Q-1 line arrays flown L-R with eight boxes per side. Four Q-1 boxes per side were ground-stacked on top of a Q1 sub, powered with d&b D-12 amplifiers. An assortment of microphones from Sennheiser, Neumann, AudioTechnica, and Heil Sound were used for the show.
Tom Young, FOH engineer, chose a Yamaha PM5D-EX. Young, whose rider preference is a PM5D, noted that the 5D-EX DSP5D expander was able to serve as the primary snake. He cited the ease of running a Cat5 cable, noting that it helped the crew cope with space limitations and helped bypass the need to run a traditional copper snake in the venue.
Tony Bennett's latest CD, Duets II, was released in September in conjunction with his 85th birthday. It features a list of artists including Aretha Franklin, Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse, Michael Buble, Norah Jones, John Mayer, Queen Latifah, Carrie Underwood and many others.
For more information, please visit www.acirpro.com.
