MIAMI — For the dance music crowd, Miami’s annual Winter Music Conference has long been regarded as the main event, attracting professionals from numerous countries around the globe. Coinciding with the 24th annual conference staged earlier this year was the 11th annual Ultra Music Festival — the biggest electronic music festival in the U.S. Held at Miami’s oceanfront Bicentennial Park, the Ultra Music Festival served as the conference’s closing ceremony. This year’s Ultra Music Festival featured over 100 performing artists, DJs, and producers and was spread across 16 stages. Sponsors for the Ultra Music Festival were as diverse as the acts that performed there and included the Winter Music Conference, Heineken, Ultra Records, D.A.S. Audio, and Diesel, among others. This year’s two-day event drew close to 70,000 attendees, including celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Sean “Diddy” Combs.
D.A.S. Audio had sound systems at two stages this year: the Biscayne Stage, which was host to performances by Hybrid, LA Riots, Stanton Warriors, and BT Live, as well as the Mid Park Arena, where Roni Size, Benny Bennasi, Tiga and Josh Wink performed. Carlos Henao, owner/operator of Miami-based Paradise Production Services and a fulltime member of D.A.S. Audio’s U.S. sales and technical support team, served as technical director and system technician at the festival. Each of the two D.A.S. Audio-equipped stages this year had sizable setups from the D.A.S. Aero catalog, as Henao explained.
“At Biscayne,” said Henao, “we ran a pretty big system consisting of Aero 38A powered medium format line arrays in tandem with the Aero CA-28A compact powered line arrays. We flew 16 38As — eight per side — with two CA-28As hung beneath the 38s. Low frequency support was provided by twelve D.A.S. LX-218 powered subwoofers, which were ground stacked two high and six wide across the lower front edge of the stage.”
Rounding out this system, six D.A.S. SML-15A powered floor monitors were provided, along with a total of four Aero CA-215A subs and four Aero CA-28As — two each per side — for sidefills. At FOH, a Yamaha LS9-32 compact digital mixer was manned by Fernando Perez and Carlos Henao. A BSS Soundweb sw9088iis handled loudspeaker management chores.
Henao described the sound system at the Mid Park Arena stage. “For this system,” explained Henao, “we used 16 of D.A.S. Audio’s new Aero 50 large format line arrays — flown eight per side. These were driven by Lab.gruppen PLM Series 4-channel power amps. Sub bass program was handled by 12 D.A.S. LX-218 powered subs in a single row across the lower front of the stage. For stage monitoring, we deployed four D.A.S. SML-15A powered stage wedges across the front and, for sidefills, we used three Aero CA-215A subs per side and four D.A.S. Aero CA-28As per side.”
At Mid Park Arena, Ramon Franco handled FOH mixing. He used a Yamaha M7CL digital live sound console. Additionally, Ramon’s son, Andres, ran monitor world using a Yamaha LS9-16 compact digital mixer. A Dolby Lake Contour Processor handled loudspeaker management tasks.
With all this gear, one might assume that an equally impressive number of audio channels were in use, so Henao clarified this situation. “Since these performers were all DJs and electronica artists,” explained Henao, “we actually had a very low channel count, since virtually every performer mixes their show live onstage and provides FOH with nothing more than a left-right stereo feed. Combined with a microphone, 3-channel mixes were pretty much par for the course with most every act. On both the Biscayne and the Mid Park Arena stages, we had Shure SM58 wired mics, and for wireless operation, we used Shure’s PGX24/SM58 wireless systems.”
With the crowd capacity pushing the maximum limits at Bicentennial Park, Henao discussed some of the challenges the audio crews faced. “When you’re dealing with an audience of roughly 30,000 people, you need a combination of long throw and broad horizontal dispersion in order to provide consistent coverage. This was unquestionably the biggest issue and the very reason why we deployed D.A.S. Audio’s larger line array systems at each stage. The Ultra Music Festival is a pretty loud affair, and maintaining the high SPL levels throughout the heat and humidity is no small consideration.
“The fact that most of these systems were self-powered was another important consideration,” Henao continued, “as it streamlines setup and breakdown. The fact that we didn’t have to transport all that many power amps was a huge plus, since weight is a big factor when trucking the equipment. The self-powered design of the loudspeaker systems also creates a more efficient truck pack — and this is a huge matter for any sound company.”
With the 11th annual Ultra Music Festival now a part of history, Terry McNeil, the assistant production manager and lead system designer, offered this closing assessment of the D.A.S.-equipped stages. “I’ve received nothing but praise for the quality of the sound and the professionalism in which the entire project was coordinated,” said McNeil. “Henao and the sound staff were prompt, courteous, and did a great job. Every sound guy at the show was very impressed with the two D.A.S. systems. Bottom line: the D.A.S. systems not only matched, but exceeded my expectations.”
For more information, please visit www.dasaudio.com.
