BATON ROUGE, LA – Premier Production and Sound Services (PSS) provided full audio and lighting production for Dennis DeYoung’s recent concert at the Baton Rouge River Center in Louisiana. The performance featured classic hits from DeYoung’s tenure as front man for Styx including Come Sail Away and Mr. Roboto, as well as songs from DeYoung’s solo albums. The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra provided musical accompaniment along with DeYoung’s current five-piece rock ensemble.
Premier Production and Sound Services provided a live sound reinforcement system that included JBL VerTec line arrays supplemented with VRX and SRX Series portable loudspeakers. The main PA system included a pair of 13-element arrays, each including nine VerTec VT4888 midsize enclosures and four VT4887A compact line array enclosures as downfill support. Two columns of four JBL VRX932LA portable line arrays each were hung flanking the main arrays for outfill coverage. A single row of 18 SRX728S subwoofers arrayed in front of the stage provided low-frequency output.
The subwoofers were progressively delayed from center to outside to a form a controlled, cardioid coverage pattern. A total of 16 SRX712M loudspeakers were used as stage monitors. SRX722F loudspeakers provided additional front fill. Crown I-Tech 8000 amplifiers powered the system, which also included Soundcraft MH2 and Series 5 consoles at front of house with an additional Series 5 monitor console.
According to Russ Bryant, co-owner (with Brian Gordon) of Premier Production and Sound Services, VerTec’s rider-friendly features and easy setup factored into the company’s decision to purchase the system. “VerTec has become an industry standard. Its coverage is smooth and even, it’s extremely powerful for its size and is quite versatile as far as the coverage patterns we can create with the arrays,” Bryant said. “The VerTec speakers give us a large advantage in accurately directing the sound. Being in an arena, we were able to point the sound directly at the audience, and the VerTec line arrays gave us a lot of control in doing that successfully.”
Additionally, with the help of JBL’s new VerTec v4 DSP presets, PSS quickly and accurately tuned the system for the Baton Rouge River Center. “With JBL, they’re not just delivering loudspeakers, they’re doing everything they can on a personal level to make the system work for their users,” noted Bryant.
To that point, JBL’s commitment to customer service has ensured a successful relationship between JBL and Premier Sound Services for years to come. The support of the JBL team has been unrivaled in my opinion,” Bryant noted. “The product development vision of David Scheirman, JBL Professional’s vice president of Tour Sound, helped us decide to go with JBL, and Paul Bauman’s technical expertise has been a huge help since we purchased the system. We attended a recent VerTec training program session in Northridge, where Raul Gonzalez, JBL Tour Sound Field Engineer, took the time to sit down with us and personally look at the specifications for the Baton Rouge River Center. He talked through it with us and confirmed what we already believed: that VerTec was the best choice for us and for that venue.”
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