CHICAGO, IL – Joel Osteen Ministries' Night of Hope event visited US Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, in early August. Special Event Services (SES) covered the bases – and then some – with its Martin Audio Multicellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) system. And it did so at a relative sprint.
Although the Osteen event was scheduled the day after a White Sox night game at US Cellular Field, the SES crew, led by director of audio/co-owner Jason Farah, met the time constraints using 12 carts with extra-wide tires to minimize field damage.
Each cart had six MLA enclosures, so with 12 carts, there were 72 enclosures in all. These were arranged in stereo left-right pairs – with pairs positioned near home plate, the first and third base foul lines, and in left, center and right field.
"The proper cabinet angles were determined by Martin Audio Display2 software so that everyone in the crowd all the way to the top rows could hear every part of Osteen's presentation with absolute clarity," Farah said. "Because of the self-contained nature of the MLA powered system, we were able to pre-build, pre-program and pre-cable each stack before loading them in the night before," he added.
"The day of the event, we rolled in the carts in a matter of hours," Farah continued. "Once the show was over, I just had someone pull the power and signal cables so that the 72 speakers that ringed the stadium were off the field in minutes. We got out of there in record time."
"In terms of the load out, I've never seen audio guys leaving a baseball stadium two hours after the show was over. Amazing!" said Reed Hall, production manager for Joel Osteen, who also complimented SES and the MLA system on audio coverage and quality.
"It was concert-level sound halfway up the stadium, with bottom end and everything – just incredible," Hall said. "I walked extremes for the entire field and sat in the seat furthest away at the top level of the stadium, and the clarity and articulation was exceptional, with plenty of headroom for Joel's mics."
BK Beard, another member of the Osteen crew who mixed FOH for the event, also affirmed that the MLA system "sounded great, right out of the gate when we started sound check. Jason hadn't even dialed it in with the Martin Audio software, and it was very impressive. Everybody who walked the stadium commented on how the coverage was terrific."
"During the sound checks, Joel went to the top seats all around the stadium and was absolutely impressed with the sound quality and coverage," added Farah. "He said that he'd never heard anything quite like it before."
For more information, please visit www.martin-audio.com.
