MORGANTOWN, WV – One of the sound companies supporting Snoop Dogg's 11,000-seat show at the Coliseum of West Virginia University hails from the booming metropolis of Mt. Crawford in west central Virginia, which had a population of 254, according to the 2000 U.S. Census report.
If it seems unlikely that a sound company from that small a town could grow from supporting local events to regional-sized shows, Southard Audio founder and president Mike Southard credited the long-term cooperative partnership with Richmond, VA-based Soundworks, about two hours away, as "a key part of our success.
"We combine our inventories as needed and make sure our amp racks are wired compatibly, which greatly extends both our capabilities," Southard said, noting that "Steve Payne [Soundworks president] and I consult with each other on major purchases and try to have mutually compatible inventory."
Southard Audio has been in business for more than 30 years, and "our relationship with Turbosound goes back more than 20 years," Southard continued, calling Turbosound's Flex Array "a great-sounding PA, very loud for its footprint, with easy and straightforward rigging."
For the Snoop Dogg show, Southard Audio partner Jason Misterka handled the advance work and on-site operations. "This was our first arena event for the school, and it was the largest concert audience the school had seen at this venue," Misterka noted.
"As you can well imagine, an arena event with a national hip-hop act requires a substantial amount of horsepower," Misterka continued. "We ran the prediction software and were pretty amazed at the numbers, and during the show we had all the level we needed – quite a feat for a mid-sized line array."
The main FOH PA for the show was two speaker arrays comprised of 13 Flex Array boxes each. Five TFA-600H boxes topped each array to handle the long throw duties, complemented by the wider dispersion of eight TFA-600HW speakers beneath.
The subwoofers were Turbosound TSW-721, a single-driver, 21-inch horn-loaded design. A total of 24 subs were set up as a delay arc, with six stacks of four subs spread across the front of the stage.
"The delay arc sub array is a key element. You lose a little of the overall energy, which is why we used so many enclosures," Southard said. "But it gives you a much more even distribution of bass information throughout the venue and virtually eliminates the "power alley." This way, audience members on the extreme edges of coverage still hear a balanced, musical sound."
Turbosound also played a key role on stage, with a mix of ground-stacked Aspect TA-880 loudspeakers providing sidefills, augmented by eight more TSW-721s for bass. "It was amazing, really," said Southard. "When I look at how we use these speakers on our other jobs, the sidefill system was basically a PA system that would be sufficient for FOH for a 1,500-seat room under normal circumstances.
"We had to satisfy the touring engineers in terms of volume, coverage and bass, and the WVU Coliseum was a real challenge," Southard added. "It's a very lively room, and the very defined coverage of the Flex Array helped keep energy off the reflective surfaces, which was a big advantage. At the end of a long day, I'm happy to say that everyone went home happy."
Southard Audio's current inventory includes 16 Flex Array boxes (half TFA-600H, half TFA-600HW), 22 Aspect TA-880s, 24 TSW-721 subs and eight TSW-218 subs. Southard plans to add 16 more of the TFA-600HW wide throw boxes and 12 more TSW-218 subs.
Along with audio support for hip hop icons drawing thousands of fans to huge venues, Southard Audio supports outdoor music festivals, county fairs, spoken word events like graduations and convocations, and also corporate and worship events.
For more information, please visit www.turbosound.com, www.southardaudio.com and www.soundworksva.com.
