PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The inaugural Rock the Ink, which spanned three nights at Dunkin’ Donuts Center and Rhode Island Convention Center (RICC), was a celebration of hard rock music and body art culture. Hampstead, N.H.-based Rainbow Production Services brought the MILO and MICA high-power line array loudspeakers from Meyer Sound to support such hard-hitting acts as Godsmack, Killswitch Engage, Bret Michaels and 47 other bands wishing to push the sound level limits.
The multistage extravaganza was also a showcase for tattoo professionals to exhibit their finest work, along with tattoo contests of all varieties and a “Miss Tattoo” pageant. The music, however, was the focus of the event, with heavy rock material pumping all day long. Rainbow knew that Meyer Sound’s linear loudspeaker systems would do the job better than any other systems.
“The SPL was definitely quite up there,” notes Ian Silvia, Rainbow’s audio operations director. “All of the bands wanted a ton of low end, and this rig was extremely impressive. In fact, the bass even set off some motion sensor alarms in a nearby building’s lobby at one point,” says Silvia.
Fourteen MILO line array loudspeakers per side spearheaded the setup for the main stage, with eight more MILO line array loudspeakers and two MILO 120 line array loudspeakers per side for outfill hangs. Across the front of the stage, 22 groundstacked 700-HP subwoofers provided bass reinforcement. Frontfill was supplied by six UPA-1P loudspeakers, along with 10 MJF-212A stage monitors for foldback. A Galileo loudspeaker management system with two Galileo 616 processors provided system control.
For the secondary stage at RICC, the Rainbow crew used seven MICA line array loudspeakers per side, along with ten groundstacked 700-HP subwoofers. Two UPJ-1P VariO loudspeakers provided frontfill, and another Galileo loudspeaker management system was used for system drive. The systems were designed using the MAPP Online Pro acoustical prediction program, with a SIM 3 audio analyzer handling final tuning. An RMS remote monitoring system provided system monitoring.
Despite the spate of band changeovers and the relatively short setup time, Silvia reports that he hardly felt any pressure. “The tools that Meyer provides, especially MAPP and SIM, made the design and system setup much quicker. And with RMS, you know exactly how each box is doing, so if there’s a problem after setup—even if it’s as simple as somebody forgetting to plug a cable in—you can see it right away. Meyer equipment has given us a huge advantage over the traditional amp-rack systems we used to use, plus the level of support is second to none.”
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