RIO DE JANEIRO – The 10th annual week-long Rock In Rio festival drew 700,000 to the site planned for the 2016 Summer Olympics to hear Guns N' Roses, Shakira, Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder, Ke$ha, Metallica, Rihanna, Coldplay, Elton John, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and many other top artists perform. Gabisom Audio Equipment provided the massive sound system, which included a main PA hang of 120 VerTec VT4889 line array elements and 84 VT4880A subwoofers.
"We had used the VT4889 and VT4880A line arrays at previous Rock In Rio shows, and they can provide the expansive high-volume sound we need over this extremely large coverage area," said Peter Racy, Gabisom's chief engineer. "We wanted to make sure that the people at the front of the stage weren't blown away by excessive volume, but that the people all the way in the back could still hear everything clearly. The configuration we used enabled us to achieve this."
Installing and operating this Goliath-sized rig was only part of Gabisom's challenge. "The festival had very little time between acts, and Gabisom had to constantly change each artist's complete stage setup including backline, stage props and monitor wedges," noted Jaime Albors, senior director, Sales – Intercontinental for Harman Professional. "When Katy Perry finished on opening night, Elton John went on just 20 minutes later, with a completely different stage setup, and Gabisom pulled it off without a hitch."
"I was extremely impressed by the SPL capability of the system," Albors continued. "When you have 100,000 people clapping and screaming, they can literally be louder than the level of the PA, but this was not the case for this event. With 120 VT4889s and 84 VT4880As, the system had enough power to be heard well above the crowd."
"The most impressive attributes of the JBL VerTec line arrays are their effortless power and clarity," said Racy. "This is because of their ability to deliver high output while maintaining smooth frequency response and high resolution without distortion. In addition, their predictable coverage pattern lets us optimize their placement in any outdoor – or indoor – concert sound installation."
For more information, please visit www.harman.com.
