WASHINGTON – As the first non-Baseball event for the brand new Nationals Stadium and the initial step of a high-profile journey across the Eastern U.S., the Papal Mass in our nation’s capital presented a unique set of challenges for one of the area’s leading production companies, MHA Audio.
When asked about producing audio at the beautiful and elegantly proportioned stadium with its own state-of-the-art system, Owner Mike Scarfe explains, “We couldn’t use the existing audio system because, as with all stadiums, the sound comes from above and behind the audience; and since the stage for the Papal Mass was at one end and it would have been impossible to time-align it to the stage. We provided sound for the entire stadium and 47,000 people from 60-foot towers on either side of the stage.
“Basically, we had a 550-foot throw from the speaker tower to the farthest seat. Working with Jim Cousins at Martin Audio in the UK and using Display software, we were able to come up with optimum angles for the line array. We had 16 W8L Longbow on each side firing forward, and 12 W8LCs a side, firing sideways. Then, six W8LCs firing to the rear of stage left.
The total speaker complement included 32 Martin Audio W8L Longbow cabinets, 30 Martin Audio W8LC, six Martin Audio WSX subs, and two Martin WT3s.
“It wasn’t just about clear spoken word reproduction, because on stage right behind the speaker tower, we had a 700-member choir and an orchestra of 50. The program started at 5 a.m. once the gates were opened and there was a variety of entertainment, including notable opera singers Placido Domingo and Denyce Graves up to the start of the mass at 10 a.m. And the choir, cantors and orchestral accompaniment continued throughout the mass until noon.”
The MHA crew consisted of FOH: Zane Marshall, assisted by Peter Maher; Monitors/Orchestral Stage: David Colella, assisted by Tom Buckley and Monitors/Entertainment Stage: Gavin Pearce, assisted by Bruce Coffman.
Asked about the audio results for this historic event, Scarfe concludes, “The client, Showcall, an event production company specializing in large-format, high-threat events, was very happy with the sound. We received positive comments all around; everybody was impressed. The representative from Vatican Radio, Roberto, was very enthusiastic. He’d already had positive experiences using Martin Audio in Europe and was happy to see it again.”
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For more information, please contact www.mhaaudio.com or www.martin-audio.com.
