Sound crew delivered the powerful message loud and clear to raise money for charity.
Since the time this story was written, Roddy Pahl, head of sound at MGM Grand, has passed away. Our condolences go out to his friends and family.
The MGM Grand Hotel and Casino’s newest venue, the Grand Pavilion, recently hosted a swanky affair in typical Vegas fashion. The venue, decked out in lavish decor, crystal chandeliers and expensive cars was transformed into Tinsel Town for the 12th Annual Keep Memory Alive Power of Love charity gala. The multi-million-dollar fundraiser brought together Hollywood celebrities, world-famous athletes and Vegas elite to raise money to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders. VIP guests included Muhammad Ali, John Cusack, David Copperfield, Siegfried and Roy, Terry Hatcher and Hilary Duff, among many others. And for $75,000 a table, everything from the world-class dinner prepared by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck to crooner Michael Buble’s performance, had to be flawless. Perhaps most important, Keep Memory Alive’s powerful message had to be delivered loud and clear to raise money for the Lou Rubo Brain Institute. Enter Roddy Pahl, head of sound at MGM Grand.
Pahl was in charge of audio for the entire event, including production numbers, orators and the auction, which included bid packages featuring tennis lessons from Andre Agassi in Lake Tahoe, a trip to New York City to see Jersey Boys on Broadway and meet the cast backstage, and a chance to race on the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. FOH Engineer Craig Doubet mixed audio for Buble’s performance, while H.A.S. Productions of Las Vegas installed the PA system.
The Power of Love charity gala was the first concert event to take place in the venue, which had opened two weeks before. The Grand Pavilion expands the MGM Grand’s event space to 602,000 square feet, including the conference center ballrooms and Grand Garden Arena. “The cool thing of having a room this big is you can do anything you want to it. Once you get inside the fancy curtains, it’s a totally different space,” Pahl says. However, he acknowledges that the Grand Pavilion wasn’t designed for audio and has no permanent sound installation. “There’s no absorption of sound — it just bounces everywhere. We have to do a lot of adjusting and notching frequencies to compensate.” A dozen EAW 850s are to be installed to improve acoustics for music and speakers during events, but not full-blown concerts — in those instances, MGM will turn to H.A.S. to bring in a PA.
The charity gala is essentially a test drive for another high-profile event ¬slated for the Grand Pavilion in May — The Country Music Awards (CMAs). Pahl and his crew can prepare for the live award show by smoothing out the audio cracks now. “This is our first go-round in it, so it should be interesting. For the CMAs, we will use the full 400-feet-by-200-feet-ballroom. For this event, we’re thirding off the room,” he says, adding that in such a large room, the goal is to not have an overdose of volume in the front. “There’s some really high-class people here — they aren’t up for Metallica-level volume by any means,” Pahl says jokingly. “We’re going more for coverage than volume. People are here to spend a lot of money — they don’t want to be rocked out.”
The load-in for the one-night event was an entire week, requiring constant coordination between the three different sound crews. Pahl admits the hardest part wasn’t hanging the speakers and perfecting the acoustics, but, rather, keeping everyone happy and on the same page.
H.A.S. Productions installed 24 JBL VerTec 4888s for mains and delays, 12 EM Acoustics subwoofers, two JBL VP frontfill with flybars, one JBL VP Drum fill with sub, four Crown I-Tech line array amp racks and 10 Radian/Rat Sound Microwedge RMW 1152s. The sound design consisted of speaker placement in the front to cover a third of the room, and then a delay set that covers the rest.
“It’s a big square box so it sounds like a big square box, but like most of our lives, you come in and make it work with what you have. The floor’s carpeted and there’s a decent amount of drape up, but most of it is not acoustically pleasing,” Doubet noted. “Keeping the speakers pointed at the seats is key.” A Yamaha PM5D digital console sits at front of house and a Yamaha DM2000 is used for a sidecar to mix the production numbers from various local acts, including dancers, choirs and musicians. “Buble’s guys are using up all the channels of the (PM5D), so we’re having a submix. That way it’s easier for both engineers so they aren’t stepping all over each other,” Pahl says.
Buble’s band, which includes an eight-piece horn section, had 12 personal monitor mixes that were stored on memory cards for the Yamaha PM5D. “It’s a great starting point, rather than starting at zero,” Pahl noted. Doubet brought his own microphones for Buble and his band — a mix of Shure (Buble sings out of a Shure Beta 87), Sennheiser, Audio Technica, AKG, Neumann and DBX. Doubet admits it is one less variable to be concerned with since he is familiar with how they will perform and has the ability to pre-EQ. He uses Smaart Live to analyze the difference between the output of the console and what is going into the mics.
The charity gala is a diversion from the arenas that Doubet is used to working on since joining Buble’s current tour as FOH engineer last June. His rig in the arena is the same everyday, making it easy in regard to the technical aspects of the job. “This event is a different part of the brain — I have to constantly be thinking, ‘what am I going to do about that speaker, what if it’s there?’ or ‘did they cover that part of the room?’ It’s fun to use the more technical side,” Doubet says.
Buble performed a short set for the event — only five songs — but despite the timeframe, this performance was just as challenging, if not more, for Doubet. Perhaps the one negative of mixing celebrity-packed red-carpet events is the fact that FOH is always in a less-than-optimal location. Doubet is mixing on a raised platform in the back of the room, thus higher up and farther away than the VIP guests. “They’ll never put (FOH) in the middle of the house at these high-end events,” he says. “For one thing, they don’t want to see it, and two, these tables cost a lot of money — $75,000. So, they’d rather put a table there than me.” To compensate for the location, Doubet walks around the room to get a feel for what it sounds like in different areas.
When he mixes, Doubet says he must keep in mind that the sound he hears coming from the stage may not be accurate to what the guests are experiencing. So, although he may hear too much low-end at FOH, for example, the acoustics could be ideal from a guest’s standpoint and vice versa. “It’s like a translation device in your brain — you have to be aware that you’re not in an optimal location and figure out the difference between where you are located and the guests,” Doubet says. “It’s constant give and takes to make it work.”
The biggest challenge of mixing Buble, Doubet admits, is keeping his wide dynamic range constrained in the room. Buble has such a big voice, in fact, that certain frequencies will take over the room; however, Doubet can’t remove those frequencies because they are needed during softer moments. “With a powerful singer like Michael, it’s a bit of a learning curve to know when he hits hard and when he doesn’t, and modifying the dynamics so his voice doesn’t take over.”
Another challenge is figuring out what Buble will do next, as he is constantly interacting with the audience between numbers. ‘He’s a chatty guy — he’ll walk off the stage and out into the crowd and chat with people, then his band will jam and he’ll jump in,” Doubet says. “Michael likes to pick up on what the crowd wants, so he could end up doing a rap song (laughs). Honestly, it’s happened before.”
Doubet has a two-week stint before he’s back on the road mixing for arenas. “I enjoy the whole show — the big band stuff is the most fun. It’s really exciting to do an intimate-style big band show in an arena and make people feel like they’re in a nightclub. Hisw music is a little different than the typical rock ‘n’ roll,” he says. “Just another color to use — instead of a guitar, you have eight horns.”
When asked if there is anything he’s learned mixing at the charity gala, Doubet looks around the posh interior, taking note of the overwhelming Barbie-pink color before responding. “I learned that pink clouds look really weird onstage in front of all the instruments,” he laughs, pointing to the stage design. “I’m like, OK, that’s interesting. Hey, I like mixing with pink…”
CREW
Sound System Contractor: H.A.S. Productions
MGM Grand Head of Sound: Roddy Pahl
FOH Engineer (Michael Buble): Craig Doubet
Monitor Engineer (Michael Buble): Craig Brittain
Techs: Mark Benson, Sean Macke, Shad Groverland
Backline: Studio Instrument Rentals (S.I.R.)
GEAR
2 Yamaha PM5D digital consoles
24 JBL VerTec 4888s
12 EM Acoustics Subwoofers
2 JBL VP frontfill with flybars
1 JBL VP Drum fill with sub
4 Crown I-Tech line array amp racks
2 DBX Driveracks: 2 DBX 4800 3 KT DN 3600
1 Dell Laptop, SMAART Live Rig, DBX 4800 V.4 settings
1 CBI 200-ft isolated transformer split snake
10 Radian/Rat Sound Microwedge RMW 1152s
1 Monitor amp rack A (8 Crown XTI 4000, built-in DSP)
2 Sennheiser 6 mix IEM racks
4 Shure UHF Wireless, 2 Beltpacks, 2 Beta 87s
1 Motion Labs 3-phase distro
1 DAS STI800 Powered System sidefill
