Updated system puts sound on par with lights at Stone Mountain.
While theme parks and historic sites are both known for attracting tourists and locals alike, it isn’t often that you find them coexisting in one location. But with miniature golf, paddleboats, a skyride and other attractions centered on the world’s largest piece of exposed granite, Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park is equal parts kitschy fun and ode to Southern history.
Located just outside Atlanta, Stone Mountain is best known for the carving of Confederate soldiers Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis on horseback across the rock’s face—the largest relief sculpture of its kind in the world. With last year being the park’s 50th anniversary, Stone Mountain celebrated many special events and new attractions, including the 25th anniversary of its Lasershow Spectacular, a laser and fireworks show projected onto the commemorative sculpture following sunset.
Backed by pyro and music, the lasershow is a multimedia experience that pays homage to Georgia’s history, local sports teams and pop culture trends. While the visuals are obviously the biggest part of the show, which attracts thousands of guests each year, the soundtrack is arguably of equal importance. To help make the music an even bigger part of the experience, the park began upgrading its sound system with Renkus-Heinz equipment last season.
Stepping Up the Sound
“The former sound system dated back to the origin of the lasershow, which was back in the mid ‘80s,” says Chad Kuney of Stone Mountain Media, who has been working on the lasershow since 1996. “In ’99 we did an upgrade of the speakers and sound, adding the locations on the sides of the lawn. In 2008 we stepped up and put the Renkus-Heinz gear in. What we’re also going to do [in 2009] is get the subs in; that’s our next goal is to do a couple of sub arrays to help really carry people on the lawn and make them feel the show. Additionally, we’re going to reposition where some of the speakers sit. Now they’re up on top of the towers and we’re probably going to start sequencing those down inside the towers just for vandalism and weather reasons, just to keep them safe and out of the way.”
While much of the lasershow remains the same each year, with crowd favorites like Elvis Presley’s rendition of “An American Trilogy” (during which the soldiers and horses on the mountain appear to come to life and gallop away), “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band and a medley including both Ray Charles and Willie Nelson singing “Georgia On My Mind,” it also changes up a little each season. Last season, for instance, also included a segment paying tribute to America’s military and blue collar heroes with songs by Aaron Copeland, Mariah Carey and Michael Bolton, and a section featuring parodies of films like Star Wars, Gone with the Wind and High School Musical with cow-related puns (a nod to Chick-fil-A’s “Eat More Chikin” ad campaign). There was even a brief segment with kaleidoscopic images and jellyfish set to new age music, which gave the lasershow a flash of surrealism.
But regardless of if you’re hearing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” or John Williams’ Star Wars score, the updated sound system will allow crowds to feel it even more than they have in the past.
“The sound improvement included not only the Renkus-Heinz side of it, but we also redid all the head-ins of the sound system and put everything digital with Biamp on the front end,” says Creasy. “So with the digital redo of the whole head-in, there was a completely new soundtrack this year with even some of the existing songs being remastered. That was another part of the push this year to really address the sound system.”
Make ‘Em Feel It
The first phase of upgrades helped make the lasershow’s 25th anniversary season (including a holiday show in November and December featuring sing-along favorites like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”) the most aurally pleasing one yet. And with the final improvements being made in time for the 2009 season, patrons will be able to experience this event in an entirely new way this year.
“Our goal is to have it done by May of ’09 for the opening of our ’09 season,” says Creasy. “It’s two phases: One was just to replace our existing stuff and the second is to address the subs and really add some more rumble to the lawn. We really want to make it so you feel it in your chest.”
The Renkus-Heinz update is just the latest in a constantly evolving show that has seen many technological upgrades over the years.
“Since its inception there’s a couple of things both on the creative side and the technology side with advances in the ways we can do it,” Creasy says. “On a yearly basis there’s some program swap-out of the actual content that’s played on the mountain. With that has come new methods for converting artwork into laser graphics and putting that back on the mountain. The content has changed as the capabilities of what it is possible to do have increased.”
“We can do a little bit more complex imagery than we could when the show first started. It’s still laser line art, but we have a lot more capability to do more with that line art than we did. Additionally, the lighting continues to be an advancement and we’ve added a lot more to the venue itself. It’s not just a laser show anymore with lasers only. There’s intelligent lighting located all the way throughout the venue with moving head fixtures, strobe light fixtures and those are incorporated and programmed into parts of the show. We’ve got special effects that consist of large flame cannons that produce a ball of fire that goes up about 150 feet, and those are supported by smaller flame torches that shoot about 15-20 feet high at the base of the mountain. Then, of course, the technology of the pyro has changed what we’re capable of doing and we’re getting some new types of shells out here that are also incorporated into the show.”
With a virtual ceiling of laser light projected over the lawn, a choreographed fireworks display, laser images synchronized to an eclectic soundtrack and a patriotic finale, the Lasershow Spectacular appeals to children and adults alike. Whether you’ve seen it numerous times or are making your maiden voyage to Stone Mountain, this year’s lasershow will offer both familiarity and freshness with remastered music that will be further complimented by the new speakers.
“There will be changes,” confirms Creasy. “We’ll be adding a couple of new modules, taking out some, and that’s just part of keeping it fresh. Some of the staples in there that people love, like “The Devil Went Down To Georgia,” the “Trilogy” where we trace the horses on the mountain (that’s been a part of the show since almost the inception), those modules that are favorites will stay and we’ll swap out some of the other modules.”
While visitors are likely to enjoy the park’s many other attractions during the day, once the sun goes down it’s time for the new and improved Lasershow Spectacular. 2009 is sure to be a historic year for the show thanks to the updates to the soundtrack and, more importantly, the sound system’s new capabilities.
CREW
Paul Creasy – Principal
Chad Kuney – Operations
Dan Grimm – Special Effects
GEAR
22 Renkus-Heinz PN102LA line-array speakers
6 Meyer M3D line-array speakers
2 BiAmp Audia Flex system
2 Alesis ADAT HD24
1 Mackie 1604-VLZ3 board
1 Fiber Options for distribution of audio signal to speaker locations
