The landmark multimedia three-day event took place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and focused on providing a total entertainment experience for electronic dance music fans, with over 70 DJs performing each day.
3G Productions of Las Vegas/Los Angeles, who once again provided audio for the event, set up a fully loaded Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker system on Stage Two (Cosmic Meadow) to deliver the power and huge amount of low end required for the shows. DJs featured on the stage included Diplo, Justin Martin, A-Trak, Chromeo, Bassnectar, Dillon Francis and Destructo, just to name a few.
The system for Cosmic Meadow stage consisted of 16 MLA and two MLD enclosures per side, 12 MLA Compact per side for side-fills and three MLA Compact per side for front-fills. More than the required amount of low end was provided by 40 MLX subs stacked one on top of the other along the front of the stage. A Yamaha CL5 console was used for the FOH mix and a Yamaha PM5D for monitors.
Asked about the MLA, 3G's Keith Conrad said, "the system performance each night was fantastic and the Martin Audio stage blew everybody away. The client (insomniac) was happy with the way MLA performed, the show was packed every day and the DJs and their engineers were really impressed with the system.
"Because Cosmic Meadow stage was facing out towards the speedway and wasn't competing with any other stage, we got the full impact and power of the system, which was amazing," adds Keith. "As it turned out, we didn't even need delay towers because the coverage was so exceptional." This was due in part to Martin Audio's Display 2.1 modelling software.
"What makes EDC different from other music genre festivals is the incredible amount of bass that's required for electronic dance music. The MLX subs were so powerful the artists and their crews were smiling from ear to ear as soon as they turned it on.
"We were fortunate to have our secret weapon FOH engineer Manny Perez who is definitely a veteran with MLA and knows how to tweak the system so it sounds exactly right from the low to high frequencies, which made it an ideal situation for everyone. Overall, I'd say that the system exceeded expectations from every aspect."
(Jim Evans)
