Sound reinforcement design for the event was entrusted to Chris Marsh, Ross's FOH engineer and a close associate of Wiltshire, England-based sound hire company Major Tom Ltd. "The brief called for a compact and lightweight full-range system," Marsh says. "The producers wanted a big, exciting show but without bulky production elements. M'elodie arrays fit the bill perfectly." Major Tom supplied all audio equipment for the three nights of shows, with systems tech Paul Johnson keeping all gear in top working order.
The stage for Ross and her 10-piece backing band was erected on a broad, shallow terrace behind the villa. (A cut-out in the stage accommodated a sapling that had supposedly sprung from roots of 'Napoleon's tree'.) Two M'elodie arrays of eight cabinets each covered the wide audience area directly in front of the stage, while two UPA-1P compact wide coverage loudspeakers at centre stage took care of a few front tables and pulled the image down. Additional pairs of UPA-1P cabinets at each end covered tables wrapped around the side, four 600-HP compact high-power subwoofers anchored the bottom end of the sound, and Meyer Sound's new MJF-212 stage monitors provided foldback to Ross and her band. A Galileo loudspeaker management system handled all system drive processing.
"Galileo's atmospheric correction was a true lifesaver," testifies Marsh. "The temperature dropped from a high of 35 to 40 degrees (centigrade) in the afternoon to below 20 at night, and humidity would vary from 40 to 85 percent. But with the Galileo, we took it all in stride."
Major Tom has supplied Meyer Sound systems for a number of other prestigious (and more public) events recently, including Rod Stewart's European tours, concerts by Metallica and Andrea Bocelli, and the BBC's annual Proms in the Park extravaganzas.
(Lee Baldock)
