Meyer makes waves at Montreux Jazz Miami
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The intimate 1,500-person festival held March 1–3 at The Hangar at Regatta Harbour, showcased a lineup led by headliners Jon Batiste, Daniela Mercury, and Daryl Hall, topped off each night with the Montreux Jam Sessions.
The Hangar - built in 1918 as the first continental naval air station in the United States - is a cavernous 20,000sq.ft space, with thin corrugated metal walls and vast expanses of windows, that presents significant acoustic challenges.
For 38 years, Meyer Sound has been the strategic partner and official sound provider of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The Miami team comprised Jeremy Arditi, co-chair of Montreux Festival Miami and Sig Greenbaum, festival director for MJF Miami.
Navigating the venue’s acoustical intricacies, Pete Diaz Productions A1s Richard Gomez and Oliver Quintero worked with Meyer Sound’s sales and technical support services to optimize the audio experience for performers and audiences alike.
The Hangar was equipped with nine Meyer Sound Leopard compact linear line array loudspeakers and four 2100‑LFC low-frequency control elements per side, with Leopard and 900‑LFC side-fills; MJF‑210 and MJF-212A stage monitors and Ultra‑X40 compact loudspeakers as front-fills, out-fills, and delays. Systems were driven by Galileo Galaxy 816 and Callisto 616 processors.
Through advanced sound mapping via Meyer Sound’s MAPP 3D sound system design tool, along with strategic system configurations, the team was able to overcome the venue’s acoustical challenges, controlling bass and minimizing reverberation to ensure that every performance sounded pristine, from soulful ballads to bombastic rocking grooves.
“Acts varied a lot,” says Peter Diaz, owner of Pete Diaz Productions, which supplied sound for the event. “We had a lot of jazz musicians that were just a piano and a vocal. Then we had bigger-sounding acts like Cimafunk and Daniela Mercury. The Wailers were probably the ones that had the most bass - we had to tweak the low end a lot with MAPP 3D in order to eliminate rattling of the venue.” Meyer Sound’s 2100-LFCs, configured in a cardioid array, delivered the powerful bass integral to the reggae legends’ music, while ensuring low end was both controlled and defined.
Visiting engineers were impressed by The Hangar’s sonic transformation. “I was told there would be a DiGiCo Quantum 338 console along with a Meyer Leopard line array at front of house, so I was excited going into the gig,” says Full Circle Sound LLC owner/operator Rex Marshall, who mixed FOH for Cimafunk.
“I know this ‘warehouse sound’ all too well. It’s typically very difficult to create a mix everyone in the audience will enjoy,” he says. “We started soundchecking and my anxiety instantly went away. The subs were tight and the vocals were extremely clear…these boxes have great coverage.”
Outside, a VIP stage showcased DJ sets hosted by Dante’s Hi-Fi, a vinyl listening bar. Leopard compact linear array loudspeakers, stacked four per side along with two 900-LFC compact low-frequency elements, flanked the stage, with Ultra-X40 and 900-LFCs used as fills.
“The organisers were really excited about how amazing everything sounded,” says Diaz. “I think we really represented the Montreux brand well, and we were able to encompass the Montreux feeling in Miami.”
