Held during Major League Baseball's centerpiece summer event, the MLB All-Star Gala was a private VIP hospitality celebration for close to 4000 guests that included MLB employees, corporate Sponsors, team owners, players and their families.
The gala was held at the Ballpark Village adjacent to the new Busch Stadium with The Switch, a leading St. Louis-based production company, responsible for the event and Stanco Productions, also from Saint Louis, contracted to provide audio for the event.
One of the main challenges according to Sam Wehrmeyer, Stanco Technical Director, was “achieving clean, even coverage with a nice full sound, but not too loud as people needed to be able to maintain conversation levels.”
“Martin Audio's W8LCs,” Sam continues, “are the perfect box for that type of situation as they still have a full, robust sound, even at lower volumes. We only needed eight boxes a side seeing the space wasn't that deep. Full even coverage was a must to achieve the design so we also incorporated 4 outfills a side to further cover the space.”
A true hometown event, the first night Gala concert after the Home Run Derby featured local rock and roll legend Chuck Berry and Nelly, also based in St. Louis. As Wehrmeyer points out, “The city has numerous cultures, and they were showcased in the main tent with artwork and food from their respective communities. It was really a celebration of St. Louis. We have such a robust musical history and having two Saint Louis greats on stage at the same time was a real treat. They actually performed a duet on ‘Johnny B. Goode'.” Genuwine, who just completed recording his latest album in Saint Louis, headlined the show the following day before the All-Star Game
The actual audio setup included eight Martin W8LCs a side plus four for outfills. There were also six Martin Audio W8LMs and two W8LMDs in a tent structure behind the stage with local delicacies and hometown exhibits that also celebrated St. Louis.
Martin Audio Display software was used to facilitate the array design. Other equipment included a Yamaha consoles Crown amplification Turbo Sound 21” subs, and XTA processing. Besides Wehrmeyer, crew for the event included Edwin “Dee” Blanton, FOH Engineer, and Randy Anderson on Monitors.
Asked about the W8LC, Wehrmeyer concluded, “The box is really all about superior sound from a small footprint. To save on space we opted not to use the speaker wings on the large rooftop we provided. So we designed the rig to fly from the inside of the top. For this application the compact format worked really well. On Stanco's last tour with Nelly we utilized the same boxes. They worked just as flawlessly in stadiums and arenas around the country. We really couldn't be happier with them.”
As to the client, “they were pleased with the with the even coverage and the smooth sound of the boxes. The sound was loud enough to be impactful, yet not harsh or overbearing. The W8LCs worked fine, as usual.”
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