Leesburg, FL – June 2012 … For its sixteenth consecutive year, the city of Leesburg celebrated music and motorcycles with its annual Bikefest. The three day motorcycle and music event, which ran April 27-29, 2012, featured a motorcycle rally and performances by numerous musical acts, including the rock bands FireHouse and Seven Mary Three. There were two stages at this year's event and both featured loudspeaker systems from Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio.
Sanford, FL-based MTI Sound, a full service sound, lighting, staging, video production, and installation company was contracted to provide sound reinforcement services for this year's festival. This year, the company deployed D.A.S. sound systems consisting of Road and Aero Series 2 loudspeakers on both stages. Scott Shryock, President of MTI Sound, discussed the nature of the project.
“In January, we took delivery of D.A.S. Audio Aero 12A powered two-way, mid-high line array modules, LX-218CA powered subwoofers, and Road 12A powered stage monitors,” Shryock notes. “We've been very pleased with the equipment and it did a phenomenal job for us at this year's Bikefest. We also arranged with Advanced Audio out of Orlando to assist us with a second stage and, this too, was outfitted with D.A.S. loudspeaker systems.”
On the Budweiser Stage, the MTI crew, led by operations manager Andrew Ello, deployed their D.A.S. system, which included ten Aero 12A loudspeakers—flown five elements per each side of the stage. Low frequency support was handled by four LX-218CA subwoofers; ground stacked two enclosures per side, with each stack vertically aligned underneath the overhead Aero 12A clusters. To ensure plenty of on-stage coverage, Shryock and his team placed six D.A.S. Audio Road 12A stage monitors. MTI Sound's Mike Warner served as the engineer.
According to Shryock, “This was the ideal setup. The fact that these loudspeakers are all self-powered was a huge benefit on this project. The self-powered design simplified system cabling and resulted in faster, easier setup and tear down. The system itself sounded terrific. It's very musical, provided great speech intelligibility, and we had consistent coverage throughout the audience area.”
At the Gator Harley Stage, the sound reinforcement setup consisted of sixteen D.A.S. Audio Aero 50 three-way, large-format line array modules—flown eight elements per side. These enclosures were accompanied by twelve LX218 subwoofers—ground stacked six enclosures per side, positioned two cabinets high and three cabinets wide. The D.A.S. Aero 50 enclosures were driven by Lab.gruppen amplifiers while the LX218 subwoofers used QSC Audio power amps. As with the Budweiser Stage, D.A.S. Audio Road 12A stage monitors were deployed, along with side fill systems that consisted of two stacked LX-218 subwoofers augmented by three Aero 12A's on each side. MTI Sound's John Adams served as the engineer.
In addition to being very pleased with the performance of the D.A.S. Audio equipment, Shryock is equally impressed with the company's customer and technical support services. “The team at D.A.S. Audio's Miami office has been a pleasure to deal with,” he said. “When we've had questions, we've always received fast responses and the follow-up of everyone involved has been first-rate.”
Reflecting on the success of the recent Leesburg 16th Annual Bikefest, Shryock offered these parting thoughts, “I couldn't be happier. Our D.A.S. equipment has been terrific. The sound quality is excellent, the integrated hardware is easy to work with, and the company's personnel have all been great. The audience at this year's BikeFest was very complimentary of the sound, as was our client—and Seven Mary Three's engineer was absolutely ecstatic. This was his first time mixing on a D.A.S. system and he was very impressed. The entire event was a huge success.”
To learn more about MTI Sound, visit the company online at www.mtisound.com.
About D.A.S. Audio
Celebrating 40 years of innovation, Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio is one of the world's leading manufacturers of loudspeaker systems, power amplification, signal processing, and related components. D.A.S. Audio products are found on tour with the world's greatest performing artists and installed in many of the most prestigious facilities. For additional information about D.A.S. Audio, visit the company online at www.dasaudio.com.
###
Photo Description: Scott Shryock with his D.A.S. Audio line array