OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma — Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena recently hosted Rock for Oklahoma, a benefit concert for Oklahoma tornado victims that featured Kings of Leon, The Flaming Lips, Jackson Browne and Built to Spill. Concert audio was provided by Oklahoma City live sound rental contractor Miller Pro Audio (www.millerproaudio.com). Owner Danny Miller and his crew, FOH Engineer Nick Walsh, Systems Engineer Aaron Oliver, and Systems Tech Kip Montgomery provided the PA with a system comprised of HARMAN’s JBL loudspeakers and Crown amplifiers. Proceeds from the event benefitted the United Way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund.
The system utilized for the concert included 18 JBL VERTEC® VT4889 fullsize line array elements per side for the mains, plus 12 VERTECVT4888 midsize line array elements per side used for out fill. Side fill was provided by three VT4888 elements and four VERTECVT4880 fullsize arrayable subwoofers per side. In addition, 36 JBL SRX728 2x18” subwoofers supplemented the system’s low end. All loudspeakers were driven by Crown I-Tech 9000 HD and I-Tech 12000 HD amplifiers.
Although the Chesapeake Energy Arena has an installed house PA system, the Miller Pro Audio team decided not to tie into it for the event, which drew more than 15,000 people. “The VERTECarrays were more than capable of covering the venue adequately,” explained Oliver.
In deploying the VERTEC system, the crew had to deal with a number of large, hard surfaces such as signage that was located throughout the arena. In addition, because of its physical location it proved impossible to hang any speakers from a large video screen.
Oliver was able to avoid any unwanted echoes from the large, reflective surfaces and work around the video screen by using the JBL Line Array Calculator II V1.2 system setup software to determine the physical placement of the line arrays to achieve optimum coverage. He noted that the VT4889 and VT4888 are extremely versatile in their ability to achieve the best-possible coverage angles, even in difficult architectural situations like the Chesapeake Energy Arena where the arrays could not be hung in all of Miller’s preferred locations.
Miller Pro Audio chose the Crown-powered JBL VERTECsystemfor its ease of use, high efficiency and great sound. “The ability of the VERTECline arrays and Crown amps to work together and take advantage of the latest V5 DSP presets enables us to deliver a level of sound quality that’s just stunning – big and powerful yet smooth and even with exceptional clarity.”
“All the performers were really happy with the performance of the PA,” Oliver concluded. “Lots of ‘thank you’s’ all around. All in all, a great day.”
HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 14,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.3 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013.