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| The system includes Electro-Voice X-Line system, with XLC components, digital matrix controller and amplifiers |
For twenty years, The Broilers has numbered among the most popular and successful punk bands in all of Europe. To celebrate the anniversary of its founding, the Düsseldorf act is embarking on a major 30-concert tour, comprising appearances in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Following the first leg of the tour in spring as well as festival appearances during the summer, The Broilers commenced the second part of their tour on November 20th, 2014 in Kassel. In addition to club gigs, the tour also takes in major arenas such as Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle, which has a capacity of over 15,000. What this posed to Audio Service Rheinland, the rental company charged with the production, was the challenge of coming up with a sound concept that was flexible in the highest degree. “Punk rock is a musical genre that is heavily dependent upon the sound performance – in particular, on the sound pressure levels generated,” explains Daniel Ecker, Managing Director of Audio Service Rheinland, who has been The Broilers’ front-of-house man for the last five years. “The challenge for us is to deliver in every club and in every arena – the former, on occasion, quite small; the latter, invariably very large – the same, compromise-free output.”
As a system solution, Ecker chose loudspeakers from Electro-Voice. After numerous productions with different acts, all with different styles and musical aspirations, Ecker is firmly convinced of the quality and versatility of these enclosures. Fortunately, since Audio Service Rheinland has a variety of line-array systems from Electro-Voice in its inventory – ranging from XLC to X-Line – he has never failed yet to meet the precise requirements of a venue.
But first class material only delivers first class results when operated by competent personnel. For this reason, Ecker secured the services of Rüdiger Nürnberg for this prestigious tour. He has not only accumulated a wealth of experience in the pro sound area for over ten years, but also established a reputation as one of the finest in the business. For the Broilers’ tour, Nürnberg is deploying as the main PA in the large halls and arenas Electro-Voice’s flagship X-Line system, with XLC components supplying side fill or delay. The medium-sized locations, on the other hand, are the exclusive preserve of the XLC. Whichever the case, Nürnberg is inevitably satisfied with the results achieved. “Both configurations have to cover a wide dynamic range across the entire frequency spectrum,” explains Nürnberg. “And in this, they prove outstandingly successful.” An important contribution to the sound performance is made by the FIR filters. “The X-Line and FIR filters make a virtually unbeatable combination,” states Nürnberg. “For me, they represent the best system out there. There’s nothing you can’t do with them.”
Anyone who attended the largest show of the tour so far, the Broilers’ near sell-out gig in Dortmund’s listed Westfalenhalle, will be of the same mind. Nine Xvls and three Xvlt line-array elements were flown from each side of the stage. These were complemented by two flown bass arrays comprising in each case six Xsubs. Additional stacked Xsubs contributed to the rock solid foundation in the low frequency range. Side fill to the left and right was supplied by twelve Electro-Voice XLC tops supported by six XLC215 subs (flown). The power was delivered by the formidable combination of 60 Electro-Voice TG-7 and six Electro-Voice TG-5 amplifiers equipped with RCM-26 modules. The system was controlled and supervised via IRIS-Net software by an Electro-Voice NetMax N8000 digital matrix controller and Electro-Voice Dx46 and Dynacord DSP 600 processors. “Along with Hamburg’s Sporthalle, the Westfalenhalle poses one of the trickiest challenges in all Germany to the sound engineer and never have its treacherous acoustics been so convincingly mastered,” affirms Ecker. “Rüdiger Nürnberg has worked the hall as system engineer for a very wide variety of events and on many occasions, and he stated categorically after The Broilers’ concert that he had never heard the Westfalenhalle sound so good.”
The Audio Service Rheinland team led by Daniel Ecker has been relying on systems from Electro-Voice for some time now. They invested in an XLC system over three years ago and have deployed it already on countless occasions –invariably to good effect. Last year, they added an X-Line. “We needed a large system,” explains Ecker, “so that we could meet the demands of a full-blown production like the Broilers’ tour.”
