Alcons Audio delivers at Super Bowl events
- Details
Super Bowl LII took place at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Philadelphia Eagles beat the reigning champions New England Patriots. For the week before the game, the ballroom at the Minneapolis Hilton hotel hosted a range of events which generated huge US media interest. An audio system that could deliver speech and music of equal high quality over a large area was vital - just the task for the Alcons LR7 pro-ribbon micro line-array.
Packed with reporters, one of the highest profile events was the announcement of Justin Timberlake as the Super Bowl halftime entertainment. With the eyes and ears of the world on the announcement, press conference and Q&A with Timberlake, the sound had to be flawless.
Global production company Freeman AV delivers most of the sound and video requirements for Super Bowl. Despite the company’s huge inventory of audio systems, Martin Reeves - the technical audio lead who works closely with Freeman AV’s Director of Client Solutions, Warren Cruickshank - always insists on Alcons.
“The Minneapolis Hilton was a challenging space that we had to cover with even, quality sound for a range of very high-profile events,” says Martin. “Horizontally it was around 150ft wide by 200ft deep, but with the added difficulty of a low ceiling that we needed to prevent audio reflections from. In addition, with three tiers of broadcast camera risers, we had to maintain sightlines, so the system needed to be both compact and highly directional.”
The Alcons system comprised six flown LR7 and one ground-stacked BF181 compact subwoofer per side, plus SR9 ultra-compact in-fill monitors for frontfill, QR24 modular line-source array columns for outfill and VR8 compact versatile monitors providing foldback.
“It was a very small package for a very big room, yet the fidelity, clarity and throw were exceptional,” he continues. “It was a difficult and high-pressure production, both because of Super Bowl’s profile and with media crews from all over the world.
Meanwhile in Europe, Austrian private broadcaster PULS 4 hosted what it called ‘Europe’s biggest Super Bowl Party’ for 4000 fans at the Albert Schultz ice rink in Vienna. Supported by ils medientechnik GmbH, Alcons distributor Pro Performance Wolfgang Sauter provided 54 LR18 compact mid-sized line array modules, with 12 BC543 very high output cardioid subwoofers. Including VR8 and VR12 versatile monitors with BQ211 compact high output subs, the Austrian system was powered by 24 Sentinel10 amplified loudspeaker controllers.
(Jim Evans)
