Martin Audio WPS And TiMax Power Montreal's Major Summer Festivals

Two of the city's flagship summer fixtures, Les Francos de Montréal and the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, ran back-to-back in June and July, with their popular free-admission outdoor stage once again drawing audiences of several thousand.

As production partner to both events, L’Équipe Spectra equipped the site with a Martin Audio WPS system enhanced by TiMax spatial audio, aiming to maximise impact while adhering to tight noise restrictions in the heart of the city.

Known as the Desjardins Stage during Les Francos and the Loto-Quebec Club Montréal Stage for the Jazz Festival, the venue sits at Terrain 66 in the Quartier des Spectacles, surrounded by residential and commercial properties and, consequently, subject to stringent sound rules.

"One of the key reasons the production team for the festivals were keen on the Wavefront Precision system is because the stages are right in downtown Montreal," explained Claus Frostell of Canadian distributor, Erikson Pro. "With the optimisation that WPS provides, and also particularly with Martin Audio subwoofers, we’re able to localise the sound very specifically to the audience area."

"One of the big concerns we have is noise management," confirmed Dan Meier, Senior Technical Coordinator for both festivals. "The city rules are very strict, and we need to keep good relationships with our neighbours. Good coverage, clarity and punch at medium to low volumes is crucial. The Martin Audio PA delivered very well, maximising the audience's experience within the noise control constraints."

The main PA comprised eight WPS line array elements per side, supported by four TORUS T820 constant curvature arrays as front fills and two TORUS T1230 units for delays. Low end was delivered by three SX218 dual 18in subwoofers and six SX118 single 18in subs, with amplification via Martin Audio iKON.

"We had the three dual 18" subs positioned across the front of the stage in cardioid mode, with one facing backwards and two facing forwards, while three of the single 18” cardioid subs positioned on each side," Frostell explained. "With this cardioid set-up we were able to reduce SPL to the rear of the stage by around 30dB, and were also able to narrow the coverage so that it is focused primarily on the audience area."

The system was modelled and tuned in Martin Audio’s DISPLAY 3 software to maximise precision.

"Both WPS and TORUS are extremely clear and well defined, and we’re able to maintain consistent frequency response and level from the front of the audience area right through to the back.2"

TiMax spatial processing was introduced at the festivals for the first time to broaden the stereo image so more listeners across the audience area could experience consistent imaging. "This is the first use of spatial audio at the festivals, but with the reputation of Martin Audio and our own experience, the organisers were happy to explore it," said Frostell. "Their main concern was that, because they host a lot of guest engineers, they didn’t want excessive spatial movement or localisation that could detract from the engineers’ mixes. We explained that we’re simply enhancing the stereo image across the audience area, and once they understood that, they became very excited about the possibilities."

"Traditionally, a left-right loudspeaker configuration creates a relatively small stereo sweet spot in the centre of the audience," Frostell continued. "Using TiMax with the WPS system and TORUS front fills, we’re able to expand that stereo image significantly, allowing more of the audience to experience the mix as it was intended. The engineer doesn’t need to do anything differently - they mix as normal, and we simply extend what they are already doing."

Front of House engineer Hugues Bourque oversaw the Martin Audio-equipped stage throughout both events, handling a diverse programme from delicate jazz line-ups to bass-heavy hip-hop acts. "I really enjoyed the tone of the WPS system," Bourque commented. "I found it very musical compared to other systems. This year the stage featured a wide variety of bands, from standard jazz ensembles requiring a more intricate mix with a grand piano, to really loud and bassy hip-hop artists, all of which sounded great on the Martin Audio system."

He singled out vocal intelligibility and low-frequency performance, echoing feedback from visiting engineers. "The mid-range is rich and makes mixing vocals easy," he said. "That was actually the first comment I had from other engineers: ‘Vocals sounded really great in the Martin Audio PA’. I also found the subs to be articulate and precise - I loved them - and they received plenty of favourable comments from guest engineers."

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