First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre is among the largest outdoor concert spaces in the Midwest US, boasting a 10,000-seat shed area and 18,000-capacity sloped lawn. As part of the new delay loudspeaker system for the lawn area, an L-Acoustics KARA system has recently been installed.
With all acts coming through the venue carrying their own FOH production, live evebt company Live Nation required the new delay system that would meet or better the audio quality experienced by those under the shed.
L-Acoustics’ Soundvision acoustical modeling software was called up on to facilitate system design. IT technician Bryan Baumgardner from Clearwing Productions, which was charged with installation of the system, opted for four arrays of KARA: two main LR arrays each comprised of 12 cabinets, and two outer arrays of nine enclosures. The arrays were flown under the back lip of the shed roof, with power arriving from a total of eight LA8 amplified controllers.
Live Nation central region production director Chris Weathers commented: “Clearwing came out earlier this year, took a bunch of photos and measurements of the venue, imported those details into the computer, and then gave us several potential system designs to choose from.”
“The visual models spoke a thousand words in terms of exactly what coverage and level we would achieve with each system, and how we would minimise the noise pollution into the community just beyond our perimeter,” he continued. “It made it extremely easy to show management how an L-Acoustics system would overcome the obstacles and challenges that our previous system had failed to adequately address.”
