The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington DC opened in September 2016 with Freedom Sounds, featuring The Roots, Public Enemy and Living Colour. Behind its doors are close to 37,000 objects in its collection related to such subjects as community, family, the arts, religion, civil rights, slavery, and segregation.

For its sound reinforcement needs, A/V design, installation, and production specialist Audio & Light looked to DAS Audio Aero Series 2 and Road Series loudspeaker systems. Company president Jim Hoyle served as the FOH tech on the opening show.

‘The Freedom Sounds show was a concert that punctuated a weekend of DC celebrations commemorating the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture,’ he reports. ‘Our set-up included 24 Aero 50 line array enclosures – flown 12 units each for the left and right hangs. For low frequency support, we used 36 UX-221A powered subwoofers. These were positioned in stacks of two, positioned just over three feet apart on the downstage edge of the stage. The Aero 50 line arrays were provided by Ruben Silva of DBS Sound. Ruben is a great guy and was a big help to us on this.’

‘For fill,’ he continues, ‘we positioned 16 DAS Aero 20A line array enclosures – with eight for each of the two clusters. We also had a delay system of 16 DAS Aero 40A loudspeakers. These were positioned in two hangs of eight enclosures that were flown on two TMD-560 Guil Towers, which were positioned behind the FOH tower. For front fill, we used six Aero 20A boxes, and these were spread evenly across the front of the stage and positioned on top of the subs. Completing the set-up, we used 20 DAS Audio Road 12A stage monitors.

‘The DAS Aero Series does an excellent job with a wide variety of music. Our stage for this event had performances by musicians from all over the world – ranging from acoustic folk music and Dixieland jazz to Rap, R&B, and heavy rock. The Aero’s are able to reproduce the subtle nuance of an acoustic instrument as well as deliver the full force of a rock band at high SPL – all while sounding clear and natural.’

‘DAS Audio’s system designers did a great job voicing the loudspeakers in the Aero Series to sound similar, no matter which size box is being used,’ he adds. ‘While walking the coverage pattern, I was particularly struck by the seamless coverage between the main hang and the side-outs. There was no difference in sound and the transition was impressive.’

With the Freedom Sounds show completed, Hoyle reports the event was a huge success. ‘We are extremely happy with how this show went,’ he says. ‘The rig sounded amazing and all the guest engineers loved it. None of them experienced any difficulty finding their mix. The audience loved it too. I received many compliments on the sound from attendees. We are very proud to have been involved with this historic event and are very pleased to have done it with DAS.’