Green Day’s line-up of three front liners with a couple of guest musicians amounts to a modest 22 audio channels at FOH. But what the band ‘lacks’ in channel count is made up by extensive use of analogue outboard gear. At the helm is the band’s long-standing FOH engineer, Kevin Lemoine, who – supported by System Tech Clark Thomas – recently pitched up at the Estadio Velez Stadium in Argentina as part of a year-long tour covering Australia, Europe, South America, Canada and the US.
The PA used for the concert was a d&b audoitechnik SL-Series, GSL System supplied by one of Argentina’s largest rental firms, BALS Buenos Aires Live Shows.
‘This is the best expression of live mixing I have ever encountered.’ Lemoine reports. ‘Now I want to try different microphones on sources because I can actually hear the nuances of them. Different compressors, different pre-amps, and different EQs, because now they can really and honestly be heard. This is a thrilling idea really, and the thought of using the GSL on a daily basis cannot happen fast enough. From someone that is familiar with every major PA system, it’s nice to know what is really the best, and I can’t wait to hear it again.’
The Estadio Velez in Buenos Aires is a 45,000-capacity sports stadium, now established as a leading venue for global events and tours where the he BALS sound crew were keen to work with the latest addition to the d&b line array family. The GSL8 and GSL12 line array modules are unique in their directivity control, which is maintained from 45Hz to above 18kHz. This is coupled with low frequency headroom and exceptional resolution in the mid and high frequencies. Complimented by the SL-Sub and SL-GSub cardioid subwoofers, the GSL System is a complete package designed to make full use of the systen tools.
The system used 14 GSL8s and two GSL12s per side as the main arrays, with 16 J8s as out fill, this was supported by 18 GSL-Subs and eight V7P front fills, all powered by D80 amplifiers using ArrayProcessing.
From a system tech’s perspective, Clark Thomas was happy with the performance of GSL for a number of reasons. Moving from GSL for mains to J-Series for side hangs, he found the transition was pleasant and smooth. ‘GSL is the nicest PA I have ever had the pleasure of working with,’ he says. ‘It is truly a full range, high fidelity system. It throws quite far while maintaining tonal balance, and I feel it’ll work wonderfully with any style or content. And I must say, I could not hear any noise coming from the rear of the array when I walked around.’
‘It’s staggering, really, the wonderful amount of pure, clean emotion that screams out of this box. Never have I experienced such a huge amount of control and handling from a sound system. Every minute EQ sweep, every minuscule fader push, every slight bit of effect colouration; all was heard in the truest sense, and as intended with the GSL.’
