With 2020 Graduation and Commencement ceremonies disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, the US education system sought solutions for 2021.

‘We have serviced Duke University Commencement at the Wallace Wade Stadium [in Durham, North Carolina] since the evolution of the campus back in 2003,’ says RMB Audio owner Cooper Cannady, whose company is based nearby. ‘This year, I was invited to initiate planning for an event that I knew may never occur.’

However, when University President Vincent Price received the green light to go ahead, the RMB Audio tech team were quickly to work, testing equipment that had been dormant for a year.

The Duke University event was set for 2 May. With the stage loaded in on 23 April and the RMB Audio crew on-site on 27 April, the problem that they faced was that the layout kept changing to take more effective advantage of social distancing guidelines. ‘Every day brought with it a new scenario,’ Cannady says.

While some 5,700 students had graduated, only 2,000 would attend. Originally spaced 6ft apart in the inner field to engage them closely with the event, seating plans were revised to allow an additional two guests. The 40,000-capacity stadium would now host a total of 6,000 attendees, and the 6ft social distancing was reduced to 3ft.

With the new seating design came a revision of the audio orientation. The planned seating at 180° to the stage now increased to 220°, placing seating behind the video wall. ‘We were tasked with improving the audience experience in a setting that was entirely new from what everyone had practiced for years. Suddenly we were unable to accommodate a third house left MLA Compact tower and instead had to deploy a stealth Martin Audio W8VDQ, driven by iK42 amplifiers, to cover the expanding audience,’ Cannady says.

This was concealed at the base of the house left tower, while the two hangs of 12 MLA Compact enclosures at stage right were accompanied by a single hang of 12 MLA Compact at stage left.

‘Decorators were insistent that no cabinets could be within the main camera image, and that required Martin Audio DD12s to be placed on stands at ground level corners of the stage to cover the centre first row of seats. The audio image was seamless.’

The changes had been necessitated by the fact that the additional guests were now behind the stage in a J-shape, without visual access to the stage, but able to see a large Jumbotron at the far end of the field, the I-MAG supported by two LED walls, stage left and right.

However, such a sparsely occupied stadium presented system tech Matt Johnson with some challenges: ‘It meant there were more reflections to deal with, although we generally have reflections off the seating in any case,’ he explains.

In Martin Audio’s proprietary Display 2.3 operating software, they were able to deploy the Hard Avoid function to mitigate these reflections.

Three identical lecterns were placed on stage, one of which was used by singer-songwriter John Legend, who delivered the commencement speech and also received an honorary degree. There was no live orchestra present this year – only a prerecorded track – but there was a seven-strong a capella group spaced 4ft apart.

‘From the presenters’ perspective we set the monitor gain above the stadium reflections by having a monitor engineer listen from the stage participant position via a Neumann microphone to distinguish the monitor pulse and the SPL of the stadium reflections. We also had a medical kit, windscreens for the mics with disposable wraps, cleaning and sanitisation which was all very discreet.’

Emphasising the crucial role played by MLA Compact, and the reason he evangelises it, Cannady says, ‘We have used this system for the past three years and W8LM before that, in view of the weight restrictions.’

He had invested in MLA Compact back in 2012 when it first became available. ‘The reason we favour MLA Compact is because of the ability of the system to directly cover the audience in detail, and in sensitive situations such as this, these are the devices we prefer to use. ‘In fact, it’s proven to be a fantastic device for us. Nothing can touch the technology that has gone into it – there is no other system that can take a slice out of the middle of an audience.’

He reports that, at the Wallace Wade Stadium, they achieved exactly the same sound at the first seat as at the back, with just a minimal drop-off in SPL overall.

And summing up the ceremony as a whole, he adds: ‘In all instances the production requirements were increased above the project need to make certain we delivered a bigger and better auditory experience. We will never see this type of health restrictive production again; the event could have been terminated at any time due to Covid-19 restrictions and I applaud the university for completing the memorable graduation.’

The University agreed, and following the event, the Office of the Duke University President referred to the event having been a resounding success. In a comment to Cannady, they said, ‘I know that it was a very meaningful experience for our graduates and their families, particularly given the challenges of the past 14 months.’

More: https://martin-audio.com