August saw the annual Rock In Japan at the picturesque Hitachinaka Seaside Park, where Martin Audio’s flagship MLA PA system served up the sound for the third time. One of the country’s largest events, the sound for 177,000 people who attended the event’s three days was provided by MSI Japan.
At the Sound of Forest and Park Stage, nine MLA modules and a MLD Downfill were flown at each wing, along with double stacked MLX centre subwoofers, in six rows. Park Stage returned for the first time since 2011, the year of the great earthquake in the east of Japan – and in both locations, Martin Audio’s Display2 software environment, interacting with MLA’s onboard DSP, delivered highly accurate optimisations.
As the main Grass Stage adopted MLA for a second consecutive year, flying 17 MLA modules and an MLD for main hang on each side, with the same number of elements used for out fill. Providing LF extension were six rows of MLX double stacked at each side of the stage with further double six MLX sub arrays flown next to the main array. Here MSI Japan used the LR settings of the subs in the End Fire Array cardioid variant, using sensitive delay values to reduce leakage back onto the stage while boosting front projection efficiency and directivity.
The Grass Stage area was divided into three separate zones, delineated ‘Standing, ‘Seating’ and ‘Tent’. In the Standing zone, just in front of stage, the audience danced and sung along, with gyrating bodies, revelling in the dynamic acoustic sound, with the sound system’s clarity delivering smiles to the entire audience through the area.
Without any physical positional movement Display2 managed to adjust the sound coverage for each zone as required. Noise pollution is still an issue for neighborhood residents, but by tapering off the sound at the perimeter, MLA has worked to mitigate this.
‘To have the same sound delivered to the entire audience – giving them an identical experience – is a dream not only for the sound engineer but also production,’ says MSI President and chief engineer for the festival, Shuzo Fujii. ‘Try this new Multi-Cellular world, it will rock your mind.’
