VUE’s al-12 System for Summerfest Briggs & Stratton Stage by Clearwing Productions

With Clearwing Productions’ well-established roots in touring and contracting spaning several decades, VUE was eager to start its maiden voyage with the respected full-service company on the right note. Clearwing deployed a system based around VUE’s new flagship al-12 Large Format Line Array System, which is designed to deliver superior sonic performance for large-scale applications. The Truextent^™ beryllium equipped al-Class FOH hybrid arrays, included al-12 speakers for the main system and al-8 Line Array Systems for down-fill, taking full advantage of VUE’s Continuous Source Topology (CST^™) which allows for consistent and seamless vertical coverage between all al-Class line array elements. Additional al-8 systems were used as front fills on the stage lip. Sixteen of the new hs-221 Dual-21-Inch ™ ELF (Extended Low Frequency) ACM subwoofers were placed in a virtual arched cardioid array configuration, bringing the system’s low frequency power response down to 25Hz. Side-fills consisted of two flown al-4s arrays, each with two al-4SB Flying Subwoofer Systems arrayed in an end-fire directional configuration.

Bryan Baumgardner at Clear- wing in Milwaukee, in the shop with a DiGiCo SD5 console.

“We needed a system that could deliver high-quality sound to a large audience of 8,000 people while keeping the coverage extremely focused,” said Bryan Baumgardner, Operations/Logistics – Audio at Clearwing Productions. “Stage-to-stage bleed is always a concern at outdoor festivals with multiple stages, but especially at Summerfest as most of the stages are in very close proximity to one another. The VUE system sounded fantastic with smooth, even coverage throughout the Briggs and Stratton Big Backyard stage. We were concerned about keeping the low-frequencies contained while delivering all the bass impact we needed, and with the VUE system and Jeff Taylor’s expertise about the hs-221’s and the Extended Low Frequency (ELF) mode, LF was never an issue.”

Michael Larcey, Cleveland-based FOH engineer for O.A.R, also had praise for his experience with the system. “It was clean and neatly rigged,” he states. “It definitely had powerful low end – tight, no flabbiness – and my mix came together quickly. It was an easy day, I’ve got to say.”

“Jason Pruzin was the front of house engineer and Megan Henninger was the house monitor engineer for all the bands that did not bring their own engineers, and both absolutely loved the system,” Baumgardner added. “The al-12 just makes everything ‘bigger’ sonically, while keeping all the high-fidelity sound we’ve come to rely on from VUE. Everybody absolutely loved the system. We had so many compliments. I didn’t hear a single negative thing. The FOH engineers loved it, the monitor engineers loved the wedges and side fills, and the systems sounded really good, very smooth.”

Live Sound International features an in-depth look into VUE’s large-format Scalable Line Array System – the al-12’s – maiden voyage on the SUMMERFEST Briggs & Stratton Stage in Milwaukee, WI. Clearwing Productions deployed the new VUE System with a little help from the rest of the al-Class and h-Class products. The results were impressive and the event deemed a great success.