Vue Audiotechnik al-Class Arrays
The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am has evolved into one of the most prestigious stops on the PGA Tour since singer Bing Crosby started it in 1937. This annual golf tournament played at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and the Monterey Peninsula Country Club Shore Course, features an all-star lineup of both pros and celebrities, making it as much fun for serious golfers as it is for autograph seekers.
Run almost entirely by volunteers, the famous golf tournament is one of the Monterey Peninsula’s largest fundraisers, doling out a whopping six million dollars to local non-profits and other youth-oriented charities each year. Clint Eastwood heads up a prestigious evening party honoring the volunteers and Spider Ranch Productions was chosen once again to provide full technical production. The 2,500 person event is held at the Monterey Conference Center in the 19,600 square foot Serra Ballroom that sports a production technology challenging 15-foot high ceiling.
Spider Ranch Productions (San Francisco) provided sound, lights and video. Audio featured the VUE Audiotechnik al-4 subcompact line array system hung in 3 clusters as delays, supporting the Spider’s main system, along with DiGiGo SD8 (FOH) and SD9 (MON) consoles, Shure wireless UHFR mics, and Shure PSM900 IEM’s. The lineup of artists included Jake Owen, Kenny G, Ray Romano, Clay Walker, Joe Don Rooney, Gary Mule Deer, Michael Bolton, Colt Ford, Larry the Cable Guy, Huey Lewis, Charles Kelly, Bill Hopkins Band and of course Clint Eastwood as the main host.
The biggest challenge that faced the audio production was how to deal with the low 15-foot ceiling without obscuring sightlines and still provide perfect coverage and sound quality for the delays. Spider Ranch’s owner Alex Moran explained his choice of the VUE Audiotechnik al-4 system.
“We used the al-4s here last year and they were a dramatic improvement in several ways over loudspeakers we have used in past years. Due to the venue’s small ceiling heights the VUE al-4 line array was the ideal choice for this delay application. The line array’s small footprint solved the sightline dilemma. Additionally the low ceiling height made traditional rigging options unavailable, so the delay loudspeakers needed to be dead hung. This was not a problem with the al-4s since they are so lightweight a single technician took the entire array up in a scissor lift and easily hung it. Solving these problems and having a quality loudspeaker system that exhibits excellent definition and clarity makes the VUE al-4 a perfect fit for this kind of job.”
The al-4SB flown above four ultra compact al-4 elements.
This year Spider Ranch added the recently released al-4-sb flyable isobaric subwoofer to each delay hang. The compact al-4-sb has two long-excursion 15-inch transducers with neodymium magnets and 4-inch voice coils placed front-to-front in an isobaric configuration.
“We used the al-4-sb as a low frequency component companion to the al-4s. This brought out the true nature of the music being performed on stage a 110 feet away to the people at the rear of the hall. At this event everyone is important and the sound quality everywhere is paramount. I’m very pleased with the addition of these compact isobaric cabinets.”
VUE Audiotechnik al-4 system is powered by proprietary V4 systems engines with built in DSP and networking capabilities. The SystemVUE software allows remote control of independent elements, or a system as a whole.