After two years, Pitbull has taken to the road for his "I Feel Good" tour with special guest Iggy Azalea. Technical Arts Group (TAG) of New York, has provided a d&b KSL loudspeaker system for the tour.
Technical Arts Group LLC (TAG) is a New York and Miami-based event production and equipment rentals company, founded with the goal of creating innovative and immersive experiences that audiences or guests will never forget. In conjunction with founders Kevin Mignone and Abraham Viera Jr., TAG is experienced in producing global concerts, festivals, private parties, weddings, corporate functions and touring events, from private celebrations on island beaches to live shows for headlining artists. TAG provides turnkey and individual event logistics services, as well as rentals for lighting, audio, video, staging and special effects.
"We are a d&b audiotechnik house, so the decision really came between deploying GSL or KSL for the tour," said Technical Arts Group systems designer Jimmy Ibanez. "Will Madera, front of house engineer, is a big fan of the KSL system and with my experience as his system engineer on past tours, I was extremely confident that KSL would fit his mixing style well. With the nature of shed tours, we were able to build a package that fit comfortably on one truck and that could deploy extremely fast. The first few weeks of the tour have really proven how versatile the system is, and Will has been able to trust the consistency of the rig day to day."
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SL-Series is the flagship loudspeaker family from d&b, with its hallmark features of full-bandwidth directivity, low-frequency extension, and advanced rigging options that deliver quiet stages for the performers, maximum art for the audience and minimal noise for those beyond.
Prepping the d&b gear for The Main Event
"d&b ArrayCalc and R1 remote processing were used during prep and obviously for every show during the tour," states Ibanez. "I did some simulations ahead to confirm the design." The d&b ArrayCalc simulation software is the simulation tool for d&b line arrays, column and point source loudspeakers as well as subwoofers. This is a comprehensive toolbox for all tasks associated with acoustic design, performance prediction, alignment, rigging and safety parameters. The R1 Remote control software presents a d&b system graphically, channel by channel, loudspeaker by loudspeaker, group by group, with faders and buttons arranged just as required.
"Before the tour I've had plenty of opportunities to mix on KSL systems and have had great success," said Madera. "So, when Jimmy joined TAG and offered the KSL rig for the tour, there wasn't much to think about. KSL fits my style of mixing in so many ways. The lows and low-mids are extremely smooth. That's really the glue that helped me bring out the detail in my mix on this tour."
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The KSL line array is comprised of medium to large format three-way loudspeakers providing a constant directivity dispersion pattern in a horizontal plane over the entire operating bandwidth. The two 10-inch front-facing LF drivers combine with the additional eight-inch side-firing drivers for an effective driver area of over 12 inches to enhance the forward output while dramatically decreasing the output in the rear. Y-Series and V-Series loudspeaker systems complement the tour's KSL system for fill applications.
The main PA consists of 12 x KSL8 over 4 x KSL12 per side, 6 x SL-GSUBs for ground per side, 8 x Y12 and 2 x Y10p used for front fill, 14 x M12 monitor wedges, 4 x V8 per side for side fills, and 18 x D80 (SL) and 14 x D80 (SR) amplifiers.
