A recent address given by US President Barack Obama in Kenya was reinforced with a line array system from Italian manufacturer, dBTechnologies. The historic visit was the first time a sitting US president had travelled to the country and also the first time President Obama had visited his home country while president. Homeboyz Entertainment was tasked with meeting the event’s complete sound, lighting, power and staging requirements for the president’s address to over 6,000 Kenyans at the Safaricom Indoor Arena in Kasarani. The equipment was supplied through Sound Creations Ltd.

For such an important visit, nothing was left to chance. Lead live sound engineer at Homeboyz Entertainment, Antoine Cannella, submitted a detailed proposal, complete with an hour-by-hour work plan and sound design renders. According to the installers, ‘it was made very clear by the organisers that no compromise would be made when it came to coverage and speech intelligibility, and that every word the president uttered needed to be audible and clear, as any instances of him being misquoted could have far-reaching consequences’.

With the stage and podium in the middle of arena, Mr Cannella opted for a design with 360-degree coverage, reportedly selecting equipment from dBTechnologies because of its ‘plug and play ability, that requires minimal tweaking and configuration’. The manufacturer’s DVA Composer software was also relied upon heavily to realise the design.

The complete system supplied by Sound Creations Ltd comprised 20 dBTechnologies T12 active line arrays, 20 T4 cabinets, eight S10 DP subwoofers and two units each of S1518N, S20DP and S30N subwoofers. These were deployed in nine flown arrays with hangs at FOH each featuring four T12s and a single S1518N sub. Delay hangs were each formed of two T4 and three T12 cabinets and a single subwoofer. Arrays deployed behind the stage couldn't be flown high, so the installers opted to fly three arrays of two T12 and one S10, with additional T4 cabinets mounted on stands.

Following setup, a quality check was undertaken to ensure that intelligibility and sound pressure levels matched the requirements throughout the arena.

‘Broadcast live to millions of viewers across the world, the event went on without a hitch and sound levels were balanced all around the arena,’ recalled Sound Creations technical sales coordinator, Paul Kyende. ‘This was truly a defining moment for Homeboyz Entertainment, the whole world was watching and Homeboyz Entertainment and dBTechnologies delivered.’

via Proaudio Central