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Juanes Charms Spain with MILO
Within a mere three years, Colombian-born Juanes has emerged as an artist of almost mythic proportions – a brilliant and charismatic singer/songwriter who now reigns as the world’s dominant Latin music superstar. His 2002 release, Un Dia Normal, dominated the Billboard Latin charts for nearly two years, and his latest CD, Mi Sangre, garnered universal critical acclaim while racking up equally impressive sales. The current world tour supporting Mi Sangre set attendance records in its earlier legs through North and South America, and all 17 of his concerts in Spain were sold out long before Juanes arrived at summer’s end. Madrid-based rental company Fluge was tapped to support the tour in Spain with an appropriately scaled Meyer Sound system based on MILOŽ high-power curvilinear arrays and 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers.
The concerts in Spain marked the first opportunity for renowned touring sound mixer Rob Colby to work extensively with a MILO-based system. “I’ve been very pleased with the MILO rig,” remarks Colby, who is Juanes’ FOH engineer for the entire world tour. “It gives us the flexibility we need for different venues, it sounds strong and clean, and, working with the 700-HP subs, MILO gives me what I’m looking for to represent Juanes’ live sound.
“The real difference with the Meyer is the self-powered idea,” Colby continues. “Aside from the smaller system footprint, it means there are no long speaker cables, which results in better damping factor and excellent transient response.”
Venues for the concerts in Spain ranged in capacity from 5,000 to 25,000, a mix that included a few auditoriums but mostly larger arenas or outdoor stadiums and bullrings. The Fluge-supplied loudspeaker system, in its large venue configuration, normally comprises 20 MILO cabinets per side for the front hangs and six MILO units for each side hang. Four UPA-1P compact wide coverage loudspeakers supply frontfill from the stage, while 20 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers anchor the deep bass foundation of the system.
The system’s ability to adapt to varying venues has particularly impressed Colby. “MILO by itself works great for seamless coverage, front to back, with plenty of headroom and great vocal intelligibility,” he says.
Regarding the 700-HP, Colby adds, “I like a deep sound, what I refer to as a ‘dry’ and ‘tight’ sub-bass. The high excursion of the [700-HP’s] dual 18-inch speakers helps in that critical transfer to acoustic output. The low-frequency transfer response was immediately obvious to me.”
Equipment is only as good as those who work with it, and Colby shares credit with the entire audio team, including three others who are on board for the entire tour: monitor engineer Frank Aponte and two stalwarts from the Showco/CBA staff (Showco/Clair Brothers Audio is providing production for the tour): systems engineer (and audio crew chief) Mike Mason and systems tech Jason Ruggles. He also extends kudos to the six-man crew from Fluge who, he says, “are always helpful and have a great attitude, even when working under extremely difficult conditions – like under the hot Spanish sun.”
Colby readily acknowledges that his success builds on the efforts of others. “I never forget that I depend on the people who rig the system and then dial it in for me,” he says. “I just do the sound check and mix the show. Without their help, it would be a very long day.”
16th November 2005
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