to continue to contribute to the success of the festival , both for L ’ Equipe Spectra and the team at Solotech ,” Legendre adds . “ By supporting these two partners in providing world class audio , we help make visiting engineers and the artists who take the stage at the Montreal Jazz Festival shine , and the audience experience the best it can be .”
The loudspeaker complement for the festival , as mentioned , is wholly represented by Meyer Sound , making use of a wide variety of the Berkeley-based manufacturer ’ s varied reinforcement solutions . On the main stage , known colloquially as the Scène Place des Festivals , the main PA consists of an array of five LEO-M boxes followed by four LYON-M boxes per side of the stage , augmented by six 1100-LFC subs on either side as well , in gradient configuration .
Two MSL-4 boxes were deployed for in-fills , and a further two CQ-1s comprised the out-fills . Six MICA units per side also made an appearance as the first set of delay fills , working together with 900-LFC subs , three per side , to handle the low end at a distance . A further delay position , with one steerable CAL 64 speaker per side , rounded out the audience boxes . As well , MFJ-210 monitors were used for the stage , with all loudspeaker processing handled by three GALAXY-816s .
In terms of the speaker choices for both the mains and delays , Meyer Sound senior technical support specialist , David Vincent , explains that being self-powered plays a large part . “ It ’ s just easier because we don ’ t have an amp rack ; there ’ s huge structures [ on the festival grounds ] where you can rig speakers , and there ’ s very limited room at the base of the tower . So , having self-powered speakers helped a lot , because we didn ’ t have to put amp racks at the base of the tower .” He also describes the philosophy for the CAL 64 delays ( the second throw ) in the system that were mounted on these towers , some of which are set up specifically for this event .
“ Normally we would do mono delays , because all the towers are on the right side ; for years we ’ ve been doing three mono delays . It sounded pretty good , but it was kind of annoying because there was no imaging to the stage , it was just kind of pulling to one side . Starting with the 2019 edition we did a stereo delay tower ; so , we added one tower on the left side , and this year was a bigger tower . Two or three years ago that had to be a ground stack , but this year we were able to fly it , and that made a huge difference .” On the CAL 64 speaker itself and why it works in this application , he explains “ It ’ s basically like a razorblade ,” he says of the coverage pattern . “ We use that to do a very tight pattern to cover the last 100 feet . It ’ s super sharp ; if we want it to stop here ,” he gestures , “ that ’ s where it stops . It ’ s reducing the spillage into the surroundings quite drastically .”
He also describes the advantages of the GALAXY processor and how it helped to limit issues with the setup . “ With GALAXY ’ s product integration feature , we can just say ‘ This is a MICA , this is a LEO , make them match .’ Now , from 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz , it ’ s basically the same phase response . For years we ’ ve been chasing [ these results ] with EQ , like [ mitigating ] phase mismatch . If two speakers are not matched between 100 and 125 [ Hz ], there ’ s no way you ’ re going to fix this with EQ , so having it matched in phase fixes a lot of problems .” For Meyer Sound , he explains , phase response is a critical performance parameter and this is an important feature incorporated into the product integration section of the GALAXY digital processors .
“ The main systems on the outdoor stages have not changed much in recent years ,” adds Pierre Tougas , a freelance veteran system technician and live sound engineer who has worked on and off at the Jazz Fest since 1991 . For the last half-decade-plus , Tougas has been the Jazz Fest ’ s outdoor main stage system tech , including this year ’ s iteration . “ But what changed this year , is that all those different generations of Meyer Sound speaker technology could speak the same language in phase and coherence ; an amazing difference when you walk from different coverage areas , and through zones with front- and out-fills and several delays . All thanks to the Galileo GALAXY-816 and the delay integration features , it was just flawless ; intelligibility was accurate , and the low / low-mid texture was present and coherent throughout the 600 feet of coverage needed .”
While this is only a small taste of the implementation of the Meyer systems , which also include the second stage ’ s smaller LINA PA , the combination of the sonics afforded by the suite of boxes and the accompanying flexibility of their feature sets ensured that audiences were re-introduced to
FIRST DELAY SYSTEM , MAIN STAGE LEFT & RIGHT ; 6X MEYER MICA , 3X MEYER 900-LFC
live music with a memorable and sonically rich experience . “ It went very well across the board ,” Tougas adds . “ Sound engineers were impressed by the precision and power of the installations on both outdoor stages . We hope that next year we can have a full festival system integration , and packed crowds in attendance .”
On the execution of the festival itself , main stage FOH engineer Emmanuel Serrus describes that the shorter festival — reduced from weeks across multiple stages and venues , to five days and two stages — meant a very isolated production experience from previous iterations of the fest . “ It was smaller , but bigger in [ terms of ] time , because we had to do three shows a day ; so , a lot of setups and changeovers , so the days were pretty much eight o ’ clock in the morning till midnight every day .”
Serrus recounts that in previous editions , the sheer number of artists on the bill meant there were fewer artists per stage , with much less changeover between artists as well . “ It was smaller , and pretty much only Canadians and Montrealers [ performing ], so everyone wanted [ their set ] to be like a special event .” As such , for each headliner , there was a complete strike on the main stage aside from the main PA and stage monitors . While the exact specifications of each show were different in terms of the audio requirements on stage , Yamaha CL5 FOH consoles were used along with the standard gamut of Shure , Sennheiser , Neumann , and Audio-Technica mics and other stage gear . He notes as well that DPA mics were used for the piano , specifically .
While the nature of the shows meant most headliners brought their own FOH mixers , Serrus himself mixed BEYRIES ’ headlining show on Sept . 15 th , as well as Daniel Lanois on the 16 th . “ With [ Lanois ’] show particularly , what I loved is that they requested kind of an old school way of working ; you know , SM57s everywhere , no condenser mics on drums , no big reverbs on vocals , et cetera . I respected that ; I took all the information and all the requests and tried to do a mix with that ; it was interesting .”
“ It was very special this year ,” Serrus says of this unique iteration of Montreal Jazz Fest . And this perspective pervaded across all of those working on the event , and assuredly those that attended as well . Ultimately , it ’ s a sterling omen for what ’ s to come in the months ahead as live events return . “ Tours are coming back , we have more and more events happening , and actually right now there are a lot of festivals in Quebec ,” Meier adds . “ It really feels like a new start .”
“ Everybody really wanted [ live music ] to start all over , so you have to give it a running chance ,” says Solotech Vice President Richard Lachance . “ And this is what ’ s great about the festival , and the people who manage the festival ; this is happening because a bunch of people got together and wanted it to work .”
Andrew Leyenhorst is a freelance producer , recording engineer , mixer , and the Assistant Editor of Professional Sound .
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