Page 209 - Protec PR Book Volume 2

The company’s Managing Director, Barry Pavic says, “Attracting a global clientele and elevating the overall guest experience completely from Entrance to Exit”, is the ultimate goal – which translates into shows that fans want to keep returning to. “We strive to make sure that everyone has a good time.”
With such a strong reputation to preserve Protec combined their resources to provide industry standard Video, Audio, Lighting, Backline, Stage & Set elements and full rigging services.
Tasked with project managing the event for Protec was Simon Travis, interfacing with Envie Events, Backbone International and the Sensation crew from Holland.
Travis said: “Meydan is very different from the usual kind of dance music venue, particularly because it’s a race track so we had to consider the horses stabled there, in terms of noise levels. We had restricted time slots where we could carry out the work. The noise was very strictly controlled as they didn’t want to freak out the horses, though they did move them off site for the show day.”
The team from Envie Events added, “Meydan is a great venue with more than 8,000 parking spots, exceptional infrastructure facilities and perfect distance from downtown Dubai. Makes it a very attractive venue for a global series like Sensation. Working on Meydan does bring its challenges and having an experienced partner like Protec really makes the difference”.
When asked to detail Protec’s involvement, Travis continued, “The audio was fairly straightforward. We provided 32 flown L-Acoustics K2’s on the main hangs, above which were two K1 subs on each of the hangs – all powered by 11 LA-RAKs containing 18 LA8 amps. For the front fills they set four positions of 12 L-Acoustics Kara enclosures, powered by the LA8 amps. Subwoofers comprised 30 SB28s – 15 a side. L-Acoustics amps and speakers were also used for DJ monitors and wedges which comprised three Kara elements per side on top of a pair of SB18 subs.”
The company used a DiGiCo SD10 as their FOH mixing desk with all amplifiers networked so they could be close monitored, with signal transmission via Neutrik fibre optics.
Processing comprised Antelope Audio lsochrone OCX Clock, Lab Gruppen Lake LM44 processors, MAC laptops controlling playback and processing (including Smaart), and DIs for DJ equipment.
Protec fielded 16 Sennheiser G3 receivers and a transmitter as wireless monitoring for the dancers so they could work with the music and receive feeds from their choreographer. A couple of hand held radio mics meanwhile covered DJ requirements.
Ancillary coverage was required in two VIP lounges which were serviced variously by a compact Bose PA system and L-Acoustics Syva – which is equally slick and compact.
Comms were taken care of by Clear-Com HelixNet, which was used for their nine wired positions, and Freespeak II for their eight wireless.
Commented Protec senior audio engineer, Dan Dignan, who was supported by Ed Ross and William Morrison, “The Sensation guys were great to work with, particularly Niels from [Sensation’s] NoizBoyz audio production team. He took care of the desk whilst I took care of the system. The guys from Backbone were also great, Tom and Roden especially. The benefit of a good team was an amazing production.”
Protec Lighting department, in the shape of Aaron Russ – the company’s Lighting HOD and Paul Coopes, provided a mixture of their frontline Robe, Martin and Clay Paky fixtures. This included 45 Robe Pointe fixtures mounted on the triangular backdrop set, both on stage left and stage right screens, and also on the main triangle for the main stage. Inside the scaffold structure was a combination
of 37 Clay Paky K10 B-eyes and seven Clay Paky K20’s, which were positioned in various parts of the scaffolding structure for uplighting effects, giving the scaffold a funky industrial look.
A further 28 Martin Atomic strobes were positioned on the floor, the walkways where the dancers were performing and within the set itself. Another 50 Par36 single par pinspots were mounted onto the structure as well as onto the bars above the Robe Pointe fixtures to create a tremendous blinding effect, while along the front edges of the stage 28 Clay Paky show battens lit up the dancers.
All were brought to life by a combination of Le Maître and MDG hazers with all lighting dynamics under the control of three grandMA full-size consoles at FOH, (including spare), and two grandMA NPUs.