D.A.S. shines as star of the desert arena concerts
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For those Southern Californians who can’t seem to wait until they reach Las Vegas’ gaming and entertainment action, there’s Primm, Nevada. This small desert enclave 35 miles south of Las Vegas on I-15 at the California/Nevada state line boasts a number of properties under the Primm Valley Casino Resorts umbrella. At Buffalo Bills Resort and Casino, the Star of the Desert Arena is where all the concert activity takes place, and recent events included performances by country artist Clay Walker and Mexican American comedian Paul Rodriguez. For these and other events, the sound reinforcement system of choice is a four cluster setup consisting of Aero CA-28A and Aero 48 line array elements from the D.A.S. Audio catalog.
Las Vegas-based H.A.S. Productions Inc., well-known provider of live event services, including concert audio production, lighting, staging, and backline, was contracted to handle sound for the Walker and Rodriguez concerts. With a capacity of 6,500 seats arranged in three tiers–floor, mid, and upper levels–the Star of the Desert Arena is what some concert veterans might refer to as an ’intimate’ space. Making certain that the venue receives clean, even coverage throughout the entire arena is, nonetheless, a task that requires knowledge and experience. For H.A.S. Productions, which routinely provides sound for the venue’s numerous and varied events, the decision to deploy their D.A.S. Audio rig met with resounding approval from everyone involved.
H.A.S. Productions handles roughly 400-500 shows per year. To accommodate a busy schedule like this, the company has a 40-box D.A.S. line array rig as one of its two primary systems. For the Walker and Rodriguez concerts, which occurred on September 21st and 22nd, the H.A.S. crew flew four D.A.S. clusters. The two main left-right stage clusters each included ten D.A.S. Audio Aero 48 line array elements plus an additional two Aero CA-28A self-powered elements that served as "downblowers" for the first several rows in the house. Augmenting these clusters was an additional two hangs–positioned further out to the left-right sides–each consisting of six Aero CA-28A line array enclosures. These outside clusters covered the immediate left-right outside sections of the arena. Power for the Aero 48’s was provided by a series of Crown I-Tech 8000 amplifiers.
According to Larry Hall, CEO of H.A.S. Productions, "We had been using our other system in the venue for the past six months, and it sounded fine, but we felt that the Aero 48’s had a much beefier lo-mid sound that would enable us to use fewer subwoofers. The D.A.S. rig is a heavier sounding system.
Since Clay Walker is more of a modern country act, we wanted to have more output and flexibility. The D.A.S. setup met those requirements perfectly."
"With the combination of Aero 48’s and CA-28A ’s for the left-right mains," continued Hall, "we didn’t have to worry about any shading of the boxes because the two downblowers covered the first 6-8 rows without knocking people’s heads off. Since the Aero CA-28A horn is the same as that used in the 48, it creates a seamless cluster. It wasn’t like we had two different types of boxes hanging."
Hall reports that both the acts and the house were very pleased with the system’s performance. "The FOH engineer for Clay Walker was astonished by the sound quality of the D.A.S. rig," said Hall. "He had previously worked on a smaller D.A.S. array, but this was his first experience with the Aero 48’s. He was really blown away by it. Further, by request of the venue, the D.A.S. system is being left there for the next wave of upcoming shows. In my mind, that pretty much says it all."
