A substantial GEO S12 line array has been chosen as the new lawn system for the Blossom Music Center, summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra which performs its annual Blossom Festival here.
Owned by The Cleveland Orchestra’s governing organization, Musical Arts Association in Cleveland, and managed by Live Nation, the pavilion seats 5,700 people, with space for about 13,500 more on the lawn. Located in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, within a national park, this seasonal venue operates from May through October, hosting a full summer schedule of popular music acts and symphonic performances including Drake, Lady Antebellum, Radiohead, Dave Matthews Band, Beach Boys Reunion Tour, Phish and Barry Manilow, just to name a few.
Recently NAC Technologies from Cleveland was asked for a sound design to replace the aging lawn sound system. “Musical Arts is a non-profit organization so we had a tight budget and needed to have a system that would deliver the best bang for the buck,” states Rick Galbraith, senior audio engineer at NAC Technologies, which has a long history with NEXO. “The new system had to be able to take care of the needs of the Orchestra and cater to Live Nation events. NEXO is always a sure thing.”
Prior to the season opening, NAC installed 48x NEXO GEO S12 cabinets in ten existing sound bays. The bays are part of an arch, are about 35’ apart and vary in height from 19’ on the ends to 29’ in the middle. The longest part of the lawn, addressed from the highest bays, has two hangs of 5x GEO S1210 and 1x S1230, with the next bay of 4/1, then 3/1, then a bay of 3x S1230s in a horizontal configuration and mirrored on the other side. The system is powered by NEXO 4×4 NXAMPs.
For time alignment and EQ, NAC installed a Yamaha DME64 to straighten out the bays and give the visiting engineers their own delay device. Since the system must function for both the orchestra concerts and rock shows, the DME allows scene storage for any and all events. NAC added 3x NEXO Alpha cabinets per side on a pole system on the outside of the pavilion. For orchestral concerts, additional inventory is rented in, a 40-box NEXO GEO S8 system, PS10 and PS15 floor monitors, and Yamaha M7CL digital consoles.
“I’ve always thought for years the only thing keeping Blossom from being an absolutely perfect venue was the lack of a decent lawn sound system,” notes Bill Horschke, from sister Live Nation venue, Nautica. “I was very pleasantly surprised when attending a DMB concert to see a nice NEXO rig installed for the lawn. Kudos to all who made the new system happen. It is very, very cool. Crank it up, and rock them trees!”
For more information on NAC Technologies, visit www.nac-tech.com.
