MLA boosts return of JAPAN JAM 2021

JAPAN JAM 2021 took place at Soga Sports Park in Chiba. The annual event had to be cancelled last year due to the pandemic—therefore, this was the first event in two years, and it was held under strict infection control conditions.

As in previous years, Martin Audio MLA was adopted as the main speaker, with 10 MLA elements (including an MLD Downfill) and three stacks of subwoofers, nine per side in total, on main stage, with the middle sub rear-facing for the cardioid pattern. In addition, four WPM were equipped as front fill/outfill.

Many precautions were taken to avoid infection, even at the stage area. Bunshiro Hote, of sound rental company, MSI JAPAN Tokyo, reflected on this. "The microphones that would normally have been reused, were completely replaced. As a result, we used five lines (including spares) to operate only the announcements. We introduced a UV irradiation desiccator for some mics that needed to be used by multiple people, while the console was sanitised every time the sound engineer changed. All microphones (vocal mics for the artistes and talkback mics for the engineers) were regulated. “When we did the sound check, we played the CD at 100dBA at FOH, and prepared three delay settings of 60m, 70m, and 80m from the stage for the main MLA area, and assessed to what degree it could be heard at the monitoring point outside the venue. As a result, we chose the 70m pattern as the standard in the three-stage MLA area, and since the Lotus Stage was the nearest to the street, we started this at 60m."

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