Complete Audio’s MLA Compact supports Beatsteaks’ refugee benefit in Dresden

When veteran Berlin punk rock band, Beatsteaks, had the idea of staging a fund
raiser for local refugee support organisations at the Dresden Eventwerk recently,
local PA company, Complete Audio offered their services to ensure that the sound
was first class.

Fielding his Martin Audio MLA Compact system, Andre Rauhut, who heads Complete
Audio, reports that the band had originally planned to end their 2015 touring
schedule at the Lollapalooza Festival until this came along. “And it turned out to be
the longest Beatsteaks show ever — running to two and a half hours.’

It had been a strategic decision to stage this show in Dresden, with the beneficiaries
being the charities, “Sächsische Flüchtlingsrat’ and “Dresden Für Alle’ as Rauhut
explained. “There had been a lot of right wing activity here over the course of the
past three months and by going to the east they could show their support and stand
up against right wing actions.’

The event certainly captured the imagination of the public. It was originally
scheduled to take place in a much smaller venue, but when the tickets sold out in
double quick time it was hastily moved to the Eventwerk where 4,000 people
flocked in.

Being the perfect sized venue for MLA Compact, Complete Audio flew 10 MLA
Compact elements and three MLX subs per side, supported by nearfills and
sidehangs. On stage, the band’s reference sound was provided by 12 Martin Audio
LE1500 floor monitors.

Rauhut, whose company had been the first in the world to invest in MLA technology,
has become an expert in coaxing maximum efficiency out of the system via the
optimization software. In this instance he says achieving the coverage pattern was
extremely straightforward. “Only the upper balcony needed some attention since
the trim height wasn’t ideal, and I needed to extend the coverage with beam-
steering on the upper balcony slightly.

Another major fan of MLA is Beatsteaks’ FOH engineer, Tom Korbler. “He says that
MLA is his favourite system, but this was his first encounter with the Compact
system,’ Rauhut reports.

“He had requested the full MLA system and didn’t know what to expect with the
Compact. But as soon as he started to work with the system, and achieved the very
same results, he relaxed. In fact he loved the set-up and was amazed by the size-
to-output ratio of the “little brother’ system.’