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June 2003
Colombia’s C. Vilar Amplificacion invests in a new rig to meet the challenges of large-scale concert sound
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n Latin America, sound companies don’t get much bigger than Bogota, Colombia-based C. Vilar Amplificacion Professional. Most recently, the company has been heavily involved with events including the South American leg of Shakira’s “Tour of the Mongoose,” and two-time Latin Grammy winner Carlos Vives’ “Dejame Entrar” (“Let Me In”) tour. President Cesar Vilar started his business in the early ‘80s and has seen both his company and his family evolve into a thriving sound and lighting entity in the South American market. After a brief career in business management and sales, Vilar, who played guitar and performed lead vocals for a band, realized that his work in the entertainment sector could be more profitable in the long run and used his networking skills to obtain more contracts for his band and its small sound system. He spent the next 12 years touring Colombia, renting his system when off the road before focusing full effort on building a full-fledged sound reinforcement company. In the early stages, all of the company’s mixing boards, microphones, amplifiers, electronics and loudspeaker drivers were brought in from the U.S., but the cabinets for the loudspeakers were built and assembled by the company on site. This approach was not unusual – due to high transportation costs and the taxes on goods brought in from outside the country, virtually every other sound company in the region did the same thing. That changed in 1994, when C. Vilar became the first sound company in Colombia to bring in a full, professional PA system with structures and rigging capabilities, marking them as the first local company to own a name-brand system large enough to provide reinforcement for international touring acts visiting the country. The system acquired at the time was comprised of EAW KF850s and SB850s, later complemented with KF853s for long throw, all driven by Crest 8001 and 7001 power amplifiers. Soon after, Meyer MSL-4s and UM-1 monitors were added, along with EAW SB650 subs.
By Dan Garcia
June 2003 Live Sound International 25
FOLLOWING FOOTSTEPS The company gained noted recognition in the following years, providing sound for all major government-sponsored music festivals, popular Latin artists like Vives, Alejandro Sanz and Shakira, as well as international acts like Santana and Metallica. And as C. Vilar Amplificacion was growing, so too were Cesar’s sons, who both decided to follow in their father’s footsteps. Cesar’s eldest son, Leonardo, majored in acoustics and sound contracting at Columbia College in Chicago, studying under Doug Jones and Dominique Cheene. Before attending Columbia, says Leonardo, “I had worked with my father’s company for several years. I was out on tour before I even knew how a mic worked.” By 1998, Leonardo had taken the role of FOH engineer for Aterciopelados, the most successful Colombian rock band of the time, touring Central and South America, Europe and the U.S. with the act until 2003. “I had the opportunity to get my hands on many different systems during these years,” he comments, adding
Cesar with his company’s new line array system in the shop.
that his experience has helped the company make better-informed choices when purchasing new gear. Younger brother Mauricio studied at Full Sail in Orlando, earning an Associates degree before returning to play a role in his father’s company as well. He also has toured as monitor engineer for Aterciopelados and the
The C. Vilar crew lining ‘em up prior to a Vives stadium concert.
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band Bacilos, which recently won the 2003 Grammy Award for “Best Latin Pop Album.” Last year, C. Vilar Amplificacion made the decision to update its “Aline” loudspeaker rig, and began investigating the merits of the various line array systems on the market, attending a number of product demos at the invitation of manufacturers. “I had heard a particular system in Spain, and it was pretty nice,” says Leonardo, “and my father and I travelled to Mexico City for a demo of another product.” This first round of evaluation didn’t really nudge the decision-making process. “The first line arrays that we listened to did not impress us,” explains Cesar. “To us, they performed better than a conventional system, but not enough to make us feel as though we needed it in our inventory.” Progress was made at the 2002 AES Convention in Los Angeles, however, where months of research and discussion, followed by this first-hand “touch and feel” opportunity, led to selection of an Adamson Y-Axis system. “Every audio professional we spoke with – those without an interest in selling us anything – had nice things to say about this line array sys-
Catching up with... Cubby Colby He just finished a world tour with Shakira, and we caught up with him in the midst of it. “He” is Cubby Colby, noted FOH mixer and all-around nice guy, talking about what he’s experienced with the tour while in the midst of it. Cubby had the opportunity to mix some of the Shakira shows in South America on the new C.Vilar rig and reports that he was pleased with the results. Where are you right now? Cubby Colby: In a hotel room in Stockholm, Sweden, trying to stay warm. This tour has been quite a journey. I arrived in the Dominican Republic in September of last year for the fine-tuning portion of the rehearsal process, and then we went into production rehearsals at the Miami Arena for three weeks. Our first show was in San Diego in early November, we toured North America for a month and then were off to Spain and Germany, ending in London just before Christmas. The tour started back up in mid-January with more dates in the U.S., and we moved along to Central America – Monterrey, Mexico City, Guadalajara. These were all stadium shows. Back to the U.S. for a few more dates, and then back to South America for three weeks of more stadiums. Then it was off to Paris and more Europe dates, and we’ll be returning to South America for five shows, closing in Santo Domingo in mid-May. How did you prep for this tour? Cubby: Following the fine-tuning of the rehearsal process, I began working with the musical director for the tour, Tim Mitchell, who’s also one of the guitar players in the band. I had my FOH gear there, along with a Clair i/O drive rack, two (Clair Bros.) i4 line array boxes per side, each stacked on a Clair sub, with these speaker stacks about 10 feet from my mix position. This is something I always do for band rehearsals - it helps me get my mix and dynamics together and in this case was also helpful because it was my first time with the Clair drive system. (Clair Bros is the sound company for the tour and has been absolutely great. Crew chief is Gene Phillips, monitor engineer Vish Wadi, systems engineer Mike Mason and system tech Tom Ford.) We’re also using a (Harrison) Showconsole. I’ve used them for various award shows and one-offs, but this was my first time with one on a major tour. Mike has taken the training course for the board, and he was really helpful in getting me off on the right foot. And he still keeps me in line! For the Miami production rehearsals, we had about a third of a Clair i4 system, with eight i4 boxes (10 degrees) per side and four i4b’s (5 degrees) next to them. Four Clair subs (two by 18-inch-loaded) were on the ground below each array, stacked two over two. This gave us a very good idea of how the full rig would perform. Any new challenges you’ve encountered? Cubby: The set design includes ramps that extend from stage left and stage, right down stage edge. They go out at about a 30degree angle, extending into the audience about 24 feet. This
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Cubby Colby flanked by Leonardo and Cesar Vilar during one of the Central/South American legs of the Shakira tour. meant Shakira would be traveling both directly under the system as well as way out in front of it, which in turn means I have to pay extra close attention to her vocal mic when she gets out on these ramps. This is where the Clair i/O really helped out, because I could pull down the sides for just a moment, or build a special filter to “re-EQ” her mic so that it wouldn’t feed back. At the end of the show she gets on a huge “boom arm” that raises up and pivots her from left to right, about 45 feet in the air, again ending up way out in front of the system. So the i/O unit helps with this as well. (For more about the Clair i/O, made by Lake Technologies and marketed under the Contour name, see Live Sound, March 2003.) Are you doing anything new in approach, employing any new equipment or techniques? Cubby: The Showconsole is a fantastic-sounding desk. Hats off to Harrison - Howard Page and his crew. It has made my approach to mixing change very little, even though I’m mixing on a control surface rather then the console itself. It’s so user friendly that you get very comfortable very fast and you really start to hear the microphones and direct inputs like never before. Both the compressors and gates on each of the 80 channels are quite good. You put this together with the Clair i4 line array and the i/O - what a place to start. We have been able to really define even coverage with the help of the remote Clair i/O controller, which enables you to walk the room and EQ the different segments of the system. Anything interesting with mic techniques? The mic is a Sennheiser 5000 Series transmitter with a Neumann KSM 105 capsule. Shakira had used this mic setup for a MTV “TRL” show and really liked it. Both Vish and I like it as well. Doing outdoor shows with temperature and humidity both in the 90s, the capsule needs to be changed out about every four shows. In less strident environments, the capsule isn’t even a concern. And we’ve had great support from Sennheiser and Neumann. A long time ago, Shakira chipped a front tooth with a mic, and we sense she’s concerned that she’ll do it again, which can affect things, as has the heavy choreography. This can take her off-mic. We keep working with her, and with the system, and I think we’re winning. For more from Cubby, see his live chat transcript on ProSoundWeb. Just go to www.prosoundweb.com and click on “chat” to access the full roster of transcripts.
tem,” comments Leonardo. “It was very curious to us how many people bought a particular system because it was the easiest to rig, or the lighter one, or the easiest to truck, or the one from the company they used before, or the one from the company with better credit options, or the one their favorite band just toured with. We just wanted to get the best-sounding system.” “In the end, we decided to go with our instinct and chose the Y-Axis,” adds Cesar, who cited the physics involved with its design and high marks among touring engineers as key factors in the selection. Less than two months later, the company took delivery of 20 Adamson Y-18 main line array loudspeakers, as well as four Y-10 downfill boxes, to be powered by a new amplification package including six Lab Gruppen fP 3400s for mids and highs and 18 Lab Gruppen fP 6400s for lows and subs. (Adamson specifies Lab Gruppen fP Series for use with Y-Axis.) “I know this amplifier is very popular in Europe and it seems to be gaining momentum in the U.S., so we decided to go for it,” says Leonardo.
Cesar (left) and Leonardo talking it over at FOH.
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Plenty of Lab Gruppen power joined by Klark-Teknik Helix processing.
“For any sound rental company, it’s paramount to have so much reliable power with excellent sonic quality, and as an added bonus, in a package of such small space and light weight.” BIGGER RIG “Two days after our Y-Axis system got
here, we started touring around the country,” states Leonardo, with the new rig making its debut in midDecember of 2002 in Bogota, Colombia for 60,000 fans on hand for a show by Carlos Vives. A former TV actor, Vives has started to cross over to mainstream audiences, appealing to the younger generation by blending traditional Colombian “vallenato” music with a modern pop-rock feel. Vives’ backing band, La Provincia, is comprised of 11 musicians who play a variety of instruments ranging from electric guitars and drums to the more traditional sounds of the gaita, maracas, coros, guacharaca, and bombardino. Vives’ production engineers, including FOH engineer Juan Carlos Yepes, chose to use a line array for the Vives tour of Columbia to attain even coverage in the largely stadium settings. Specifically, both the Y-18s and Y-10s offer 90 degrees of horizontal coverage, and a sliding hinge rigging system provides both fast setup and precise angling. At the outset of the tour, 20 Y-18s and four Y-10s, split among two (left and right) arrays, were used, “but we realized later on that we were going to do more shows with artists such as
Shakira, Juanes and Miguel Bose, so we decided to purchase more speakers,” says Mauricio. The count of Y-18’s increased to 32, with an additional 32 EAW SB850 subwoofers. Leonardo handled tuning and timealignment of the system prior to each show, using a combination of GoldLine TEF-20 and SIA SMAART4.6.2 systems. He notes that both systems were selected due to his experience with their accuracy. REDUCED LOAD Both Yepes and Monitor Engineer Gilberto Morejon deployed InnovaSON Essential live digital mixing consoles for the Vives tour. The compact, durable consoles have worked out well for travel within South and Central America, where smaller aircraft tend to fly between cities and road conditions on major routes is poor. Further, Yepes reports that the digital boards have reduced the amount of equipment needed for transport to each gig due to their built-in dynamics processing. In fact, the only other outboard gear that made the journey was four effects units.
The view from one of C. Vilar’s two new InnovaSON digital boards.
“We’re using all the compressors and gates in the InnovaSON,” Yeppes says. “By adding the consoles to the band’s touring backline equipment, setup time has been greatly reduced. Soundcheck is down to 30 minutes or
Perspective of coverage area for one of the Vives stadium shows.
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less since we have all the settings saved in the system.” The stage is clean, with most musicians on Shure wireless in-ear monitoring systems, with Vives using an Ultimate ears system. Only four Meyer USM-1 wedges, with Crown MacroTech power, were deployed, primarily for accordion and coros player Egidio Cuadrado and keyboardist Carlos Ivan Medina. As a result of its involvement with the Shakira tour, C. Vilar Amplificacion wound up selling a Y-Axis system (16 Y-18 and four 4 Y-10 loudspeakers) to Macro Sonido of Quito, Equador, according to the company’s president, Gonzalo Aguilar. “For the first time in our history, local artists like Shakira, Vives and Juanes are doing concerts in big stadiums with 60,000 people, and selling out most shows,” concludes Leonardo. “Our country is experiencing a great moment for the music industry, and we are really glad to be a part of all that’s happening and to be providing great sound with our new rig.” ■ Dan Garcia is an independent audio veteran and parttime journalist covering the pro audio industry.