Meyer Sound Milo Flies High for Arbonne International Training Event
Jul 12, 2007 12:00 PM
Swiss skin care company Arbonne International has experienced tremendous growth since its 1980 arrival in the United States, and their annual National Training Celebration (NTC) reflects this expansion. NTC is a combination of new product introductions, education, networking, and achievement awards staged for Arbonne’s worldwide network of independent consultants. NTC has expanded from 800 attendees at the event’s premiere in 2000 to the 16,500 who convened at Las Vegas’s MGM Grand in 2007 for a dazzling three-day promotional affair.
Columbus, Ohio-based Bartha Audio Visual, which has provided NTC with full-production services for the past three years, accommodated this year’s broad range of events and presentations with an elaborate loudspeaker system based on Meyer Sound’s Milo high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker.
Arbonne goes above and beyond the typical corporate meeting during NTC weekend to offer a full spectrum of multimedia presentations and music that demands top-quality sound but low visibility. “We had in-the-round seating, cover bands on two evenings, large scenery pieces, and projection screens that obstructed speaker placement,” says Bartha’s production manager for NTC, Chris Zervos. “Arbonne organized a tight program loaded with transitional music and sound bites. However, like many corporate clients, they wanted great sound, but didn’t want to see the speakers.”
“With all of the obstructions, we had to fly the system much higher than normal and tip it at an extreme angle, which made it a challenge to create even sound coverage,” says sound system designer Kevin Conley. To accomplish the task, Conley and crew hung six main arrays: one at each corner of the room and the other two along sides of the room. Five of the arrays contained eight Milo cabinets each, while the sixth array featured 10 Milo cabinets. Sub-bass energy was supplied by pairs of M3D-Sub directional subwoofers flown at the tops of two of the arrays, plus eight more M3D-Sub cabinets and two PSW-2 high-power flyable subwoofers groundstacked near and under the stage.
Four UPM-1P ultra-compact wide coverage loudspeakers, eight UPA-1P compact wide coverage loudspeakers, two UPJ-1P compact VariO loudspeakers, and four CQ-2 narrow coverage main loudspeakers fulfilled various fill needs, while eight UM-1P narrow coverage stage monitors ensured those onstage could hear everything they needed to. System management and processing were provided by a Galileo loudspeaker management system using two Galileo 616 processors. Conley employed Meyer Sound’s MAPP Online Pro acoustical prediction program to design cabinet placement and overall configuration, while system tuning was performed using a SIM 3 audio analyzer operated by specialist Frank Snipes of Show Systems, an audio equipment rental and production company based in Orlando, Fla.
Conley cites a number of reasons Bartha has remained a loyal Meyer Sound user for the past 10 years. “Meyer is by far the best equipment manufacturer we use,” says Conley. “Their reliability, excellent customer service, the ease of use, and the thought that goes into each product—it’s all exceptional. Hands down, they beat everybody out there.”
Having sent the record number of attendees home energized to move Arbonne forward in the coming year, the company is already looking ahead to NTC 2008 in Atlanta, Ga., which promises to be yet bigger and even more spectacular than this year’s event.
For more information, visit www.meyersound.com.
