www.psneurope.com
January 2014 l 45
Engineer Fernando Diaz was determined to use a full-scale D.A.S Audio rig – and he did
SPAIN Sanz makes plans with D.A.S. Aero
Leading Latin singer’s engineer is thrilled to be taking Spanish rig on tour
WITH Atotal of three Grammy Awards and 16 Latin Grammys, Spaniard Alejandro Sanz is an artist of international renown. A singer, songwriter and the composer of all his songs, he has recorded 15 albums and chalked up more than 22 million sales. All of his works have gone platinum in Spain, Latin America and the United States. Providing sound reinforcement
for such a prestigious artist is a major responsibility. With over 20 years of experience and 150 employees, Madrid-based hire giant Fluge was appointed to provide the systems powering Sanz´s latest tour. (PSNEurope readers may remember last month’s story regarding Pablo Alborán – Fluge, part of the bigger Industrias Orquestales Group, also carries Adamson gear.) The standard system configuration for this tour includes 24 Aero 50 boxes per side FOH, eight Aero 40As per side for outfills, Convert 15As as frontfills, Aero 12As in the centre, one Convert 15A on a LX218CA powered subwoofer on each side of the stage for sidefill and stage monitors. At the console is sound engineer Fernando Díaz, who has
been with Alejandro Sanz since the 2001 El alma al aire world tour. Díaz, who started his career in 1975, has worked with most of Spain´s top artists as well as international stars such as Chuck Berry, B.B. King, George Michael, Duran Duran and Sting. Díaz has much to report about
his experience with D.A.S.: “We had been thinking about trying out the new D.A.S. systems for a while, particularly the Aero 40As and Aero 50s,” he says. “We came across D.A.S. equipment in a lot of Latin American countries on the last few international tours, units that were deployed to handle delay and fills, but we still needed to work with a complete top-to- bottom system from the brand.”
systems,” he waxes, “where the punch, warmth and colour of certain percussion instruments were ‘rich’ with a deep bass, ‘robust’ and powerfully felt, but at the same time the relationship between the coherence and flow of the mid and high frequencies are one-of-kind: we haven’t come across many systems that require so few significant changes to the equalisation.” Setting up in a number of
The 45-year-old Alejandro Sanz takes to the stage for his many adoring fans
Díaz was keen to see a Spanish company holding its own against the more familiar big-box brands. “‘Foreign systems seemed to be the only ones of quality available,” he notes. A trip to New Orleans for a
performance by Sanz at the famous Jazz Festival sealed it for Díaz, for it was there he discovered several sound stages were using systems built on D.A.S. Aero 50 cabinets. “The surprising efficiency and quality that we experienced there made us realise the spectacular technological progress D.A.S Audio had made.” Engaging Fluge to manage the sound for Sanz’s latest La Musica No Se Toca tour, Díaz embarked on putting a suitable
high-calibre system together for the Spanish gigs. “There were two major challenges to overcome: first, to match or exceed the system we had been using until then in terms of quality, power, dispersion and effectiveness, and secondly, to ensure that this ‘Made in Spain’ system would work flawlessly and meet the highest artistic and technical requirements for Alejandro.” The results were extremely
positive, he says: “The D.A.S. systems stood up to the most prestigious audio systems on the international market today, hitting both measured and purely audible values that took us all by surprise. “The Aero 50s remind me
of those much-missed compact
football stadiums on the tour, Díaz reports that the audio at 80-90m out was “stellar”. The kit never exceeded 70-80% of its full capacity since the average sound pressure from the system was well in excess of the requirements of each venue, he adds. “I want to personally thank Alejandro Sanz and the3 RLM production team for their willingness to give these systems a shot,” says Díaz in closing. “I also want to thank Fluge and D.A.S. Audio, especially systems engineer Joel Damiano from D.A.S., for the opportunity that this spectacular experience afforded. I also want to reiterate my unconditional support for projects in which Spanish sound reinforcement technology is represented by an entrepreneurial, effective and cooperative group of people that strives to produce quality.”
www.fluge.es www.dasaudio.com
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