DAS Aero @ Madison Square Garden
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Considered to be the world's largest "reggaeton" event, the Megaton 2004 brought together some of the biggest names of this ground-breaking musical genre that originated in Puerto Rico and is influenced by hip-hop. The four hour long concert was held on the 27th of October in New York's emblematic Madison Square Garden. D.A.S. Aero line array systems provided the sound reinforcement for reggaeton's leading artists such as Tego Calderon, Daddy Yankee and Don Omar, to name but a few.
The New York based sound reinforcement specialist Abe, V Systems Inc. deployed a large selection of D.A.S. Aero line arrays for the event. The company chose to rig 24 Aero 48 large format line arrays, flown 12 per side from a height of 65 feet (20 metres). Flown beneath each of the main arrays by means of the AX-Combo rigging adaptor, were four Aero CA-28A powered compact line array systems, used as down-fills to cover the rows closest to the stage.
Reggaeton's characteristic predominance of heavy bass, made the low frequency band a key issue for the success of the event. To make sure there was enough low-end punch, 16 Aero 218 Subs, dual-18" front loaded subwoofers, were distributed below the front of the stage. Crest Pro 10001 amplifiers provided ample power to drive the Aero 218's. Three racks of Crest Pro series power amplifiers drove the Aero 48 systems. Pro 7001's were used for the high frequency bands; Pro 8002's for the mids and Pro 9001's to drive the dual 15's of the Aero 48's low frequency band. Loudspeaker management and signal processing was accomplished using XTA DP226 digital processors. Abe V Systems provided Klark Teknik DN360's for equalisation along with Drawmer compressors. The FOH console used for the event was a Crest X-Eight.
For D.A.S. and its Aero line array systems, the Megaton 2004 event was a baptism of fire. Used for the first time in a large-scale U.S. event, the Aero systems performed flawlessly in one of music's most equipment punishing genres.