JBL VTX A-Series – BIGSOUND & Beyond

MadisonAV proudly deployed JBL VTX A-Series speaker systems at four prominent venues during Brisbane’s BIGSOUND 2024 festival in early September.

The JBL VTX-A Series delivered outstanding sound quality and coverage across Blute’s, The Sound Garden, Eclipse, and the JBL Live at BIGSOUND stage, elevating the live music experience for artists and audiences alike.

BIGSOUND, Australia’s most influential music conference and showcase, took centre stage in Fortitude Valley from September 3-6, 2024, attracting thousands of music enthusiasts, industry professionals, and emerging talent. MadisonAV partnered with BIGSOUND to ensure that the sound systems at these key venues matched the exceptional talent performing at the event.

MadisonAV held two private JBL VTX A-Series listening experiences in two venues, allowing guests to personally experience the A6 and A8 system performance, as well as to learn about configuration, rigging, transportation and deployment of the systems. Guests included audio engineers, venue operators, system integrators and production companies that were interested in hearing the systems for themselves.

In the evening, the venues hosted live bands and performers during the BIGSOUND music showcases – with the venue or the band’s own audio engineers mixing each performance on the JBL VTX A-Series system.

JBL Live at BIGSOUND Stage

A new initiative for BIGSOUND this year was the creation of a feature stage in the central location of Brunswick Street Mall. Known as the “JBL Live at BIGSOUND Stage”, it was decked out with the VTX A12 system and was a public focal point for the event.

The JBL Live at BIGSOUND stage featured dynamic performances from a variety of genres, including pioneers of a new flavour of “bogan funk”, Playlunch, newly signed solo artist ISHAN, and emotive country performer Bella Mackenzie. It also hosted JBL’s own supported emerging artists including Athanasia, Sophie Edwards, Nicole Issa and Brittany Jacinto Garcia.

In this busy city thoroughfare, the JBL VTX A-Series provided unmatched audio fidelity, bringing these performances to life with power and precision under the care of FOH engineer Jeremy Bellis from IJS Productions. Jeremy commented that the A12 system was a “Solid PA! Full range and sparkly” with “great coverage and punchy subs”.

Peter Kubow, Head of Tour Sound at MadisonAV, summarised the performance of the JBL VTX A-Series at BIGSOUND. “There were many comments about the performance of the JBL VTX A-Series across all four venues. The venues themselves were full of praise, and we were happy to hear positive feedback from all the audio engineers using the systems at each of the venues. A couple of the venues provide quite challenging environments, but the VTX A-Series performed exceptionally, delivering fantastic clarity, coverage, and power straight out of the box, allowing every artist to shine and every audience member to enjoy the music to its fullest.”

Peter continued; “showcasing the sub-compact A6, the mid-sized A8 and the larger A12 format in three venues of different size and acoustic characteristics was the ideal way for us to prove the performance of the systems in personalised listening sessions, as well as in live music scenarios during the live band performances”.

Venues & Highlights

Blute’s

A hub for intimate and impactful performances, Blute’s hosted a private VTX A-Series listening event as well as a diverse range of artists, including the quirky and genre-dynamic styles of Lucy Sugerman, the unfiltered emotion of Neptune, and the “lyrical assassin” Rowena Wise. The compact JBL VTX A6 system helped these artists deliver performances that resonated with clarity throughout the venue.

Audio engineer at Blute’s, Kayla Stew, commented that “the walk-in engineers were happy with the PA. Some of them thought it was quite bright but just altered the graphic to their liking. The PA was more than enough coverage for the venue.”

The Sound Garden

Branded as the Goolwal Garden during BIGSOUND, this venue operated as the First Nations House, home to thought- provoking panels, electrifying showcase performances, and exclusive events.

Downstairs was equipped with a JBL VTX A8 system to support the beats and rhythms of First Nations performers.

BIGSOUND Production Co-ordinator and local Music Producer, Nell Forster told us that there was “limited space in there to set it up so it ended up being quite wide but sounded great…. bands have sounded really good, and the system is visually attractive too”.

The essence of indigenous culture and creativity intertwined with standout performances by Sunny Lewe, J-MILLA x Yung Milla – Same Blood and Kiss-inspired Mulga Bore Hard Rock. Upstairs the venue offered a sanctuary of calm, where guests could unwind with a cuppa, engage in workshops, and explore captivating art displays. This experience was supported by the use of a single VRX 900 series element and subwoofer for background music, and as a public address system.

Eclipse

Fortitude Valley’s newest nightclub, Eclipse, joined the BIGSOUND venue roster and was equipped with the A8 compact line array system that complemented the venue’s already premium technology and guest experience.

Hosting a private listening event as well as evening showcase performances, Eclipse hosted some big names at BIGSOUND, including live-techno duo Hellcat Speedracer, indie pop duo Juno, as well as nu metal grunge artist, Stocker. These electric performances benefited from the precise sound reproduction and consistent coverage provided by the JBL VTX A8 Series.

Beyond BIGSOUND

Star Struck

MadisonAV also had the opportunity to showcase the impressive JBL VTX A-Series system at this year’s Star Struck 2024 school production held at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre, in collaboration with Chris Neal and Eclipse Light and Sound.

The PA included 20 x A8s at FOH with 8 x B18 subwoofers, 8 x A6s as side-fill/delays, all powered by 3 x VRacks, 6 x Crown I-Tech 4 x 3500HD amplifiers and 3 x Crown I-Tech 12000HD amplifiers.

Allan Doyle, Systems Engineer for Eclipse, said, “The A8 was great especially in the top end, very clear and well defined, lows were good and punchy. The surprise for me was the A6, with so much poke for such a small box.”

“Everyone I spoke to about the PA thought it sounded great. We’re all looking forward to using it again. The rigging is exceptional, so intuitive, simple and fast. The system was really easy to rig, pack up and wheel around with the system transport design.”

“We were able to adjust any system design changes with ease on-site, using Venue Synthesis. Hardly any system design tweaks were needed to improve the sound. It’s a great all-round system.”

Tina Arena’s ‘Love Saves’ Tour

Danny Olesh, known as one of Australia’s most renowned FoH audio engineers, has been taking care of acclaimed artist, Tina Arena, for several years. With decades of experience in live sound, he’s been touring Australia on her ‘Love Saves’ tour, and managing the system designs for the performances. At the Home of the Arts (Gold Coast) leg of the tour, Danny and the team utilised a JBL VTX A-Series system.

Tour System Engineer John Hall commented; “The system really exceeded my expectations. The stereo image was just so clear, you heard every little detail in the mix, it was so present with full coverage up and down the hill and across the seated area.”

“Working with Peter Kubow on the venue design was easy – we designed the system, put the PA in place, sent the file to it, then had to do very little to tune it on site, maybe take four little lumps out of it in the obvious spots and that was kind of it. Peter and I just looked at each other and said, ‘That’s great! Let’s go to lunch’. There wasn’t anything else to do. It was very impressive. I think the great thing about that system is that I didn’t have to do anything drastic to make it work for Danny, which I’ve had to do on some occasions. Its voicing was very musical!”

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