MLA arrays punch above their weight at boxing events

For nearly a decade, Martin Audio partner VME has been providing PA systems for major boxing events across the UK.

Starting out with an inventory of 48 MLA multicellular loudspeaker array enclosures, the Manchester-based rental company has recently expanded its inventory of MLA products to more than 100 – making VME one of the largest MLA rental stagers in the UK.

Operations manager Aaron Harvey-Holt says the company is servicing more than 40 events a year for transmission via Sky Sports, BT Sports and DAZN in major venues such as Wembley Stadium, the O2 Arena, Cardiff International Arena and Manchester AO Arena.

Rigging a system in the round is quite unlike reinforcing a conventional pros arch rock concert. For example, the PA fly position is normally set within a 7sq m grid immediately above the ring, and the configuration can vary from hangs facing out on all four axes to distributed hangs and delays to ensure crowds of up to 20,000 have full intelligibility of the audio.

Harvey-Holt says the MLA has become VME’s go-to system because of the ease of rigging. “MLA is great for the tight timescale we often have to deliver in, as sometimes we don’t have rig days,” he adds.

For the fight between YouTube star KSI and FaZe Temper, at Wembley’s OVO Arena, VME fielded 70 MLA boxes and 24 MLA Compacts. “We rigged nine hangs of MLA/MLA Compacts in total,” says Harvey-Holt. “There were 25 boxes a side at the stage end for mains, subs and sidefills with five MLX a side in cardioid flown, behind the two main hangs, and three hangs further down the arena for delays at the left, centre and right positions.”

Ben Marsh, VME’s de facto system technician, ensures that MLA’s advanced optimisation will enable sound to be steered precisely where it’s needed – designing the horizontal projection in CAD, mapping to where the TV interviews take place, and implementing the ‘hard avoid’ setting on any reflective VIP boxes. This also takes into account the sensitivity of the broadcast mics when it becomes essential to deaden the sound around the ring.

“With complex events such as this, having that level of control with MLA is vital,” says Harvey-Holt. “It provides massive benefits all round.”

Another advantage for VME is that when the MLA is not on duty at boxing events, it can be cross-hired, as there is a lot of demand during the summer season.