Technotrix and Martin Audio Team Up for Stanley Cup Celebration

When the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup for the third time in the last five years, they celebrated the victory at legendary Soldier Field with local provider Technotrix supplying a Martin Audio MLA/W8LC system to cover the on-field area.

The biggest challenge for Technotrix was what company principal Kevin Kiefer characterizes as a "severe lack of time to put it all together" because there was no way to predict exactly what day the Blackhawks would clinch the Cup. That plus the fact the venue was changed from Grant Park to Soldier Field in the last few days because of flooding.

Fortunately for Kiefer and crew, the MLA system kept the setup moving at a fast pace: "The predictive capability in the MLA is so good," Kiefer explains, "that we were able to punch the information into the computer and once the system was rigged, it did exactly what we expected it to do. It saved us a lot of time tuning and re-adjusting parameters, which was a big help getting everything set up when we had to and keeping labor costs down."

The actual system consisted of six Martin Audio MLA and one MLD enclosure per side in towers alongside the stage with four MLX subwoofers per side under the towers. Three delay towers with five W8LC were used around the field area for reinforcement in addition to the stadium PA system, and a number of XD12s were set up backstage for team and management to hear the proceedings.

Commenting on the system's coverage and audio quality, Kiefer sums up, "We had done the same show two years before, so we weren't exactly reinventing the wheel but it turned out really well."

"It sounded good for all the broadcast feeds, and there were over 40 television and radio media outlets at the event. Everyone on site from the Hawks was very happy with the sound quality, especially with so many different systems operating at the same time. In terms of the coverage, MLA was a welcome addition this time around."

Technotrix crew photo caption (left to right): Brent Bernhardt, Kevin Kiefer, Andy Kuhlmann, Brandon Lewis, Chris Bonifas, and Martin Harris. Not pictured, Josh Clark and Richard Schroeder.