Adamson Gets RAI Amsterdam Moving with Martin Garrix

	Martin Garrix at RAI Amsterdam. Photo courtesy of EA Events

Dutch EDM superstar Martin Garrix rocked a pair of packed back-to-back shows at RAI Amsterdam as part of the city's famous Amsterdam Dance Event. The unique system deployed in the venue was designed by BMP Sound Services and built around Adamson Systems Engineering's E-Series loudspeakers.

"An EDM show like this needs a lot of low end, and whether it's the E15 or compact S10, Adamson products boast great low-end performance and couple perfectly with the subs on the ground for an even, pumping bass throughout the whole venue," offers BMP's Bas Rijsdijk.

BMP's design for RAI Amsterdam, the city's main convention and exhibition center, was rather extensive in order to ensure that premium sound hit every corner of the venue. The main system was comprised of 12 E15 three-way, true line source enclosures per side with a pair of S10 compact two-way, true line source enclosures at the bottom for downfill. For low end, 30 E219 subwoofers were ground stacked in a cardioid configuration.

The relatively low ceiling height within RAI's main room was a challenge for BMP, though as Rijsdijk shares, that's another reason the E-Series was an ideal solution for the show. With only about 10 m for the PA, the main E15 arrays cover the first 70m from the stage while delay arrays comprised of eight Adamson E12 three-way enclosures per side cover the last 35m of the main house.

"I love that the E-Series sounds great from scratch. The presets don't need a lot of EQing to get a great sound, and we normally only use the EQ to adjust the PA response to the specific room characteristics," Rijsdijk adds. That was especially important in this application, as due to tight loudness limitations in the venue, they couldn't use music to tune the system and instead had to rely on relatively quiet pink noise. "Because of the great standard Adamson presets in the Lab.gruppen PLM amplifiers, we had total confidence to start the show 'blind.'"

Adamson's compact S-Series was also key to the two performances' success, with arrays of S10 compact two-way, full range enclosures deployed as delays to cover the tribune and VIP areas, as well as for fills and Garrix's monitors. Utrecht's Production Partners supplied the entire audio package.

"When it comes to our technical rider, Adamson is at the top of the list," says Garrix's front-of-house engineer, Stephan Themps. "Like Bas mentioned, the E-Series reproduces every nuance of Martin's music with clear, smooth highs and powerful, punchy bass. We had a great couple of shows at RAI Amsterdam with truly great sound."