Since their debut album in 2001, Potato have steadily grown to become one of the most admired Thai rock bands, attracting a strong following among teenagers in South East Asia. Standing alongside Thailand’s hottest rock stars, Potato are renowned for their songwriting and melodic rock ballads that send crowds into raptures. Their latest two Potato Magic Hours concerts were a testament to their popularity, with thousands of fans coming together to enjoy the band’s performances at the Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani, with an L-Acoustics K1/K2 system helping to bring the magic to life and ‘kick out the jams’ at the second largest exhibition and convention venue in Asia.
For Potato Magic Hours, Thai AV rental partner MediaVision was chosen to deploy the PA system. With over 20 years of experience, the company is known for their reliability and professionalism in the audiovisual industry, making them one of the top rental firms in the Asian market. Choosing such an experienced supplier proved to be the right decision, as the venue presented the team with challenges from the outset.
“Even though the venue is very popular with concerts and live shows, the acoustics were our major concern,” said MediaVision Chief System Engineer Prasobporn ‘A’ Sornkrasin. “Deep retractable seats produced long diffusion on low frequencies, whilst a full ring of VIP rooms with glass panels causes major mid frequency reflections.”
With the last rows of seats placed at 21 metres above the ground and with approximately 80 metres’ throw distance, the team was excited to use an L-Acoustics system with Potato for the first time and see what a difference it would make to their sound in the venue.
L-Acoustics Soundvision 3D acoustical modelling software was used to ensure the system would provide uniform coverage throughout the entire venue. The final design comprised two hangs of 14 K1 with three K2 and two K1SB stage left and right, with additional 16 KS28 subs ground stacked per side. Outfill was catered for with two hangs of 12 K2, with front fills of six Kara spaced evenly along the curve of the stage lip. The entire system was powered using 36 of LA12X amplified controllers safely stored inside LA-RAK II touring racks for maximum drive flexibility and power.
‘A’ shares his satisfaction of the results and the impactful sound signature of K1.
“Throughout my 20 years of working at MediaVision, I have experienced many different brands of PA but none has impressed me more than L-Acoustics,” he declared. “Since we acquired the K1 in May 2018, I have been thrilled and excited every time we use it.
“We have done countless shows in this venue, but I am very impressed by the result this time,” continued the Chief System Engineer. “The Cx Cardioid Extended configuration preset works incredibly well, to the extent that you actually don’t believe the KS28 are turned on when you are sitting at the monitor console area.”
FOH Engineer Wuttichai ‘Buen’ Apiwat concurred. “When I was told that we were having the K1 system for the iconic Impact Arena, I was excited, but this was my first gig with the world-renowned K1 and I felt the pressure at the same time!”
Buen was awe-struck by the system and its seemingly endless capabilities: “Besides being homogenous throughout the entire arena, which was something I had not experienced in this venue before, I was particularly impressed with the KS28, which are totally insane.”
The KS28 with the new extended directivity cardioid preset (Cx) ensured that everyone on stage, and off the stage in the console monitor position, could benefit from a plug-and-play solution that ensured greater rear rejection.
Both shows were a huge success, with Potato rocking in front of thousands of their ecstatic fans, delivering one of their best ever performances, according to Buen: “Thanks to MediaVision and L-Acoustics, this is one of the best mixes I have done for a long time and definitely the best in this arena. K Series system is an extremely powerful solution.”
