Clair Brothers were chosen by distributor VTénics and prase media technologies to help provide a collaboration with European distributor for elrow’s anniversary show in Barcelona.
What began in 2010 as a small party thrown by the Arnau family in Barcelona for an extended group of close friends has blossomed into what is today a global phenomenon. The original vision was to create a place where adults could play around in a dreamland where space aliens and Elvis are welcome, and anything goes, surrounded by vivid and surreal performances, all while listening to quality, bass-heavy dance music.
And so, it was this year, the 8th anniversary of the Barcelona elrow show, that Clair Brothers’ distributor and rental partner in Spain, VTècnics built upon a powerful new trend of collaboration (an idea born from Davide Buonasorte, sales & marketing manager at Prase Media Technologies – the Clair Brothers partner in Italy) between European Clair Brothers partners.
Josep Maria-Serra, Production Manager at VTècnics explained: “Our first collaboration was with Audio Concept, the Clair Brothers distributor in France, working on Aquelarre de Cervera here in Spain using their Clair Brothers i212 System. It was an excellent collaboration and it was from that experience that we also realized the importance of international collaboration with southern European countries. So, in early June of 2018, we again collaborated with Audio Concept from France on the Kalikenyo Rock Festival held in Juneda, Spain, which went over beautifully.
‘And so, this year, when VTècnics had the opportunity to work the eighth-anniversary elrow show, we knew that we needed the Clair Brothers C12 system for this event. We needed more speakers than we had available, and we bought more but the shipment had yet to arrive by sea. As it turned out, we needed to look no further than Prase Media Technologies for this high-demand product. They had the C12 system and were more than willing to collaborate on elrow with us. The bottom line is it’s highly beneficial to collaborate to achieve the best sound, using the correct equipment, for a specific job or event.”
At the elrow show, it was Emanuele “Lele” Luongo, sound engineer for Prase Media Technologies, working hand-in-hand with Francesc Güell, sound engineer for VTècnics, that configured the sound system. Güell has been doing sound engineering for the Elrow family since the show’s beginnings and felt it was important this year to improve the event’s sound system. He knew Clair Brothers speakers were the best choice to make the improvements and that using the highly-respected American brand would give elrow an additional selling point when promoting this huge, three stage, live performance party.
The PA used on all 3 stages was the Clair Brothers C12 system, with 4 units on the Main Stage (rear) VIP Zone. On the Terraza Stage, the teams employed 12 C12 units for the PA, 13 Clair Brothers CS218 subs, and for set monitoring, 2 C12s and 4 Clair Brothers iS218 subs. For amplification and processing, 17 Clair Brothers/Lab.gruppen CB-PLM-20K44 units were used in tandem with one Clair Brothers/Lab.gruppen CB-LM44. The Ker Beach Stage was equipped with 8 C12s for the PA with 6 iS218. Set monitors consisted of two Clair Brothers kiTCurve12+ units, two kiTSub+ units and one CB-LM26. On the Ker Stage, amplification and processing was provided by one Clair Brothers/Lab.gruppen CB-PLM-20K44 and three Clair Brothers/Lab.gruppen CB-PLM-12K44s. It has been widely recognized by everyone involved that, logistically, this combination of equipment and the execution of the event in total worked with the precision of a Swiss watch.
When asked why this specific gear was the best choice for such a large EDM/DJ production, Serra explained: “The last system used for elrow was a system with lots of bass but not much clarity in the mid and high frequencies. The C12 possesses a bright and clear sound all its own, while the iS218 is very potent and effective with bass frequencies, which makes them perfect for this kind of production. Mr. Güell has worked with all kinds of professional sound systems for lots of DJ Festivals and he has no doubt that Clair Brothers offers the best sound.” This opinion was supported by performers at the event, where many of the DJs admitted the Clair Brothers monitors were the best they’ve ever worked with.
All in all, the unique and growing trend toward collaboration between European partners of Clair Brothers is bearing fruit, resulting in huge live events that sound better than ever before. This bodes well for the future of live production in this part of the world. Show promoters from elrow welcomed Clair Brothers, saying: “You will now be our PA. system for all our parties in Barcelona!”
